by Nate Hoffelder | Apr 28, 2023 | Classes and Workshops
Topic: Tighten Your Writing with a Poetry Game
Monday June 26 6:30-7:30PM
Live/Limited seating Free for all Participants
Co-presented by CWCM and Mill Valley Public Library
RSVP here: Mill Valley Public Library Events/Poetry Writing Game
Anyone who aspires to be a better writer knows the importance of thoughtful word choice and editing. The best writers exercise these muscles every day—but sometimes we forget how much fun writing can be, especially when we do it with friends. Bring your pencil to this one-hour interactive poetry workshop cohosted by CWC Marin and the Mill Valley Public Library. The game is a riff on the Japanese linked verse game known as renga, played by Japanese aristocrats a thousand years ago. In it, each person composes a haiku, then passes it to a neighbor, who completes it with a 14-syllable couplet. This simple, limited poetry form encourages participants to choose words and metaphors with care. Don’t worry, you don’t have to be a great poet, you just have to be ready to play with words.
About the Speaker:
Jean has been a student of the Japanese language since she first went to Japan as an exchange student in the 1980s. She is currently writing a book about Japanese feminist poet Yosano Akiko (1878-1942). She has translated hundreds of Akiko’s poems and posted them online. Jean is a Board member of the California Writers Club of Marin and a member of the Marin Poetry Center, the Tanka Society of America, Left Coast Writers, and the Japan Foundation.
by Nate Hoffelder | Mar 27, 2023 | Classes and Workshops
Topic: How to Sell More Books: Laying the Foundation for Bigger Book Sales
Tuesday, May 23, 6:00 – 7:30 pm PT via Zoom
Laying the foundation for success is one of the key factors that will determine whether your book will make it or not. Branding and platform are terms we hear a lot, but does this really matter to book sales? In fact it does. This class will break down creative ways to build a foundation that will support your book and build your success.
Penny demystifies concepts like brand and author platform and will teach attendees a pathway to create more book sales. We’ll learn simple tools everyone needs including easy ways to research the things that matter to your audience, branding made easy, and social media: where do you really need to be to drive book sales? Hint: you don’t need to be on every social media platform.
by Nate Hoffelder | Jan 29, 2023 | Classes and Workshops
Topic: Writing an Eye-Catching Query
by Nate Hoffelder | Jan 23, 2023 | Classes and Workshops
Join Daniel Bacon as he leads us along Gold Rush era streets and Chinatown alleys to places where literary icons drew inspiration. This 3- to 4-hour tour will start with a cable car ride from Aquatic Park Cove to Powell and Market, followed by a walk 3.8 miles back to the starting point. We’ll see sites that inspired Dashiell Hammett, Mark Twain, Ina Coolbrith, Jack London, Allen Ginsberg, and a host of others.
Tour date: March 18
Tour Times: 9:30 am to approx. 2 pm
by Nate Hoffelder | Jan 4, 2023 | Classes and Workshops
Wednesday, February 22, 6:30 -8:00 pm PT Live/ZOOM
Co-presented by CWCM and Mill Valley Public Library
Our most intriguing stories deal strongly in character. Our best plots hinge on character development. This truth extends through fiction, non-fiction and memoir. Thus, the grasp of a good method for visualizing and creating character can prove essential to crafting tales that manifest meaning while also moving readers. Achieving catharsis to any real degree depends upon it.
Join CWC Marin President Daniel Bacon at the beautiful Mill Valley Public Library for an interview with former San Francisco Chronicle Outdoors reporter Paul McHugh. Since his late teens, he’s published poetry, four novels and three non-fiction works including GGNRA’s Official Guide to Alcatraz. His newest novel, Splinter (a WWII adventure/romance set in Norway amid the Nazi occupation), will be released by Bronzeville Books in May. He makes his home on the Peninsula, where he can often be spotted cruising breaks, on the hunt for highly surfable waves.
This in-person/Zoom meeting is free for all participants.
- In-person participants: Reserve a seat at millvalleylibrary.libcal.com/event/9836238
- In order to attend virtually, please RSVP for Zoom information by filling out this form. Registered CWC guests will receive the Zoom link one week before and on the day of the event.
