2004
Wild Writing Women Literary Salons ALSO SEE ARCHIVES FOR: 2007 - 2006 - 2005 - 2004 - 2003 - 2002
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January 2004 Salon Report: Thank you Laurie King, of the Travel Writer's Calendar (email Laurie to subscribe to the newsletter) who provided this summary: I can't capture John's wonderful sense of humor, but here are some of my notes:
4 February 2004 Amanda Jones is a writer and photographer living in the San Francisco Bay Area. Her work has appeared in Travel & Leisure, Condé Nast Traveller, the Los Angeles Times, the London Sunday Times, the Sunday Observer, the San Francisco Chronicle, Food & Wine and Vogue Australia, among others. She has been published in several travel anthologies, including Salon.com's Wanderlust, and Lonely Planet's The Kindness of Strangers. She also does story development for National Geographic television. She is currently working on Potentia, a book. Amanda has worked for Esprit and Vogue Australia, and was editor-in-chief of Antiques & Fine Art magazine. She has covered stories in Angola, Australia, Bali, Botswana, Borneo, Brazil, Chile, Cook Islands, Dominican Republic, England, Ethiopia, Fiji, Guatemala, India, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Malaysia, Mexico, Mongolia, Morocco, Namibia, Nepal, New Zealand, Niger, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Russia, Samoa, South Africa, Spain, Tahiti, Thailand, Tanzania, Tonga, Turkey, United States, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, and Zanzibar. Amanda was born and educated in Auckland, New Zealand. Many thanks to Jacqueline Yau for the following recap of Amanda's talk: In February, we were treated to the sage tones of the witty, erudite, practical, worldly, and did we say beautifully talented Amanda Jones. How do you begin a career in travel writing? Did Amanda start out magically as a travel writer? Giving hope to all of us newbie travel writers out there, Amanda actually didn't begin her celebrated career as an adventure travel writer and photographer extraordinaire until she turned thirty. After graduating from university in New Zealand with a science degree, Amanda traveled far from home, like many a Kiwi and landed in San Francisco where she married and fell into working for Esprit. At the time, she fancied herself to be quite an urbanite and stylish to boot. Not wanting to settle down too soon, she and her husband moved to Sydney where she brazenly walked in and offered her services to Vogue Australia. Sure enough, they hired her and she continued her career in fashion but in time came to realize she wanted to expand her experiences and discovered adventure travel. [A turning point was when she realized that she wasn't willing to spend a couple months salary on a pink Chanel suit, like the other gals in her office.] She found she loved traveling on the edge, absorbing the experience and writing about it. She then took a photography class and that was it. She found her calling: photography + writing. Amanda's tips on travel writing:
Leonard Shlain is the Chairman of Laparoscopic surgery at the California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco and is an Associate Professor of Surgery at UCSF. He is also the author of two critically acclaimed, award-winning books. Art & Physics: Parallel Visions in Space, Time, and Light, (Harper Collins) published in 1991, is presently used as a textbook in many art schools and universities. It has also been translated into foreign languages. His recent work, The Alphabet vs. the Goddess: The Conflict Between Word & Image, was published by Viking in hardcover in 1998 and within weeks was on the national bestseller list. Penguin distributed his book internationally in 1999 and it is now available in paperback. The Washington Post called it “Bold and fascinating,” George Steiner in the London Observer wrote that it was “Provocative and Innovative.” The New York Times’ Idea Section discussed his thought provoking theory. David Gergen interviewed Dr. Shlain for The Jim Lehrer News Hour and Frank Stasio did the same for National NPR. Dr. Shlain lectures widely both here and in Europe. He has been a keynote speaker for such diverse groups as the Smithsonian, Harvard University, Salk Institute, Phillips collection, Los Alamos National Laboratory, NASA Johnson Space Center, and the European Union’s Ministers of Culture. In 1999, he was a contributor to Academic Press’ Encyclopedia of Creativity edited by Steven Runco and Mark Pritzker. Dr. Shlain has won several literary awards for his visionary work and also holds several patents on innovative surgical devices. His most recent work, Sex, Time and Power: How Women's Sexuality Shaped Human Evolution explores the reasons why Homo sapiens evolved so far away from other animals in several key attributes. He lives and writes in Mill Valley, California, where he's working on his next book titled Leonardo's Brain.
In April Lisa Alpine has invited acclaimed author Susan Griffin to be our guest. The author of twenty books, Susan Griffin has won dozens of awards for her work as a poet, feminist writer, essayist, playwright, and filmmaker. Her book A Chorus of Stones was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award. The recipient of an Emmy, a MacArthur Grant, and a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, she is a frequent contributor to Ms. Magazine, the New York Times Book Review, and numerous other publications. Her most recent book, The Book of the Courtesans, A Catalogue of Their Virtues was a Bay Area best seller. At present, she is at work on a guidebook and a film with filmaker Vénus Amelie called The Courtesan's Guide to Paris. The Berkeley-based author takes private writing students and give workshops. She'll be giving us some insight about her writing process at the April 7th salon.
Mark Bittner was born and raised in southwestern Washington State. His ambition as a teenager was to be a Great Novelist, but Mark was alarmed by the uniformly miserable fates of all the writers whom he loved. So he decided to pursue a career in music instead. After hitchhiking through Europe in search of experience, he moved to San Francisco determined to sink or swim as a poet-singer-songwriter. He sank. Completely bereft, he turned to spiritual seeking and ended up on the street where he spent the next 14 years. Ultimately his search led him to the wild parrot flock, which, in turn, led him back to writing, and his first book: The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill.
Kathi Kamen Goldmark is the author of And My Shoes Keep Walking Back to You, a novel published by Chronicle Books in 2002. She is the co-author of The Great Rock & Roll Joke Book, and Mid-Life Confidential: The Rock Bottom Remainders Tour America with Three Chords and an Attitude. Kathi is also the founder and a member of the all-author rock band the Rock Bottom Remainders, president and janitor of Don't Quit Your Day Job Records, and producer of the coast-to-coast radio show West Coast Live. She likes to think she is ready for anything. 7 July 2004
4 Aug 2004 Our August guest Suzanne LaFetra is an emerging writer who will speak about breaking in to the business of writing. She is the published author of more than 60 articles in the last two years, all delivered with two toddlers underfoot, so she understands organization and focus. Her credits include the San Francisco Chronicle, KQED fm, Ladybug, Literary Mama, Diablo, the East Bay Monthly and San Francisco Chronicle Magazine (forthcoming). Her work has appeared in several anthologies, including the Rocking Chair Reader and the new Traveler's Tales collection, Whose Panties Are These. She also writes a weekly arts feature for the Knight Ridder Hills Newspapers in the East Bay. Suzanne lives in Berkeley with her family. 1 Sept 2004
Cara Black lives in San Francisco with her husband (a bookseller) and son. She's a San Francisco Library Laureate, vice president of the local Sisters in Crime, and member of the Marais Historique Association. Murder in the Marais, her first Aimée Leduc Investigation, was nominated for an Anthony for Best First Novel and her third, Murder in the Sentier, was nominated for an Anthony for Best Novel 2003. She's working on book 6 in the series and has to (sigh...) do more research in Paris! Visit her website at www.carablack.com 3 Nov 2004
November Salon Report: were you there? HOW TO WRITE A GREAT QUERY LETTER! Pamela gave a great talk about writing a query letter that will catch an editors eye. In summary: it needs to convey that there's a STORY there. TALKING ABOUT YOUR IDEA TO FRIENDS may help you develop that story. Know what a NUT GRAF is. Use a SCENE in your query letter. It helps if you tell editors what DEPARTMENT you envision your story belonging in. HOW FRESH is the story? KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE. They don't have staff writers, but use almost 100% FREELANCE WRITERS. SELL THE IDEA before you send clips. A great place to BREAK IN is the front section or a department piece. (These are 250-500 word pieces.) SERVICE SELLS. (How-to.) Pamela has a coaching business for writers. Contact her at feinsilber@comcast.net to get your stories and books out of the computer and into the hands of an editor or agent. She will also be participating in our January writer's conference. WHO ELSE WAS THERE? Carla King, Wild Writing Women and motorcycle travel writer, hosted the event. Big news this month is that she's going to Fiji with sister Wild Writing Woman Lisa Alpine (who was home repairing her roof in the storm), to report on eco resorts and the giant clam scientific research center. Jacqueline Harmon Butler reported that she is off to Cancun tomorrow on a gastronomic tour of the area, then almost straight away off to New York on another jaunt. Cathleen Miller is on a panel at a writing conference in Pittsburg, which is about all she can squeeze in while she's working as a creative writing professor at San Jose State. (Wait til summer though, when we're likely to hear she's taken off to exotic far away places with all the other teachers.) Pamela Michael was home with bronchitis and severe post-election depression. Get better, Pam! But about 50 attended, congratulations for coming together despite (or because of) the weather and the news. Here is their information in no particular order. Thank you for coming, and we look forward to seeing you at our Holiday Party on December 1. Eileen Malone, President of Pen Women San Francisco and host of Pen Women Presents, a television talk show interviewing creative people talking about creativity that's aired on Access SF, Channel 29. Author of The Complete Guide to Writers Groups, Conferences, and Workshops. She authors the ask Eileen column for iUnverse and moderates the AOL's Writer's Club. She's also a poet. But more importantly (to us) she is organizing a great writing contest with several categories (and several chances to win)! Here's the info. Sherri Sheridan, author filmmaker, storyboarding expert, artist with a new book out Digital Short Films on microbudget digital moviemaking. Her company website mindseyemedia.com is in my opinion one of the best artist-business sites on the web. Jody Weiner, North Beach-based lawyer and author of Prisoner's of Truth, a new novel published by Council Oak Books. Nancy Calef, fine and digital artist and book cover designer with shows locally. Jean Feilmoser, frequent WWW salon attendee, writer, organizer of walking and track tours of San Francisco, see Jwalks.com. (There's a great one coming up soon, check the site.) She is also doing a slide show about her trip to the Balkans at Get Lost Books on January 12. Sylvia Paul of Gracenet and many other non-profit women and technology groups that can be found on her website. Sylvia is a self-employed publicist and marketeer and avid cyclist (the kind you have to pedal). She came in a posse with the next three: Mary Trigiani, co-author (with her sister the novelist and her 3 other sisters) of the recently released Cooking with My Sisters: 100 Years of Family Recipes, a memoir with recipes published by Random House. Betsy Damon, writing a book called Living Water Concepts about sustainably designed living water parks. She hopes to publish it in both English and Chinese. Carleen Hawn, who has written for Fast Company on technological innovations to women in business. Previously associate editor at Forbes where she covered venture capital, software, telecommunications, and Silicon Valley business culture. Shiela O'Connor, an organizer of Bay Area Travel Writers, a members only writing association in San Francisco. Monica Comrady, a Bay Area Travel Writers writer. Brad Newsham, author of Take Me With You and selfless organizer of Backpack Nation. Brad, you were last to arrive and first to leave, but you are still our favorite Wild Writing Man! Linda Robertson, author of a story included in the anthology Sherlock Holmes: the Hidden Years, which is just out this month. Rachelle Henry, author of an erotic romance novella to be included in the 1995 Secrets Anthology. Andrea Pook, writer, "and that's enough!" Cathleen Miller's creative non-fiction writing class was there from San Jose State University. These were all graduate students: Steve Wong, Jennifer Walker, William Paisley, Peggy Messerschmidt, Patricia Collins, Manita Gautaum, Cathy Johnstone, Anthony Silveria, Aaron Bergotrom, John Snyder. Best of luck to them in their future writing careers! Have I missed anyone? Let me know...and send me your corrections to the above and URLs! Thanks, Carla King Join us each FIRST WEDNESDAY of the month at the Monticello Inn for this reading, teaching, networking series of gatherings for writers, except for December, when we have our holiday party. See you there December 1! Dec 2004
JuXTaPose: Writers' Voices Spoken Word Performance Series REPORT: The creative energy and rush from the 12 writers performing their works right next to each other without a break was incredibly high. We had a a couple of memoirs and travelogues, an actor, a singer-songwriter, cookbook author, poets...see the lineup by clicking on the title link above. The Studio-Z venue was perfect for post-show connecting over cocktails with deejay James providing good vibes from the decks. The artists loved it, the audience loved it, and everyone loved the after-party where new friendships and creative alliances were made. JuXTaPose was such a success that we're planned another for early next year - March or April, so stay tuned.
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| You write in order to read what you've written and see if it's O.K. and, since of course it never is, to rewrite it — once, twice, as many times as it takes to get it to be something you can bear to reread. — Susan Sontag |
3 March 2004
7 April 2004
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2 June 2004
Laurie Fox is the author of two works of fiction - 
Mollie Katzen, with over 5 million books in print, is listed by the New York Times as one of the best-selling cookbook authors of all time. Named by Health Magazine as one of the five "Women Who Changed the Way We Eat," and personally selected by the Dean as a founding member of the new Harvard School of Public Health Leadership Council, Ms. Katzen holds a charter seat at the Harvard School of Public Health Nutrition Roundtable and was an inaugural inductee to new Natural Health Hall of Fame. Largely credited with moving healthful gourmet food from the "fringe" to the center of American dinner plates, Ms. Katzen has now formed a partnership with Harvard University as a consultant to Harvard University Dining and advisor to their new, groundbreaking Food Literacy Initiative. 
6 Oct 2004
Pamela Feinsilber is a longtime Bay Area magazine editor; she also consults on book proposals and fiction or nonfiction manuscripts on a project basis. She’s coached, organized, edited, infuriated, and occasionally inspired dozens of writers since she moved to the Bay Area in the early ’80s. They range from James Wolcott to Barry Gifford, from Po Bronson to Meredith Maran to uncertain first-timers. One of her longtime writers, Dana Gioia, is now head of the National Endowment for the Arts.
A project of the Wild Writing Women, LLC.