Author name: Deborah Bernal

Member Success—Awards

Member News / By

Jim Rowson’s Uncommon Scents (written with Bruce Berls and published in 2022) was shortlisted for the prestigious Eric Hoffer Award Grand Prize. The Eric Hoffer Book Award is one of the largest international book awards for small, academic, and independent presses. Fewer than five percent of nominated books are shortlisted for the grand prize. Uncommon Scents was also a finalist for the First Horizon Award, given to debut authors, and received an Honorable Mention in the Science Fiction/Fantasy category. Uncommon Scents was a finalist in the First Novel category of the Next Generation Indie Book Awards, the largest International awards program for indie authors and independent publishers.

Member Successes

Member News / By

The following TVW members have pieces published in Las Positas College’s anthology, 2024 HAVIK: Linda Dratell for her poems “adapting to my life as an expat in españa,” “Deaf and Dealing with Bêtise at the Bistro,” and “Interlude Interrupted;” James Morehead for his poems “Two hundred and ten minutes later,” Twenty ways to start a poem about being bullied,” and “memories of a bullet” (1st Place); Rose Owens for her nonfiction article, “A Nag of a Different Color;” Abbey Lynne Raysfor her poems “Minnie Foster” and “Make It a Double;” and Monique Rardin Richardson for her three poems, “Beso Perfecto,” “Stardust,” and “Trust.”

Member Success

Member News / By

Constance Hanstedt’s poem, “Holding on for Dear Life” has been published in the May issue of The Valley Scribe, the newsletter of CWC’s San Fernando Valley Branch.

Member Success

Member News / By

Linda Drattell has been busy. She presented in the Netherlands at the Stichting Plotz & Laat Doven Congres about writing as a tool for coping with hearing loss. Her two books, Remember This Day and Who Wants to be Friends With a Dragon? will be featured at a book signing/author showcase event at the ADARA conference this year. And she had a flash fiction story, “The Appointment” published by Loft Books and a poem, “In My Jewelry Box” published by Zoetic Press.

July and August 2024

Past Meetings / By

Tri-Valley Writers takes a brief summer hiatus during the months of July and August. The Board of Directors will be busy planning for the 2024-2025 term. Critique groups, Pull Up a Chair and Write, and the Zoom Sit Down and Write will continue during the summer, so please forge on with your writing.
Check back here for updated activities.

We look forward to seeing you soon. Write On!

Margaret Lucke, Noted Novelist, Editor, and Writing Teacher, June 15, 2024

Past Meetings / By

Tension, pacing and suspense are essential aspects of successful storytelling. Join noted author, editor, and writing teacher Margaret Lucke at our June 15 meeting to explore these three important topics. Whether you are writing fiction, creative nonfiction, or memoir, this discussion will provide you with valuable tips, and techniques for crafting a powerful and rewarding story.
Every great story is a suspense story, no matter what its genre might be. Suspense is the artful balance you create between the readers’ hopes and doubts, between their concern for your characters and their uncertainty about what lies ahead. The flip side of suspense, and just as important, is tension—the means by which you induce your reader to make an emotional investment in your story.
Pacing, the tempo or rate of speed at which your story moves, is one of your key tools for building and controlling tension and suspense and giving your reader the kind of powerful experience that is the goal of storytelling.
In this presentation, we will look at ways you can make your readers ask, “What happens next?” and keep them turning pages in their eager quest for the answer.

HSWC Awards Ceremony, Keynote: Penny Warner, May 19, 2024

Past Meetings / By

Join Tri-Valley Writers on Sunday, May 19, 2024 at 2:00 p.m. at the Livermore Library as we celebrate the winners of the 13th annual “My Story, My Vision” high school writing contest. High school students in Danville, Dublin, Livermore, Pleasanton, and San Ramon submitted works in fiction, poetry, or nonfiction. As writers know, and as TVW Member Patricia Boyle once said, “It takes great courage for students to submit writing to strangers to evaluate and comment on it. I’m proud of the students who entered the contest and took the risk of sharing their work.”

So come support local high school students’ successes as the winners receive their awards and read their submissions. This event is free and open to the public.

Keynote Speaker Penny Warner will impart wonderful encouragement and knowledge to the students and audience alike. Penny has published over 80 books, including the three-time award-winning middle-grade mystery series, THE CODE BUSTERS CLUB. She has also written the award-nominee The Official Nancy Drew Handbook, and is the author of three adult mystery series, including Dead Body Language, How to Host a Killer Party, and Death of a Chocolate Cheater, as well as a newspaper column on family life for 30 years. She and her husband, Tom, create fund-raising murder mystery events for libraries across the country. She can be reached at pennywarnerink@yahoo.com.