Past Meetings

California Writers Week, October 19, 2024

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This month we will be celebrating California Writer’s Week with a program focused on noteworthy writers from our beautiful state of California. One essential tool for writers is the writer’s bio. This succinct and impactful statement will be our focus this month, as we craft our own author’s bio statements. It is often difficult to sing our own praises as we describe our own work, so come join in as we explore how to craft the perfect statement. Let’s celebrate the amazing authors in our own club as we deepen our friendships and support each other in our writing pursuits.

There will be plenty of time to socialize, as well as current board members available to answer questions about the future of the branch.

While there is no fee for the meeting, we would like to know how many people to expect, so please register at treasurer@trivalleywriters.org by Wednesday, October 16.

Attendees are welcome to bring their own water and snacks as TVW won’t be providing them at this meeting.

2024: A Time to Write, A Time to Talk

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Join us for a free drop-in writing session,  meet-and-greet,  and informal discussion of all things.

There will be plenty of time to socialize, as well as prompts for writing, and a little ice-breaker art project. Current board members will be available to answer questions about the future of the branch.

While there is no fee for the meeting, we would like to know how many people to expect, so please register at treasurer@trivalleywriters.org by Wednesday, September 18.

Attendees are welcome to bring their own water and snacks as TVW  won’t be providing them at this meeting.

July and August 2024

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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

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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

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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.

Eva Barrows and Lila LaBine, Editors, May 18, 2024

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Two editors, Eva Barrows and Lila LaBine, will present “Get Ready to Publish: Selecting the Right Editor for Your Writing Project” at the Tri-Valley Writers May 18, 2024, meeting. Eva Barrows is a developmental editor and content manager, and Lila LaBine is a novel and screenplay editor. Whether taking the traditional publishing route or striking out on your own self-publishing journey, working with a professional editor is essential. An independent editor partner can provide the invaluable feedback needed to revise and put the final polish on your manuscript. Increase the probability of hooking readers and holding their attention all the way through your manuscript with the guidance of editorial feedback.

In this presentation, Eva Barrows and Lila LaBine will introduce the different types of editing professionals who can help writers through various stages of the writing process. Big-picture developmental editors look at the structure, flow, and reader experience, while copy and line editors get into sentence-level details. Discover which type of editor you need now.

They’ll explore how to find an editing professional you jive with and what the ideal editor/author partnership entails. Learn about interviewing potential editors, what deliverables to expect, and how to support your editor partner. Gain confidence in what step to take next in your publishing journey.

Gillian Wegener, Poet, April 20, 2024

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Gillian Wegener, published poet, and president of the Modesto-Stanislaus Poetry Center, will present “The Relevance of Poetry in Our Everyday Lives, or Poetry and Why it Makes Our Lives Better,” at the Tri-Valley Writers April 20, 2024, meeting. We turn to poetry in times of grief and in times of celebration. It comforts us, it inspires us, and it connects us to each other. Every year someone says that poetry is dead or dying, and every year, they are proven wrong. Poetry is relevant every day, everywhere, and for just about everyone.

Workshop with Linda Joy Myers, March 16, 2024

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Tri-Valley Writers will host a workshop, “The Magic of Bringing Characters to Life on the Page—Secrets for Memoir and Fiction,” presented by Linda Joy Myers, founder of the National Association of Memoir Writers, and writing coach for fiction and memoir on March 16, 2024 from 1:00 – 4:30 p.m. 

NOTE: This is a workshop and therefore will run longer than normal and the meeting fee will be higher. Attendees may begin registering for this event after February 17, 2024.

We’ve all read books where we stay up late at night or read under the covers with a flashlight because we’re so engrossed in a book. We keep turning the pages to find out what happened to the characters. We are bonded to them. We feel their pain, joy, and conflicts. As writers, we wonder, and struggle, how to create vivid and emotionally strong characters in our own work.

For memoirists, we may feel reluctant to write about people we loved and/or hated, and we also struggle with creating ourselves as protagonists—we know ourselves too well. Sometimes, we don’t know ourselves well enough. In fiction, we make people up out of whole cloth—almost. It’s an art and a science to create characters that keep readers engaged in our stories. In this workshop we’re going to look at the inside/outside methods of creating characters.

We will discuss the psychology of creating characters—the inside, and the ways characters present themselves that are observable. We’ll talk about portraits of characters that include attitude, movement, desire, and dialogue. For memoir, you need to feel free to present real people you once knew as characters. In fiction, you’re free to shape and create characters, but how do you decide who they are, what they want, and how can you bear to put them through the trials that are demanded by the story?

Michelle Chouinard, USA-Today and Publishers Weekly Bestselling Author, February 17, 2024

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M.M. Chouinard, USA-Today and Publishers Weekly Bestselling Author, will present “Writing and Publishing: My Tips” at the Tri-Valley Writers February 17, 2024, meeting. M.M. Chouinard is the author behind The Detective Jo Fournier thrillers, the standalone psychological thriller The Vacation, and the upcoming amateur-sleuth series The Serial-Killer Guide to San Francisco. Her latest book, Angels in the Snow, was released November 8, 2023. Some of the lessons she will elaborate on during her presentation include:

1) Never forget publishing is a business
2) Inspiration comes to those who seek it
3) Persistence is everything
4) Rejection is a learning opportunity
5) The most important thing is to finish

Winterfest: A View of the Valley, January 20, 2024

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“A View of the Valley”

What’s special or memorable about the Tri-Valley for you? The people? The history? The music or art scene? Geography, wildlife, or wildflowers? We invite you to express your impressions of the Tri-Valley and share your work with us at our Winterfest meeting on January 20, 2024. Our January meeting is when we celebrate our members’ diverse talents. You may write, paint, photograph, sculpt or use another medium to explore some aspect of the beautiful, historic valley in which we live. If the Tri-Valley doesn’t resonate with you, you may choose another valley—perhaps one you lived in or visited, or a valley of your imagination.

We’re looking for poetry and flash fiction in addition to works of art. The Winterfest meeting will feature readings, displays of photography and artwork, a free drawing for a basket of goodies, refreshments, and the camaraderie of other writers.

Timeline for submissions has ended. Now it’s time to celebrate as CWC Tri-Valley members will showcase written and visual works of art inspired by the Tri-Valley. Artwork will be displayed, and authors will have the opportunity to share readings from selected entries. Everyone is invited—TVW members and members of the public. There will be a free raffle drawing for a basket of goodies that includes locally produced items as well as products especially for writers.

Connect with other writers after the hectic holidays, become inspired by the imaginative creations of your fellow Tri-Valley Writers members, and get your writing year off to a fresh start at Winterfest 2024.