Elaine Webster
February 2012
Editor’s Note: Elaine Webster has written one of three articles by our three new Redwood Writers Vice Presidents . Arlene Miller will write the article for the March issue of The Redwood Writer. Frances Caballo wrote the VP’s message for January. The three month series of articles take the place of Linda Reid’s articles as President of the Redwood Writers.—Robin Moore
Al Young, California Poet Laureate Emeritus, is Keynote Speaker for Poetic Journeys, the pre-conference poetry night on April 27, 2012 at the Flamingo Hotel. In his poem “How the Rainbow Works” Mr. Young observes:
Mostly we occupy ocular zones, clinging
only to what we think we can see.
We can’t see wind or waves of thought,
electrical fields or atoms dancing;
only what they do or make us believe.
These words leapt at me one morning from an e-mail message. How appropriate, I thought. The artistic mind has found a home in modern technology.
The first time this year’s conference team assembled we asked ourselves, What do writers want today? How will they proceed? What is their next step? We concluded that some may seek the comfort of tradition, penning their thoughts into chapbooks and journals. Others will venture with abandon into the world of high-tech electronics. Many will look for a balance between the two. Yet, no one wants to be left behind. Writers want to take that “Next Step”—a literary journey into the future.
The Next Step 2012 Writers Conference is a supermarket of offerings, where the attendee can wheel his or her shopping cart down familiar and unfamiliar aisles. Sixteen breakout sessions have been categorized into four main tracks: craft, genre, publishing and marketing. The fun part is that attendees can mix and match to their heart’s content. The hard part will be choosing just four.
We are especially excited about Saturday’s keynote speaker, David Corbett, on Beyond the Book: Writing Opportunities in a Multi-Platform Era. Mr. Corbett is a New York Times Notable Author of four critically acclaimed novels and his forthcoming book Character: The Art and Craft of Human Portrayal in Fiction, Film and TV will be published by Penguin Books in early 2013.
We are fortunate to live in the San Francisco Bay Area—home to so many talented writers. Click on the Conference Link on the website to find the best of our local presenters, many of whom are Redwood Writers’ members. To support community education, we’ve chosen the beautiful Bertolini Center on the Santa Rosa Junior College campus. The location has all the amenities for success and has enabled us to keep registration costs down and half price for students. The 2012 Next Step Writers Conference will deliver inspiration, education, and promotional how-to ideas all in our own backyard.
See you there!
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