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Winners

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Winners

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Volunteers Needed!

Board and Committee Positions — Keep Your Club Going!

Call Lee Wade
805-499-4854
or write: president@venturacountywriters.com

See you at Borders
125 W. Thousand Oaks Blvd
Thousand Oaks
!

New Meeting Time
7:00 PM


The Ventura County Writers Club was founded in 1933 by four writers in the Ojai, California area. Since then the club has grown to more than 150 members and holds regular monthly general membership meetings. In these meetings persons prominent in all areas and genres of the literary field speak on sources for ideas, enhancing creativity, and getting your work published.
See membership information.


Ventura Country Writers Club
February 9th Meeting, 7 p.m.
Borders Books in Thousand Oaks

Margaret Brownley
Margaret Brownley to speak on writing book proposals
at next VCWC Meeting.

This month, the club welcomes the best-selling author of more than twenty novels, Margaret Brownley. And guess what folks… she’s a local. Margaret will present a topic that all writers definitely need to hear about: “KNOCK THEIR SOCKS OFF! The secret to writing great book proposals that will catch an editor’s or agent’s eye.”

Margaret’s successes are clear proof that she knows her subject. She has written for Penguin, St. Martin’s press, Time Warner, and Harlequin. She helped to launch the Topaz line of historical romances and she recently published her first nonfiction book, which has consistently been on Amazon’s top ten seller’s list for the category.

Margaret is currently writing inspirational historical novels for Thomas Nelson, a Christian publishing house. Her latest work, A Lady Like Sarah, has been chosen as a Women of Faith novel for 2010 and was a featured selection of Crossings Book Club. The second book in her Rocky Creek series, A Suitor For Jenny, will be published next September.

Known for her memorable characters and humorous writing, Margaret has been nominated twice for a Career Achievement award by Romantic Times. Her books have appeared in 15 languages, and one of her novels was optioned by an independent producer.

Read more about Margaret Brownley here.


Short Story Winners to be announced on January 12

The waiting is over: We have our winners!

To kick off the New Year, first second, and third place winners of the VCWC's 10th Annual Short Story Contest will receive their awards.  Authors who received honorable mention will also be introduced.  The winning writers will read  from their stories which will be published by the Ventura County Star. Their stories will also be published in our VCWC anthology due out in August 2010. 

VCWCMembers and guests are invited to arrive early and  after our featured speaker, Dan Vining,  stay to  congratulate our winners and enjoy a reception in their honor.



ADDITIONAL OPPORTUNITY FOR VCWC MEMBERS

CLASThe California Literary Arts Society is sponsoring a three-part Book Proposal Workshop on Wednesday, February 3, 2010 and continuing on February 10 and 17. The sessions will be held from 7 to 9 p.m. at Bank of Books, 748 E. Main Street in Ventura.

Each section of the proposal will be covered. They are (1) Title Page, (2) Synopsis, (3) Author Bio, (4) Market Potential/Promotion, (5) Competitive Works, (6) Chapter Outline, and (7) Sample Chapters.

Authors would benefit by preparing a book proposal before they finish their first draft. Even before they begin writing their book, an outline of the proposal could be written as a guide to what needs to be included. This could save authors the process of reworking and rewriting.

The fee for all three sessions is $25 for CLAS members and $50 for nonmembers. Individual sessions are $10 and $20. Nonmembers may join CLAS and pay the member fee. All proceeds go to the California Literary Arts Society. Website: www.literaryarts-ca.org.

As seating is limited, paid reservations should be made in advance and sent to CLAS, P.O. Box 782, Ventura, CA 93002. For more information, e-mail maryembree@sbcglobal.net or call 805/643-3385.



See our January issue of The Write Stuff.

In Memoriam of Jim Vernon

From Inspiration to Publication

You are invited to attend our 2009 Speaker Series at Borders Books. For more information, click here.


VCWC Anthology
Available now

A collection of the winning stories from our Short Story and Poetry Contests and Editor's Choice member submissions. Published every other year.

Contact Barbara Piszczek 805 983-0428 to order.

2008 Quintessence $14, hardcover, $12, soft cover
2006 Out of Thin Air $10, soft cover only

Ventura County Writers Club
Helpful Examples for Those Entering Our
2009 Poetry Contest

Quintessence, the VCWC's current anthology, contains the three winning short stories from each of the years 2006 and 2007, in addition to the winning poems for those years, and a number of selected essays and other shorts. The anthology sells to the public for $12.00, tax included, plus $2.50 shipping and handling. Members of the VCWC may purchase copies directly at our monthly meetings for the discounted price of $10.00. In addition, the previous anthology, Out of Thin Air, also contains winning short stories. Copies of this work can be purchased for $10.00 (includes tax and shipping). Both books may be purchased together for $20.00 (also includes tax and shipping).


Writing Workshops

Our monthly newsletter, The Write Stuff, also has details on VCWC Writing Workshops from Simi Valley to Ventura.

Guidelines for Critique Workshops
in pdf.

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2009 Poetry Contest
Winners Announced

The Ventura County Writers Club is proud to announce the winners of its 2009 Poetry Contest. The club received over 200 entries from local and international poets.

Please click here for the list of winners.




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Ventura County Writer's Club

Lee Wade - Club President president@venturacountywriters.com