CHAIRS meets the third Thursday of each month (except during June, July, and August). We meet in the Barnes & Noble Booksellers located inside the Montclair Plaza, 5183 Montclair Plaza Lane, Montclair, California. (The store is next to J.C. Penney’s.) Our meetings last from 9:30 to 12:30 or so with lunch immediately following in the mall food court for those who want to stay and socialize.

Schedule of Meetings:

9:30-10:30: Short devotional, discuss business news, beginner’s tips, marketing tips, and a time for members to share

10:30-11:30: Speaker or workshop

11:30-12:30: Break into small groups of three members in each group for manuscript or illustration critique

Schedule of Speaker or Workshop Topics

June, July, August: Summer break, no meetings

September 17, 2009: Catherine L. Osornio will teach us how to write and get published in the nonfiction market.
Catherine L. Osornio is the author of the forthcoming picture book, The Declaration of Independence from A to Z from Pelican Publishing Company, due out in the spring of 2010. She has also written fiction and non-fiction articles and stories for a variety of outlets, including Clubhouse Jr. and Learning Through History magazines. Catherine lives in Southern California with her husband and four children. You can visit her at Catherine L. Osornio, Children’s Author.

October 15, 2009: Beverly Caruso will teach us all about Writing for Magazines: Types of Articles and Selecting Your Markets.
Bev is a popular author and speaker who has trained writers in seven countries with students from 30 nations. Come, sit at her feet, and experience her discipleship for writers! Bev will be signing books at this event for anyone who would like to purchase copies.

November 19, 2009: Marjorie Flathers will show us how to gather creative ideas!
Marjorie is a free-lance writer with over 25 years experience who has appeared in a wide variety of publications for adults and children, especially the “Kids’ Reading Room” page of the Los Angeles Times.

December 17, 2009: Christmas Book Boutique
Join us for our Christmas party! We’ll have a fun gift exchange. If you want to participate, wrap a used writer’s book or writer’s magazines and bring it along. (These can be found at your local library or used bookstore.) We’ll also have our regular time of manuscript critique. For our Christmas Book Boutique, we’ll have books written by our members for sale. What a great way to purchase meaningful gifts for family and friends!

January 21, 2010: Tina Cho will share her journey and tips from being a newbie in writing to actively getting published frequently.
Tina is a former elementary school teacher who started writing a year ago. She is now a freelance writer for education, children’s stories, and mom-stuff. In just one year, her work has been accepted for publication by Downey Christian School, education.com, Christian Library Journal, and Grands online magazine. She and her husband have two children and live in Orange County. You may visit her at Tina’s Tidbits.

February 18, 2010: Nancy I. Sanders will be teaching about VOICE and how to find yours as a writer.
Nancy is the author of over 75 books with publishers big and small. She’ll be celebrating Black History Month along with the release of her newest book, America’s Black Founders: Revolutionary Heroes and Early Leaders.

March: TBA
April: TBA
May: TBA

Past Meetings

Take a peek at some of the topics we covered in our past meetings!

September 18, 2008: Marjorie Flathers will show us how to write “short-short” stories.
Marjorie is a free-lance writer with over 25 years experience who has appeared in a wide variety of publications for adults and children, especially the “Kids’ Reading Room” page of the Los Angeles Times.

October 16:Catherine Osornio will share with us how to target a publisher.
Catherine wrote a manuscript, submitted it to one single publisher, and landed her very first book contract. And now she submitted a proposal for her second book to them. Come find out the secret to her success and learn how you can do the same!

November 20: Veronica Walsh will teach us all about approaching the publishing industry from the illustrator’s perspective.
Veronica’s been working hard to complete the illustrations in her very first picture book! She studied art and design at Cal State University, Long Beach where she received her BFA in Visual Communication Design. Active in the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI), she coordinates monthly events for illustrators in our local region of southern California.

December 18: Christmas Book Boutique and mini-workshop on the joys of self-publishing your book
Join us for our Christmas party! We’ll have a fun gift exchange. If you want to participate, wrap a used writer’s book or writer’s magazines and bring it along. (These can be found at your local library or used bookstore.) We’ll also have  our regular time of manuscript critique. For our Christmas Book Boutique, we’ll have books written by our members for sale. What a great way to purchase meaningful gifts for family and friends!

January 15, 2009: Marilyn Donahue will lead a hands-on workshop for creating your very own Goal Notebook to jumpstart your new year with purpose.
Marilyn is the prolific and talented author of over 30 books. Beloved writing instructor at the university level, she is also the Author in Residence during October at the Mission Inn in Riverside. Marilyn will be signing her books at this event for anyone who would like to purchase copies.

February 19, 2009: Nancy I. Sanders will share her marketing strategy so you can learn to write a book manuscript that has the potential of earning amazing sales.
Nancy is the author of over 70 books including a bestseller for Scholastic Teaching Resources which has sold over 199,000 copies to date. Her newest picture book, D is for Drinking Gourd, sold over 70,000 copies in its first six months of publication. Nancy will be signing her books at this event for anyone who would like to purchase copies.

March 19: Q L Pearce will do a hands-on workshop about writing for the exciting world of the work-for-hire market.
Q is the author of more than 140 books for children on the subjects of science, literature, and values. Her published work includes more than a dozen collections of short stories, two collections of plays for the Character Counts! program, and film tie-in books for the Fox animated film Titan AE and the Universal animated series Land Before Time. She has written four titles in the Young Heroes series for KidHaven Press, and is currently at work on five books in the Mysterious Encounters series. Her latest publication, Hachiko and the Royal Dogs of Japan, will be released by Phoenix Books in March, 2009. Q is an Assistant Regional Advisor for SCBWI Orange County/San Bernardino/Riverside and currently serves on the Board of Advisors for SCBWI.

April 16: Paula Emick will teach us the nuts and bolts of Creative Nonfiction.
These days editors and publishers are asking writers to submit works of Creative Non-fiction.  Don’t know what creative non-fiction is?  Some of you are already writing it! Memoirs, historical non-fiction, and the popular “slice-of-life” type articles you see in magazines and papers are all types of creative non-fiction. Paula will share guidelines and tips learned from a recent writing class that will help you grab your readers’ hearts while presenting the facts. Paula has her degree in communications from UCSD and has been studying writing at Chaffey College.  When not writing, Paula substitute teaches elementary and middle school.  She is married and has two teenaged children.  Paula won first place in the Chaffey College Writing contest in 2007.

May 21: Paula Miller will teach us all about Point of View!
Paula teaches college composition and literature courses and loves working with university students. Her free-lance articles on literature appear in publications such as The Dictionary of Literary Biography, Masterplots, and Critical Survey of Short Fiction. Her first book Student to Student: A Guide to College Life is a devotional designed to encourage Christian students on their academic journey. Her second book, Campus Voices is a collection of real-life reflections that take an honest look at the difficulties and struggles students face in college. Written for students by students, both books are perfect as a gift for the high school graduate or college student in your life! Paula will be signing her books at this event for anyone who would like to purchase copies.