Sonoma County Literary Update

Dear Literary Folk,

Daylight Savings ends this weekend and we move to a quieter, darker season. Some ongoing groups will not be meeting until the new year. There is still plenty of literary activity in the county, but no major events have been reported. I think November is a good time for writers to be writing, a quiet stretch before the holidays are on us.

Perhaps that is why November is NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). If enough people are interested, Georgette de Blois of UUCSR Writers will make arrangements for a meeting place to write 50,000 word novels in 30 days. Contact: ggdeb@sonic.net. See also http://nanowrimo.org. According to this website, there are over 1650 authors in Sonoma County who are at least thinking about writing a novel in November! The idea seems to be that writing in groups with a deadline would be motivating. I have my doubts; writing has always been a solitary preoccupation for me. Still, this could be a good month to start writing something new (and long). It could be in the air somehow — the muse of novels, novellas or maybe longish stories.

A propos which, as a Canadian born, writer of short fiction, I am especially thrilled that the Nobel for literature was awarded to Alice Munro. If you are unfamiliar with her work, find the October 21 issue of the New Yorker, where her story “The Bear Came Over the Mountain” was reprinted. It may still be available online. It was the basis for the film Away From Her (2006).

October was a whirlwind of literary events. Please do read Bill Vartnaw’s moving description of the October 25, El Dia de los Muertos readings at the Petaluma Art Center in his most recent post (https://socolitupdate.com/poet-laureates-news/).

Throughout November readings are scheduled for several local, self-published authors at Copperfields Books (see https://socolitupdate.com/current-calendar-of-literary-events for details). There will be a book launch for Marylu Downing’s Tales from the West Pole at the Occidental Center for the Arts on November 17. Steamy Sonoma County presents its second reading of erotic poetry on November 15 at Gaia’s Garden, Santa Rosa. “Tellebration” or storytelling for children and adults takes place November 16 at the Glaser Center.

Stay warm, cozy up with a good book. Or write one!

Jo-Anne Rosen
Co-editor
Sonoma County Literary Update

A pdf of most of the pages on the SoCo Lit Update site may be downloaded here.