Places for Writers in Search of Colleagues

“Writing, at its best, is a lonely life.”

--Ernest Hemingway

Solitude may be a writer’s most intimate companion, but some robust social contact with other writers can boost motivation, increase market knowledge and assist in the sometimes painful task of evaluating a manuscript.

Writing clubs and workshops abound in Southern California’s creative climate, and many can be found in the San Fernando Valley. Nearly every writing field is represented, from entertainment and children’s literature to romance and mystery. Some groups provide a social atmosphere while others are rigorous in their examination of a writer’s work.

A list of area writing groups that may assist in putting pen to paper:

Book Publicists of Southern California is a networking group for “those who are publicists at heart,” said founder Irwin Zucker, who adds that writers from all fields attend the bimonthly meetings. “How to Survive in the Talk Radio Jungle” is the subject of the April 26 meeting, which will focus on the ethics of radio and TV personalities. Meetings are at 8 p.m. at Sportsmen’s Lodge in Studio City. Members begin gathering at 6 p.m. and dinner is served at 7.

The dinner meeting is $15 to $25 for members, depending on what meal is ordered, an additional $2 for non-members or $5 for the program alone. The $10 membership includes the monthly newsletter “Know Thy Shelf.”

6430 Sunset Blvd., Suite 503, Hollywood 90028. (213) 461-3921.

National League of American Pen Women was founded in 1897 so female writers could gather outside male-dominated press clubs. A Simi Valley chapter, one of 205 in the United States, meets in members’ homes at 7 p.m. on the second Thursday of each month.

The 25 local members--there are 6,000 nationally--will hold a late-summer contest for fiction, nonfiction and poetry writers. Scholarships are awarded annually to Ventura County high school students who demonstrate an avid interest in writing. The contest and scholarship are open to both sexes.

The league’s biannual convention will be in Kansas City, Mo., in mid-April, 1990. The $35 annual membership dues include the monthly newsletter “Pen and Ink.”

P.O. Box 1485, Simi Valley 93062.

The Writers Workshop assists screenwriters, playwrights, comedy writers and radio and TV writers in the development of their material.

The group meets twice monthly at the Catalina building in NBC-TV’s Burbank complex at the corner of Alameda Avenue and Bob Hope Drive. Speakers, including top writers, producers and directors of films and TV, are featured the first Monday of each month at 7:30 p.m. The meeting is free to members, and non-members pay $5.

“We strive for professionalism and not just folks getting together as a club,” said Jack Adams, president of the 50-member workshop. “We’re plugged into the industry.”

Members read and critique each other’s manuscripts beginning at 7:30 p.m. on the third Monday of each month. A script library containing manuscripts from feature films, plays, comedy sketches and sitcoms is available to members.

The Writers Workshop sends a quarterly newsletter to members who pay $75 annual dues. Writers can join by submitting a screenplay, TV script or play to the membership committee for evaluation at P.O. Box 800699, Santa Clarita 91380. (818) 848-2376 or (805) 252-5939.

The Scriptwriters Network consists of many members who work as writers in the medical, advertising and technical writing fields who want to break into entertainment writing.

The 50 writers meet at 7:30 p.m. the second Monday of each month in Councilman Mike Woo’s Studio City office, 12229 Ventura Blvd. Producers, writers and agents speak at the meetings, which are open to non-members for $3. Members, who must have written a professional entertainment script, pay annual dues of $24.

A data base with information on free-lance work and a list of producers’ names is available to members.

11684 Ventura Blvd., Suite 405, Studio City 91604. (818) 997-3102.

The Society of Children’s Book Writers is a national organization that presents workshops and conferences throughout the United States for writers and illustrators of children’s literature.

Full membership requires publication in the children’s literature field. Associate membership is open to editors, publishers, librarians, teachers and others who have an interest in the genre. The $35 dues include a bimonthly newsletter with market reports and news of contests and awards.

The society offers medical and life insurance programs for its 4,800 national members, 400 of whom reside in Southern California. The group also sponsors $1,000 grants for works in progress.

The society will have a “Picture Book Day” in mid-June at Clairbourn School in San Gabriel. An annual conference, featuring knowledgeable writers, editors, publishers and illustrators, will be Aug. 12-15 at the Registry Hotel in Universal City. The Golden Kite awards, judged by a society panel and given to members who have written or illustrated outstanding fiction or nonfiction children’s books, will be presented at the conference.

P.O. Box 296 Mar Vista Station, Los Angeles 90066. (213) 450-9054.

California Writers Club was formed when author Jack London and a few writer friends broke away from the Alameda Press Club in 1909. Today the club has seven California chapters, including one in the Valley, which gathers the first Saturday of each month at Fallbrook Mall’s Meeting Place in Canoga Park. Local members include Ray Bradbury, Irving Stone, Rod McKuen and C.Y. Lee.

Non-members pay $5 for the meetings, which begin at 1:30 p.m. Professional membership requires writers to be published in their field of expertise. Unpublished associate members must show they are active in pursuing a writing career. Annual dues are $25 with a one-time $20 initiation fee.

A monthly newsletter presents new publications, contests, awards and member news. Many members gather in workshops and critique each other’s manuscripts, which encompass screenwriting, poetry, fiction and nonfiction writing.

A biannual conference, “Winning the Writing Game,” will be July 14-16 in Asilomar, where contest awards will be handed out. The writing contest for non-members covers fiction, nonfiction, poetry and scriptwriting, and closes April 17. There is a $5 fee per category.

Elizabeth Forsythe Hailey, author of “A Woman of Independent Means,” and her daughter, Kendall Hailey, author of “The Day I Became an Autodidact,” will speak at the club’s May 6 meeting.

P.O. Box 4736, Chatsworth 91313. (818) 784-1944.

PEN (Poets, Essayists, Editors, Novelists) is “sort of like the United Nations of writers,” said Joanne Leedom-Ackerman, president of the group’s West Coast center. PEN was founded in London in 1921 and has 90 centers throughout the world.

PEN’s purpose is to develop and nurture writers and fight for a writer’s freedom to create. The Writers in Prison Committee battles censorship worldwide and works to obtain the release of prisoners “whose only crime has been to express their ideas and opinions,” according to PEN literature.

Annual dues are $32 with a $30 initiation fee. Members, who receive a quarterly newsletter, must have published two books, screenplays or plays to join the group. “Friends of PEN” include all those interested in literature, and those dues are $35 to $1,000.

Writers will read from John Steinbeck’s “The Grapes of Wrath” during “Steinbeck Revisited,” PEN’s April 30 meeting at Crossroads School in Santa Monica at 11 a.m. Cost is $5.

1100 Glendon Ave., Suite PH-21, Los Angeles 90024. (213) 824-2041.

National Writers Club has 5,000 members throughout the United States and 35 who meet at 8:30 a.m. for breakfast the third Saturday of every month at the Carriage Inn in Van Nuys.

“We have a good cross-section of people,” said Sydney Kowlton, the group’s president. The April 15 meeting will feature book publicist Irwin Zucker speaking on the components of a best-selling novel.

A critique group meets at 7 p.m. the second Wednesday of each month in members’ homes. Writers’ research reports, which give advice on manuscript preparation and copyright law, among other topics, are free to members.

Professional membership for writers who have published books or articles is $50 a year, and associate membership is $40 a year. Both levels require a $15 initiation fee. Annual chapter dues are $10, which include a monthly newsletter.

17335 Rinaldi Street, Granada Hills 91344. (818) 363-8694.

Romance Writers of America, a national organization with 100 chapters and 4,000 members, has 50 members in its Gold Coast chapter. The group meets at 7 p.m. the first Monday of each month at Carrows Restaurant in Ventura.

A critique group gathers one hour before monthly meetings to read and analyze members’ manuscripts. Cost to non-members is $3.

Members receive a bimonthly magazine that includes a market update and instruction on how to put more passion into their prose.

“The market update is helpful if you’ve been writing about a heroine who works as an artist, but the market is looking for a heroine who works as a nuclear physicist,” said Barbara Grabendike, chapter president.

National dues are $45 a year, and chapter dues are $12.

A conference, with workshops on all aspects of writing romantic fiction, is set for July 20-23 in Boston.

1215 Anchors Way No. 47, Ventura 93001. (805) 642-7195.

American Society of Journalists and Authors is a New York-based group consisting of professional writers.

“The qualifications for getting in are very stiff,” said Ruth Pittman, secretary of the 80-member Southern California chapter. “You need two recommendation letters from editors, and 12 examples of nonfiction articles published in the last three years.”

Services include a monthly newsletter and “Dial-a-Writer,” which connects members, for a $15 annual fee, with editors searching for free-lance work.

Local members meet at 7 p.m. the second Tuesday of each month at various restaurants in West Los Angeles. An annual conference will be May 6 in New York. Membership dues are $120 with a $50 initiation fee.

P.O. Box 35282, Los Angeles. 90035. (213) 931-3177.

Mystery Writers of America holds dinner meetings the last Thursday of each month at the Smokehouse Restaurant in Toluca Lake. Members begin gathering at 6 p.m., with dinner at 8. The dinner costs $20 for members and $25 for non-members. Writers, publicists, agents and others connected with mystery writing are featured as speakers.

Annual dues are $50 for three levels of membership: active members published in the mystery field, associate members published in another writing genre and affiliates who have not yet been published.

Members receive a monthly newsletter, “The March of Crime,” from the local chapter and “The Third Degree” from the national organization, which has eight chapters.

The Southern California chapter will hold its annual seminar in September. An annual national convention will be May 11 in New York City. The Edgar Allan Poe awards, which honor the best of mystery writing, will be presented at the convention.

1162 Angelo Drive, Beverly Hills 90210. (213) 278-9500.

The Ventura County Writers’ Club, formed in 1933, meets on the second Monday of each month at 1:15 p.m. at the New America Savings Bank in Camarillo. Members critique each other’s works in progress after the meeting. There is a $3 fee for non-members.

A second monthly meeting, which features a speaker, is held at 8 p.m. the first Tuesday of each month at the Camarillo Library. Members, who receive a monthly newsletter, also gather in each other’s homes to read and critique their manuscripts, which encompass most genres.

Initial dues are $20, and $12 for annual renewal. The club will hold a travel writer’s workshop May 6 at the Casa Sirena Hotel in Oxnard. Cost to non-members is $10.

P.O. Box 7484, Thousand Oaks 91359. (805) 495-1675.

ARTS Anonymous is a support group for writers and other creative types who are paralyzed by fear, self-criticism and procrastination.

The group was founded in New York City in 1984 and now meets at 10 locations in Los Angeles. A Glendale group meets at 10 p.m. Wednesday nights in the Positive Directions Activity Center at 225-D North Maryland Ave.

ARTS Anonymous (Artists Recovering Through the Twelve Steps) uses the 12-step recovery process, which is the foundation of Alcoholics Anonymous and other 12-step programs.

“Our heart’s desire has become our heart’s disease,” reads ARTS Anonymous literature. “We are afraid of our responsibility to fully develop our talent. We have felt restraint at expressing our originality and potential.”

P.O. Box 69413, Los Angeles 90069. (213) 281-8420.