Network Links Writers to the World of Publishing

Whether sitting at the computer in a newsroom, scribbling furiously or leisurely on a yellow pad or clacking away on a typewriter, writing is always a solitary activity. Well, with the exception of the committees that turn out television sitcoms.

So, the majority of literary toilers--who spend so much time focusing on their novels, poetry, articles, nonfiction books, etc.--too often overlook the business end of publishing. Their marketing skills are limited, and they begin the process of trying to sell their words very late in the game.

When writers finally look up from the finished manuscript, they wander around seeking agents, editors and publishers, and encounter what they perceive as indifference and a huge wall keeping them out of the publishing process.

To counter the frustration and isolation many writers face, Mary Embree and Patricia Fry have organized Small Publishers, Artists & Writers Network, which has been successfully meeting in Ventura for the past year.

SPAWN brings together everyone involved in the publishing business and provides--through meetings and its newsletter--an opportunity for wordsmiths and publishers to network.

A Santa Barbara chapter of SPAWN is now organizing and encourages writers, illustrators, editors, publishers and booksellers to attend the meeting scheduled at 1:30 p.m. Saturday in the Karpeles Manuscript Library, 21 W. Anapamu St., a few doors from Earthling Bookshop. Call 643-2303.

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Local author Richard L. Senate and illustrator John Anthony Miller will sign their book, “Erle Stanley Gardner’s Ventura--The Birthplace of Perry Mason,” at 6 tonight at Phantom Bookshop, 451 E. Main St., Ventura.

Pamela Duncan Edwards and Henry Cole will sign their picture books for 4- to 8-year-olds, “Some Smug Slug,” “Livingstone Mouse” and “Four Famished Foxes and Fosdyke” at 10:30 a.m. Friday at Adventures for Kids, 3457 Telegraph Road, Ventura.

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A children’s story time is scheduled at 11 a.m. Saturday, and the Classics Book Group will meet to discuss Anthony Trollop’s “The Way We Live Now” at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Borders Books, 125 W. Thousand Oaks Blvd., Thousand Oaks.

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Jim Woodard, Ventura County’s famed storyteller, will weave his magic at 2 p.m. Sunday at an open-house reception hosted by the new Tutor Time Child Care Center at Canwood Street and Clareton Drive, Agoura Hills. Call 658-6697.

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Friday (a person) will host a poetry reading featuring El Rivera at 8 p.m. Tuesday (a day) at 2 West Coffee Company, Ventura. Sign-ups for open readings begin at 7:30 p.m.

Plan Ahead: Gold Coast Fiction Writers, a chapter of Romance Writers of America, will meet at 6:30 p.m. Oct. 17 in Carrows Restaurant, 2401 E. Harbor Blvd., Ventura. The group will discuss query letters and how to create and submit a manuscript synopsis. The fee is $4 for nonmembers. Call 985-2959 for details.

In Santa Barbara: Novelist Duane Unkefer will talk about dramatic fiction and film-rights options at the Santa Barbara Screenwriters Assn. meeting at 7:30 tonight in the San Antonio Village Condominium community room. For information about the group, contact Charles Kent at P.O. Drawer No. 1410, Santa Barbara 93102.

An eclectic trio of authors will speak and sign their books this week at Earthling Bookshop, 1137 State St.: Hawaii resident Trinidad Hunt, who is on a worldwide book tour, will appear at 7 p.m. Friday to discuss her “Operator’s Manual for Planet Earth: An Adventure for the Soul,” an October Book of the Month Club selection.

Steven Heller, whose mildly controversial title, “When Cupid’s Arrow Is a Pain in the Ass,” will sign his thoroughly researched and helpful book about how to avoid destructive relationships at 3 p.m. Saturday.

Local author Virginia Dale’s first novel, “Never Marry in Morocco,” has just been published by Fifthian Press of Santa Barbara. Dale will sign her romantic adventure story at 7:30 p.m. Monday.

Frances Halpern is co-host with Jon O’Brien of “Beyond Words” at 10 a.m. Sundays on KCLU 88.3 FM, Ventura County’s National Public Radio station.