Linda Watanabe McFerrin - Author, Novelist, Travel Writer

Book & Music Festival and 5th Annual Mokule’ia Writers Retreat in Hawaii

Camp Mokule'ia, Hawaii, HI, Linda Watanabe McFerrin, Linda Watanabe McFerrin and Travel, Oahu, Travel, WorkshopNo Comments

Linda Watanabe McFerrin

Writers Retreat in Hawaii

May 7-12, 2017
Camp Mokule’ia, Oahu, HI

This week and next you’ll find me at the Hawaii Book & Music Festival and the Mokulē‘ia Writers Retreat in Hawaii.

The Hawaii Book & Music Festival is a fantastic two-day fest featuring writers and performers from all over the world. I’ll be reading and talking about short stories with Jessica Lee Richardson on Sunday, May 7th at noon.

The Mokulē‘ia Writers Retreat in Hawaii is an annual gathering that brings three dozen writers of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, essays, and memoir to the North Shore of O‘ahu for a week of intimate workshops and coaching. The retreat is high-level and professional — but also low-key and tuned in to the beauty of the surroundings. It fosters an exchange in two directions — between islanders and mainlanders, published writers and budding writers, Native Hawaiian artistry and mainland publishing.

With the Waianae Mountains as the backdrop and the open ocean in front, participants break bread with colleagues, gather in daily workshops, salute the morning sun in yoga, write privately in the shade of ironwood trees, and wander along the beach. They even dance some hula. The theme, nā wahi ho‘oulu, acknowledges that a sacred spot like this will inspire the assembled to explore other places — whether in the heart, in memory, or in the moment. (more…)

CWC Marin 3rd Annual Bay Area Writers Conference

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Bay Area Writers, don’t miss The California Writer’s Club (CWC) Marin’s 3rd Annual Writers Conference. This is a daylong writers conference covering fiction and nonfiction. It offers great sessions on the literary craft. In addition, three literary agents will be available for five-minute pitches. Morning coffee and rolls are included, along with a bag lunch, in the registration. Vegetarian and gluten-free options will be available.

The conference date is Sunday, April 2, from 9am to 5pm.

To sign up for this conference, go to http://cwcmarin.com/writerslife/ and follow the instructions there.

Presenters for this Writers Conference:

CONSTANCE HALE is a San Francisco–based journalist and the author of three books on language and literary style, including Sin and Syntax. She has been called “Marion the Librarian on a Harley, or E. B. White on acid.” Her profiles, essays, and articles have appeared in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, the Atlantic, Afar, and Honolulu. In 2016, she published a book on the evolution of hula, The Natives Are Restless, and a children’s book, ‘Iwalani‘s Tree.

The Seven Stages of Manuscript Grief

Constance Hale reveals the arduous process she goes through with each manuscript, and how she manages to push through to the final draft. In a talk that is funny, honest, inspiring, and also practical, she also shares tips on how to keep going and how to keep making your writing better.

LINDA WATANABE MCFERRIN is a widely published poet, travel writer, and novelist. She is the author of two poetry collections and a winner of the Katherine Anne Porter Prize for Fiction. Her novel, Namako: Sea Cucumber, was named Best Book for the Teen-Age by the New York Public Library. In addition to that novel, she has written the short-story collection The Hand of Buddha, co-edited twelve anthologies, and written a zombie novel, Dead Love, which was a 2009 Bram Stoker Award Finalist for Superior Achievement in a Novel. In addition to editing nine books on travel, Linda has judged the San Francisco Literary Awards, the Josephine Miles Award for Literary Excellence, and the Kiriyama Prize. She is the founder of Left Coast Writers® and has led workshops in Japan, Indonesia, Greece, France, Italy, England, Ireland, Central America, Spain as well as the United States.

Writing about Places Real and Imagined

Ever wonder how to write that first travel story, set your novel in the perfect location, create a world from scratch? In this introductory workshop you’ll find out how to write about places, real and imagined, in a way that will take your reader there. Whether it’s the professional travel essay or long or short fiction, you’ll learn how to quickly transport people to your chosen realms, and you’ll leave with a formula for capturing them in a way that will captivate editors and readers and maybe even win a few awards.

Other presenters include:
KRISSA LAGOS began her publishing career at Seal Press, a feminist nonfiction press based in Berkeley, CA. She then moved on to freelance editing, where she truly found her calling. Specializing in developmental editing, she has worked on every type of book under the sun, including fiction, memoir, business, spirituality, self-help, and more. She has also worked with the hybrid press She Writes Press as an editor since its founding in 2012. She lives in San Francisco.

MARY C. MOORE has been a literary agent with Kimberley Cameron & Associates since 2013. She represents both adult and young adult fiction. She prefers clients who are online savvy and who have more than one full-length book project in their drawer. For more information on what she represents visit her site, marycmoore.com and the agency site, kimberleycameron.com.

TANYA EGAN GIBSON is the author of the novel How to Buy a Love of Reading (Dutton, 2009) as well as a freelance editor and writing consultant. Her articles about writing and editing have appeared in Writer’s Digest and The Writer.

Editor DAVID COLIN CARR has been freelancing fiction and nonfiction since 1988 with writers as far flung as Sydney, Sofia, Beijing, and Johannesburg, as well as writers and academics around the US. He works collaboratively with clients to bring forward their passion – with clarity and coherence, while preserving and amplifying their distinctive voice. David values outlining to develop logical structure; strives for lively, efficient language; and guides writers in sharpening their craft. He works in many genres, but is especially dedicated to projects that reflect the beauty of this planet and the mystery of our hearts – offering compassion, counseling skills, humor, and creativity to bring forth the brilliance of both the writing and the collaborative relationship. www.DavidColinCarr.com

PETER BEREN is a former Publisher of Sierra Club Books, VIA Books; V.P. for Publishing at the Palace Press Group; an Acquisition Editor for Jeremy Tarcher; a literary agent at The Peter Beren Agency, and a publishing consultant with more than 40 years experience in Book Publishing.

A member of AAR, his is also the author of seven published works, including The Writers Legal Companion (with Brad Bunnin) and California the Beautiful (with the late photographer, Galen Rowell). His best-known Agency clients include photographer Art Wolfe (The Earth Is My Witness), graphic novelist Jack Katz (The First Kingdom), and Chakra expert Anodea Judith (Eastern Body, Western Mind). A founding staff member of The Boston Phoenix, he has published articles for a variety of magazines including Mother Jones, Berkeley Monthly and Tufts Magazine. www.Peterberen.com

ROBERT PIMM is the president of the California Lawyers in the Arts.

Writing Coach TERESA LEYUNG-RYAN says: “I can help you identity your themes – to make rewriting your first draft and building your writer’s platform joyful tasks. Make your namestand for something—to attract target consumers who are likely to buy what you have to sell.”

Happy New Year! Where Are You Going in 2017?

Linda Watanabe McFerrin and Travel, Rosemary Gong, Year of the RoosterNo Comments

Happy New Year! Sun Nien Fai Lok! Xin Nian Juai Le!

It’s the Year of the Rooster, and it looks like 2017, the New Year, promises to be a year of intense energy and productivity as well as no small amount of drama. As my neighbors prepare for it in various ways, I like to meditate, send notes out to good pals, and reread past LCW member and AWW graduate Rosemary Gong’s excellent book, Good Luck Life: The Essential Guide to Chinese American Celebrations and Culture.

Last Year’s Travel and Writing

For me 2017 will mean twelve more months of extraordinary adventure. In 2016, I spent the beginning of January exploring Gullah traditions on one of South Carolina’s barrier islands.

March took me, along with a large group of very talented writers and photographers, to Andalusia. There, one of the many workshops and travel adventures I lead through Wanderland Writers culminated in one more anthology in the award-winning Wandering series. In 2016 we produced Wandering in Andalusia: The Soul of Southern Spain, edited with my much loved travel and editing colleague, Joanna Biggar.

I spent much of April in South Carolina again, this time on James Island. I enjoyed hanging out with talented artists and musicians and leading workshops almost daily for the Southern Sampler Artists Colony. The trip included a (more…)

Book Passage Travel Writers and Photographers Conference 2016

Book Passage, Linda Watanabe McFerrin, Travel, Workshop, WritersNo Comments

Here’s some great news!

Left Coast Writers will receive 10% off on the Intensive Writing Weekend for Y/A and Middle Grade Readers (7/16-7/17/16), the Mystery Writers Conference (7/28-7/31/16) and the Travel Writers Conference (8/11-8/14/16).

I’ve been faculty at all of these conferences at one time or another, and I’m happy to report that they are incredibly informative and loads of fun. My favorite, of course, is the Book Passage Travel Writers & Photographer’s Conference. I attended the very first one. Winning the essay contest landed me in Wales, my grandfather’s native land, and at the home of literary giant, Jan Morris, whose work I’ve always admired. Really, this is an opportunity you don’t want to miss. Plus, I’ll be on hand to answer questions and offer advice..

You’ll find all of the conferences listed on the Book Passage website, but here’s more info on the Book Passage Travel Writers & Photographers Conference:

The Book Passage Travel Writers & Photographers Conference has an extraordinary, international reputation among publishers, editors, and writers. This conference will be held August 11-14.

Now in its 25^th year, this four-day Conference offers an array of writing and photography workshops in the morning, a full afternoon of panels and discussions, and evening faculty presentations. The faculty includes publishers, magazine editors, photographers, travel essayists, and more. There are hours of informal interaction between faculty and participants during lunch and in discussions that often last late into the evening.

Take a look at this year’s astounding faculty:

Jim Benning
Tim Cahill
Donald George (more…)

Travel and Write in Spain: Wandering in Andalusia!

Linda Watanabe McFerrin, Linda Watanabe McFerrin and Travel, Wanderland Writers, WorkshopNo Comments

We’re almost booked up for this terrific Writers Workshop in Spain!

From Wanderland Writers Workshops:
Wandering in Andalusia: Seville and The Alhambra—March 11-March 18, 2016

“Near the walls of Seville/ At my friend’s house, Lillas Pastia/ I will dance the Séguedille/
And drink Manzanilla.” From Carmen, by Georges Bizet.

Well-known writers and instructors Linda Watanabe McFerrin and Joanna Biggar are off on another adventure and invite you to join them in Andalusia. In this legendary region of Southern Spain many worlds meet: classical (Hercules was the supposed founder of Seville) and medieval; Jewish, Christian and Moorish; colonial, imperial, and modern. From our hotel in central Seville, with its graceful Moorish-style tiled decor, its fountains and secluded courtyards, we will explore them all through art (Murillo and Velásquez were native sons), architecture, music and food.

Adapting our curriculum to the locale—and our schedule to the land of the siesta—we will give several workshops and private consultations while offering many ways to discover the city, including: a walking tour; visits to the Cathedral, with its splendid altar, its tomb of Columbus, and its towering minaret, the Giralda, next door, and the royal palace of the Alcázar; a trip to the Flamenco Museum and a night of flamenco; an afternoon of soaking and tea at the Baños Arabes; an evening across the river in the Tirana District, once famous for the factories which attracted gypsies like (more…)

For Amelia on What Would Have Been Her Birthday

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The Shell Game
for Amelia

The girl in this picture has a ponytail.
Her face is stern.
She is collecting seashells on a deserted Hokkaido shore,
north of Hachinohe.
You see, the beach is littered with these shells,
she, tiny, picking her way among them.
This was my sister
before the sea swept her away.
I wanted to extract her from the photograph
before it was too late.
Next to it I pile up photos of the two of us,
trying to shift the balance
for that child on the shell-strewn strand,
but the wind is always blowing in these pictures
and they are in black and white.

She brought me her favorite stories to read—
The Five Chinese Brothers with the brother
who swallowed the sea.
My heart is the only thing left in our fish bowl,
a small red muscle circling.
She telephones from the peninsula
where she has a job cutting hair,
but she still hasn’t found an apartment.

Alone,
on the beach,
I keep looking for her,
gingerly searching each shell.

—Linda Watanabe McFerrin

Writers Return from Japan

Linda Watanabe McFerrin, Linda Watanabe McFerrin and Travel, Travel, Wanderland Writers, WorkshopNo Comments

We’re back! After wandering all over Japan, the writers have returned with some amazing stories. I’ve heard bits and pieces and can’t wait to read, edit, help publish and celebrate many of those fantastic tales. You’ll find some of them here or on our Wanderland Writers website. For others you’ll need to go to additional publications, but I’ll try to shout out where and when they will be appearing right here on the blog.

What’s always amazing to me is the ways in which our experiences of a place differ and the ways in which they connect. For example, some of us were alone in our passion for pickles, but I don’t think there was a soul among us who didn’t appreciate the magic of Henjosonin and our temple stay in Koyasan. Still, even in that unity, the reasoning was unique. Some loved the place because of the Otsutome (Buddhist ceremonies); some for the spectacular Shojin Ryori (Buddhist vegetarian cuisine); some for the beauty and profound spirituality of Okunoin, a celebrated cemetery and sacred area filled with towering centuries-old cedars, over 200,000 gravestones and the great buddhist monk Kobo Daishi Kukai’s mausoleum. Others were enamored most by the Asahi beer and sake vending machines in one of the corridors of our shukubo, or temple lodging, and visited these with frequency.

What astounds me, always, is the manner in which we can see something and not see it, be there and not be there, not be there and still be there. There are no real boundaries, and what we really discover on our wanderings is that travel is a state of mind—or more profoundly, a dimension of being that transcends space and time.

Our next Wanderland Adventure will take us to Andalusia. More about that later. For now, we are enjoying Japan!

—Linda Watanabe McFerrin

Indigo Twist with Sharon Cooper-Murray

Anton DuMars, boo hags, Dead Love, Gullah traditions, haints, Linda Watanabe McFerrin, Sharon Cooper-Murray, South Carolina, twist dolls, Zombies1 comment

Morris Island, South Carolina, April 2015

Here we are again, the writers and illustrators who have come together for this year’s Southern Sampler Artists Colony, on Morris Island with Captain Anton DuMars and Sharon Cooper-Murray, aka The Gullah Lady. Anton has stayed with his boat and Sharon has taken us on a walk along the shore and is teaching us something many little Gullah children once knew how to do: make dolls with little twists of yarn.

The Gullah culture developed in the southeast along the coast from North Carolina to Florida in the late sixteenth (more…)

Amelia in Marbella

Amelia Passetti, El Estrecho, feng shui fish, Marbella, travel in Spain11 comments

Marbella, Spain, 2015

The pop-eyed fish ogle us from the walls of El Estrecho, a little tapas bar in the seaside village of Marbella on the Mediterranean coast. Bubble-eyed and kite-tailed, they have no business being here, spying upon us as we eat our tapas, drink our wine, lament the unavailability of gazpacho at this particular establishment on this particular day.

Here, on the sunny Costa del Sol, these fish seem out of place. We are thousands of miles from Japan, Asian terrain of my childhood, where we used to buy them at fairs by the pair, sometimes singly, in their inevitable take-home containers—clear plastic bags full of water—to be dumped into the goldfish bowl in our living room.

My little sister, Amelia, five years old at the time, was notorious for purchasing them. They only cost a few yen— (more…)

NAMW Memoir Teleseminar: Writing Bestselling Memoirs

Bestselling Memoirs, Linda Watanabe McFerrin, NAMW, National Association of Memoir Writers, Writers WorkshopNo Comments

WRITING BESTSELLING MEMOIRS WITHOUT THROWING EVERYONE UNDER THE BUS

July Member Teleseminar with Linda Watanabe McFerrin

July 25, 2014

11 AM PDT 12 PM MDT 1 PM CDT 2 PM EDT

Any professional editor will tell you that the key to writing a fantastic, bestselling memoir is drama and relevance, but sometimes it hard to amp up the intensity without causing major collateral damage with family, community or friends, not to mention ex-spouses and lovers.

In this seminar you will learn how to take those quiet moments and turn them into spellbinding revelations and how to do it without throwing all of your friends and loved ones under the bus.

You’ll learn: (more…)