October 19, 2024 facilitated by Jessica Bruce Elections will be held for the Vice-President , Secretary , and Member-At-Large  positions on the Board of Directors. Then we wrap up another amazing year of meetings with our annual Prose Readaround. Just like our annual Poetry Appreciation, this is an opportunity for members to share their hard work and creativity with the entire guild. If you watched or attended this meeting, let us know what you thought of it in the comments below. You must be logged in to post comments.

June 21, 2025 @ 9:30AM Pacific Time presented by Bing Bruce Podcasting is the new mainstream media. For authors, landing an interview on an established podcast is an opportunity to share your author’s story arc, build your audience, and promote your work, which translates into more book sales ... if the podcaster knows what they’re doing. Unfortunately, many don’t. In this interactive session, Bing will show you techniques to keep the interviewer on track, steer the discussion in order to get your message out, and, when necessary, take over the interview without offending the host. Bing Bruce is the creator of Rise Above the Noise Podcast Academy and the author of Rise Above the Noise: A beginner’s Guild to Podcasting . Through a program of hands-on instruction, he helps individuals and groups master the art of professional podcasting. His extensive background in radio, television, and live production includes hosting morning radio shows, commercial and radio play voice work, and event emceeing. He’s also produced and directed numerous music videos, commercials, two nationally syndicated TV shows, and co-produced an award-winning short film. Bing has built a dynamic career as an on-air personality, producer, and educator. He owns and operates Raptor Films and maintains two recording studios in Southern California. If you attended this meeting, let us know what you thought of it in the comments below. You must be logged in to post comments.

Many of us commute daily to work or school. Often the trip is monotonous and uninspiring. One evening William Benchley finds his commute anything but boring. After leaving work at Cal State LA, he takes the Metrolink Express home. Looking forward to dinner with his wife, events soon spiral out of his control. Forced off the train at gunpoint, he is robbed of his ID and keys to the University. Left with nothing but questions, he struggles to make sense of it all. Benchley calls on a friend for help and the mystery only deepens. It is more than just a simple robbery and the FBI soon becomes involved. What is William Benchley caught up in?

MaryBelle the cow loves her daily farmyard adventures with her best friends, Molly and Maggie—until one day, something magical happens! When the schoolchildren notice the unique shapes on her coat, MaryBelle becomes the star of the farm. But as the excitement fades, she realizes that being famous isn't as special as she thought. Join MaryBelle on this heartwarming journey to discover what truly makes her shine!

We often view hardship as something grim—just another obstacle to endure because “life happens,” right? But on a summer day in 2008, Kassidy Brewer faced the unimaginable: a life-altering event that no one could predict or prevent. It wasn’t caused by anyone—it was sudden, unrelenting, and beyond anyone’s control. Yet her story didn’t end that day. It began. Despite the overwhelming challenges she’s faced, Kassidy lives each day with intention, purpose, and grace—making the most of what she has. Her journey is a powerful reminder that hope is still alive, even when the world tries to convince us otherwise. “Hope is a choice you make, not a feeling you get!”

Turnaround to Victory follows the characters from The Turnaround and Turnaround at Sea as they navigate the challenges of marriage, parenthood, and career selection. Love scenes lead to jealousy, anger and kidnapping. Adjustments fuel the emotional conflicts and resolution.

As a writers' guild, we are here to help authors and writers along their path. Many people look at this as a daunting task, but there are lots of resources available to help you along the way, or you can always just ask someone that's done it. Some people say the first step to becoming an author is to figure out what type of author you want to be. As someone that's been using the Internet before Google, or even the world-wide-web for that matter... don't worry about your author identity, you can figure that out as you go. Just like the homesteaders, the first step is to claim your place on the world wide web. Register Your Domain If you haven't already done this, you need to do this as soon as possible , even if you're not an author or writer. Domains don't cost that much, but it protects your home on the Internet, indefinitely. Try to get a .com, but there are many other domain extensions available and they aren't all the same price, some can be a bit pricey. Why? Your future is unwritten, maybe someday you'll need to raise funds for something, maybe you'll run for office, maybe you'll become an author and publish a book. Fame or infamy can happen in an instant! If you suddenly gain popularity and don't already own your domain name, others WILL register a domain for your name, allowing them to do anything they want with it and it may not be in your best interests. Sure, they may sell it back to you... for a significant profit, but they could also use it for nefarious purposes. For the more nefarious stuff, sure you can get it removed, but then there's legal costs and it will take some time. It's far easier to direct someone to "firstnamelastname" or "firstname-lastname", than to redirect them to "myname-author" or "mywritingplace". You are welcome to add a middle initial to your name, just make sure the domain name matches the name you publish your writing under. In the event that you have a popular name and can't register your name or any iterations of it, maybe consider writing under a pen name?! If you do have a popular name and you think there's tons of "myname" out there, but the domain name is still available... grab it!  Having a popular name and having the base domain for that name is golden. It will sure help people find you when they search for you. The biggest reason is that YOUR domain is always under YOUR control!  You can do anything you want with it and it will follow you no matter where you go in life. Even if you only have a Facebook page, most domain registrars allow you to FORWARD your domain, so you can tell people to go to " yourname " instead of that long domain name to go direct to your Facebook page. Then when a new, best, social platform becomes your favourite, you can just redirect your domain name to that and all the previous footprint building you've done is not lost! Although, you really should have a website/webpage. Where do you register a domain name? Some hosting services, like Wix, SquareSpace, Weebly, etc allow you to register your domain name directly through them when you create a website with those services. We DO NOT recommend doing this , because it locks you into their service. Sure, they may offer you a free year of domain registration, but it often creates problems in the future if you ever want to move away from that service. The Diamond Valley Writers' Guild uses and recommends GoDaddy.com , they're one of the largest domain registrars on the Internet and they have a good DNS management system (Domain Name Services), and you can build/host your website with them as well if you choose. NOTE: Kevin Kindle, our webmaster, is also a GoDaddy Reseller through his Dawn Patrol Publishing , so he can help register your domain name, or answer any questions you have and can often assist you if you want. Create your Author Site Even if you don't have anything published, you need to begin establishing your online footprint. You don't need to spend $$$ to create a professional website, there are free alternatives out there, plus most domain providers have the ability to do domain forwarding. You can get started with a service like Wix  for free (they put a small ad at the top of your site), but then when you can afford it, you can easily upgrade to one of their Premium Plans and then watch for their 50% deals and lock your site in for three years cheaper than most of the other pay sites. Social Media Platforms Hopefully, you're not putting all your effort into a single social media platform as your readers and future fans probably use multiple platforms. Just like having a domain name, you should probably try to establish at least some presence on the most popular ones. Then, even as a basic author website, you can make a single page website that contains a contact form and a list of the social media platforms they can find you on. Build Your Brand There's a number of ways to build your brand, the trick is to always do them and make them habit! Email Address Now that you have your own domain name so, just like the website, you should use it to create an email address for your writing. Having an email address on your own domain name, means you will never lose control of it! Using an email address that is NOT your domain name can work, but if it gets hacked, you may lose it and all your brand building is kaput! Having an email with your domain name also helps direct traffic to your website! Email Signature Make sure the email address you use for your writing has an email signature that includes a TEXT link to your Author Website. Avoid putting links to all your social sites... the more links you include in an email the higher the chances are that your message will get marked as spam. This is what your author website is for, it is your HOME , under your control , that is linked to everything you want the public to access on the Internet. Business Cards If you attend events with other writers, it's always a good idea to bring business cards. These business cards should point people to your domain name, so they can always find you. I would warn against advertising email addresses, unless the email address uses the domain name that you control. If you don't have an email address under your domain, then just advertise your domain name and let them use a contact form or whatever other information you have on your website. I would also advise against advertising your phone number or mailing address, if you really want someone to have that information... write it on the card for them! That's why the back of the card should be plain white paper (not glossy)... it's easy to write on! Oh, and always carry a pen or three! You can have stuff printed on the back, but leave space to write. We hope this guide helps you establish your digital author footprint. If you have any questions, feel free to email DVWritersGuild@gmail.com .

Meeting called to order by President Michelle Bassett at 6:36 pm PDT.

Meeting called to order by President Michelle Bassett at 6:33 pm PST.

Meeting called to order by President Michelle Bassett at 6:36 pm PST.

Meeting called to order by President Michelle Bassett at 6:38 pm PDT.

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Diamond Valley Writers' Guild meetings were solely in-person meetings and therefore those meetings were not recorded. If anything good came from the pandemic it was that the video conferencing software and technology improved rapidly and allowed us to continue meeting in a virtual environment. Then, when the restrictions were lifted, we decided to continue using the hybrid system so that meetings could be recorded for replay and to allow our membership to grow beyond our local area. Since those meetings are part of our history, here is the summary list for all of the meetings from our inception until we began recording the hybrid meetings and posting them on our YouTube channel. 2016 Jan Inspiration – Ray Strait Feb Writing tips, getting started, etc. – Judy Howard, CJ Hernley, and Lynne Spreen Mar Developing Your Writing Style – Jim Hitt Apr Sci-fi/Fantasy – Jonathan Yanez and Tammy Salyer May Writing tips – Judy Howard Jun Critique group – panel: Vicki Hitt, Jim Hitt, Michelle Bassett Jul Decide on a publisher – Ed Lopatin Aug Poetry – Howard Feigenbaum (Facilitator) Sep Selling via social media – Lynne Spreen Oct Strategic Planning for Book Signings and Readings – Susan McBeth 2017 Jan Getting Started Panel – George, Gerry Prager, JoLynne, Lynne, and Marj Charlier Feb short story – Jim Hitt Mar Children’s books – Debby Johnson Apr Memoir panel – Vicki, Melodie, and Sandy Schuster May Compelling crime fiction – Dave Putnam Jun Researching the historical novel – Jeri Westerson Jul Paranormal thriller – Angie Martin Aug Poetry – Howard Feigenbaum (Facilitator) Sep Book Fair – Diamond Valley Arts Center event (no meeting) Oct Building Your Platform – Brooke Warner 2018 Jan Inspiration – Shelley Young Feb Publishing standards for your book – Angela Bole Mar Romantic suspense and erotica – Jackie and Miriam Pace Apr Creating characters – Eve, Arch, and Cindy May Self-publication - Marj Charlier Jun Productivity – Joe De Ladurantey and Greta Boris Jul Turn novel into audiobook – Lynne Spreen Aug Poetry – Howard Feigenbaum (Facilitator) Sep Horror Genre – Tim Chizmar and Mercedes Oct Marketing – Teresa Burrell 2019 Jan Memoir - Sandy Schuster Feb Websites for writers – panel – Michelle Bassett, Victor Swatsek Mar Getting Book Reviews – David Wogahn Apr Creating Compelling Characters – Roundtable Discussion May Find a Traditional Publisher – Pam Sheppard Jun Scenes – Helga Schier Jul Table Talk – Facilitated round tables on various topics Aug Poetry – Howard Feigenbaum (Facilitator) Sep Structure – Sandy Schuster Oct The Writing Life – Wes and Barry 2020 Jan Kick-start Your Creativity – Michelle Bassett Feb Shaping your story – Kathy Macias Mar Structure – Sandy Schuster CANCELLED As you can see March was cancelled due to obvious reasons and April saw the dawn of our new hybrid meeting format. NOTE: Even then the recorded meetings weren't posted on the official Diamond Valley Writers' Guild YouTube channel. Those videos were transferred to our official channel later on.