You Can Be a Winning Writer

Joan GelfandThe author of three acclaimed volumes of poetry, an award-winning chapbook of short fiction and a forthcoming novel set in a Silicon Valley startup, Joan is the recipient of numerous writing awards, commendations, nominations and honors. Her reviews, stories and poetry have appeared in national and international literary journals and magazines including Rattle, Prairie Schooner, Kalliope, The Meridian Anthology of Contemporary Poetry, the Toronto Review, Marsh Hawk Review, Levure Litteraire and Chicken Soup for the Soul. For over ten years, Joan has lectured on the 4 C’s System and has coached writers to great success. An MFA from Mills College in Oakland, CA, Joan is a past President of the Women’s National Book Association and the founder of the WNBA National Writing Contest. Editor of the newly published anthology of winning contest writers, Joan is also a member of the National Book Critics Circle and a juror for the Northern California Book Awards. She blogs regularly for the Huffington Post on books, travel and movies. “The Ferlinghetti School of Poetics,” a poetry film based on Joan’s poem was featured at the 4th Annual Video Poetry Festival in Athens, Greece and won Certificate of Merit in a juried art show at the International Association for the Study of Dreams. She lives in San Francisco with her husband, Adam Hertz and two beatnik kitties – Jack Kerouac and Lawrence Ferlinghetti. Rosemary Daniell is the founder and leader of Zona Rosa, a series of writing workshops attended by thousands of of women, and some men, with events in Atlanta, Savannah, and other cities, as well as in Europe, as described in People and Southern Living. She is also the award-winning author of nine books of poetry and prose, including Secrets of the Zona Rosa: How Writing (and Sisterhood) Can Change Women's Lives and The Woman Who Spilled Words All Over Herself: Writing and Living the Zona Rosa Way, and is the recipient of two National Endowment for the Arts fellowships in writing, one in poetry, another in fiction. Rosemary’s work has been featured in many magazines and papers, including Harper’s Bazaar, New York Woman, Travel & Leisure, The New York Times Book Review, Newsday, The Chicago Tribune, The Philadelphia Inquirer and Mother Jones; she has also been a guest on many national radio and television shows, such as "The Merve Griffin Show,” “Donahue,” "The Diane Rehm Show,” "Larry King Live" and CNN’s “Portrait of America.” Early in her career, she instigated and led writing workshops in women's prisons in Georgia and Wyoming, served as program director for Georgia's Poetry in the Schools program, and worked for a dozen years in Poetry in the Schools programs in Georgia, South Carolina, and Wyoming. In 2008, she received a Governor’s Award in the Humanities for her impact on the state of Georgia. She is profiled in the book Feminists Who Changed America, 1963-1975.

"Gelfand’s book examines craft, commitment, community, and confidence. She establishes the first two of her C’s as those that need to be focused on first with community and confidence as a sort of back burner element. She examines ways to help you write and debunks some of the ways that people get stalled on projects. Then as the book evolves it works to show you how you need to stay committed to your work. These major elements allow writers to grow and see the best way to begin the process. You Can Be a Winning Writer is a great work for anyone who chooses to write and no matter what the topic you might be covering this work will benefit you. Even if you are not sure if you want to start working yet or just want to see if writing is for you this book will be a big help." - Nerdy Girl Express