June 2026
June News & Notes
●Writers Forum with Susan Bono
●Ideas for book promotion
●Connections
This month’s News & Notes is a long one! Kick back. Relax. Take your shoes off. Be inspired!
Wednesday, June 17
6 pm to 7:30 pm Pacific
Free
No registration required.
Zoom in around 5:45 on June 17, ready to start at 6 pm
Presenter Susan Bono
A Change of Heart
We’ll explore how personal essay and memoir can help you approach and process unresolved events with compassion and insight in a safe, supportive space for writers of all levels.
Susan Bono is a teacher, freelance editor, and short-form memoirist who has facilitated writing workshops since 1993.
She is the author of What Have We Here: Essays about Keeping House and Finding Home.
Book Promotion
In my May News & Notes, I asked, “Have you discovered ideas for book promotion or marketing?”
Audrey Kalman responded with details about one of her most successful book promotions.
“The publication of my book of short stories in 2018 corresponded with a cross-country road trip to drop my son at college in Colorado and continue to see friends on the east coast. I mapped out every independent bookstore I could find along the route. When I arrived in town, I’d drop in and let them know I was an author traveling through. Some were interested in stocking my book. I made sure to get a photo of myself at the bookstore that I posted on Instagram and Facebook as part of my ‘Cross-Country Indie Bookstore Tour.’
The social media follow-up was the real publicity.
Many of the bookstores reposted my posts because I made sure to tag them and say a little about what made their store special.
It was a wonderful month of forging connections, having fun, and discovering new bookstores in places I’d never been.
I hope this idea, or a similar one, might be helpful to other indie authors without enormous marketing budgets.”
“I write literary fiction with a dark edge about what goes awry when human connection is missing from our lives.”
In 2022, with Jennifer Browdy, Audrey co-created the Birth Your Truest Story online writers’ community, where writers of all genres and experience levels come together to learn and support each other.
Audrey is the author of three novels—The Last Storyteller, What Remains Unsaid, and Dance of Souls—and a book of short stories, Tiny Shoes Dancing, shortlisted for the 2019 International Rubery Book Award.
Her short fiction has appeared in a number of print and online publications.
Her most recent novel is receiving feedback from beta readers in anticipation of eventual publication.
Connections
Connections make our days brighter, our conversations meaningful, and our relationships deeper.
While preparing this News & Notes, Audrey emailed, “It took me about 50 years to realize that connection is the most important theme of my life and my writing.”
She did not know I was in the process of revising “The Write Spot to Jumpstart Your Writing: Connections.”
New title: Connections: Inspiration to Write
A review by Writer’s Digest:
“Connections is a wonderful collection of essays that touch the spirit with joy. This is a well-organized and fascinating book. The images of the authors’ younger selves along with letters to their younger selves add another layer to the book, and much interest. This book is a lovely compilation that readers will enjoy.”
Paperback available from your favorite bookseller.
Paperback and Kindle from Amazon.
You could get the free Kindle version if you have Kindle Unlimited membership with Amazon.
Of course, buying a copy will be very much appreciated!
The Big Ask
If this works for you: Support and encourage writers by posting a review of Connections: Inspiration to Write on Amazon.
What I can do for you in return:
• Include a review of your published book in my News & Notes. Not a review from you, rather from someone who likes your book. Not a synopsis, rather why the person likes your book. I’ll include bios plus website links.
• You can be a guest blogger on The Write Spot Blog: Something helpful for writers. Email your idea, or your polished guest blog post to me, with your bio written in third person.
• Email memorable writing to me and I’ll post on the Sparks page of my website. Either your own writing or someone else’s with permission. No guarantees this writing will be posted without my reading it first. I will include bios, website URLs, and social media information.
One more option:
• Check out the first edition, “The Write Spot to Jumpstart Your Writing: Connections,” from a Sonoma County Library. The content is the same as the revised edition. The difference is the fifty new prompts and a new introduction. If you can, post a review on Amazon for “Connections: Inspiration to Write.”
If you are a writing teacher, please tell your students about the Write Spot books to encourage writing outside of class time.
If you are in a writing class or group, you can be a cheerleader for your fellow writers: Share the value of the Write Spot books as portable writing workshops.
I would also very much appreciate mention of “Connections: Inspiration to Write” on your website or in your newsletter, if that strikes your fancy.
I value our connections!
Marlene
mcullen – at – sonic.net
Why a review on Amazon?
• To reach people who want to write and think they can’t.
• To encourage writing.
• To inspire connections.
In researching my “Ideal Reader,” I realized Amazon is the best way for me to reach people who don’t know about me nor about my Write Spot books.
You can help make connections!
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