Gold Country Writers

Poetry Contest Submissions OPEN
2025-02-19 - 2025-04-02 | CA
Gold Country Writers is excited to announce a contest for nonfiction stories of 1,500-words or less. The contest aims to give local authors the opportunity to gain experience and build their credentials. All three winning stories will be published on the Gold Country Writers website and in the Gold Country Media newspapers and online issues.
Winners will be awarded the following prizes:
First Place $100
Second Place $75
Third Place $50
Entries will be accepted between Wednesday, August 6, 2025, and midnight (PT) Wednesday, September 24, 2025.
Guidelines

The contest is open to the general public who live in any one of these California counties: Placer, Nevada, Yuba, Sutter, Sacramento, and El Dorado.
All Gold Country Writers members in good standing are eligible, regardless of their place of residence.
Limit ONE entry per person.
Entrants must be at least 18 years of age.
Stories must be no more than 1,500 words in length with no images.
Stories must be original, unpublished works of nonfiction. Furthermore, the author must be the sole creator and attest that no AI software was used. The author must be the sole owner of the work.
Entries must be in the standard manuscript format: double-spaced, Times New Roman 12-point font, one-inch margins.
Stories are judged anonymously. Include a cover sheet with your name, email, phone, and story title. Do not include your personal information on any other page of your manuscript.
No erotica, racist content, or expressions of excessive violence will be accepted.
Author will retain the rights; however, entry into the contest permits the story to be published on the GCW website, in GCW’s future publications, and in Gold County Media newspapers and online issues.
Stories will be judged by the criteria listed here: https://goldcountrywriters.com/short-story-criteria
Winners will be announced at a celebration hosted by Gold Country Writers on Saturday, October 25, 2025.

Entry fee $15 for non-members, $10 for GCW Members.
Entry process will be posted closer to the date, consisting of an online form and payment on the GCW Website, plus an email to submit the story.

Drop-in Critique - 4th Wednesday
2025-02-26 10:00 - 12:00, 2025-03-26 10:00 - 12:00, 2025-05-28 10:00 - 12:00, 2025-06-25 10:00 - 12:00, 2025-07-23 10:00 - 12:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Auburn City Hall – Rose Room, 1225 Lincoln Way, Auburn, CA 95603, CA, 95603, United States
The fourth Wednesday of each month is our Drop-in Critique. These events are in-person only.
Members may bring up to five pages of their work, double spaced, to read and receive feedback.
For information please email goldcountrywriters1849@gmail.com
To be held in the Rose Room at Auburn City Hall. Click here for address, map, and directions.

Business Meeting - 1st Wednesday
2025-03-05 10:00 - 12:00, 2025-04-02 10:00 - 12:00, 2025-05-07 10:00 - 12:00, 2025-06-04 10:00 - 12:00, 2025-07-02 10:00 - 12:00 | Auburn City Hall – Rose Room, 1225 Lincoln Way, Auburn, CA 95603, CA, 95603, United States
Gold Country Writers Board and Leadership holds a business meeting on the FIRST Wednesday of each month, from 10 am to noon in the Rose Room of the Auburn City Hall.
Members are welcome to attend.

Drop-in Critique - 2nd Wednesday
2025-03-12 10:00 - 12:00, 2025-04-09 10:00 - 12:00, 2025-05-14 10:00 - 12:00, 2025-06-11 10:00 - 12:00, 2025-07-09 10:00 - 12:00 | Auburn City Hall – Rose Room, 1225 Lincoln Way, Auburn, CA 95603, CA, 95603, United States
The second Wednesday of each month is our Drop-in Critique. These events are in-person only.
Members may bring up to five pages of their work, double spaced, to read and receive feedback.
For information please email goldcountrywriters1849@gmail.com
To be held in the Rose Room at Auburn City Hall. Click here for address, map, and directions.

March Speakers – Susan M. Osborn & Sarah Michie Pressler
2025-03-19 10:00 - 12:00 | Auburn City Hall – Rose Room, 1225 Lincoln Way, Auburn, CA 95603, CA, 95603, United States
Our speakers will be Susan M. Osborn and Sarah Michie Pressler. Their subject will be
“LETTUCE LAUGH: Adding humor to your writing.”
This meeting will be a workshop. Please bring pen and paper.
Laughing is good for the body and soul. We all turn to humor in our lives, as a natural part of communication. With humor, a writer lightens the mood of a story and the mood of the reader. Susan M. Osborn and Sarah Michie Pressler will provide examples and tips to bring humor to one’s writing. Participants will have an opportunity to work together in small groups.
This event will be held in the Rose Room at Auburn City Hall. The public is invited. The meeting is free to attend.
Click here for Rose Room address, map, and directions. Also, info on Rose Room parking, now offsite only.
Susan M. Osborn, Ph.D., M.S.W., is the creative nonfiction author of “Awful Bosses Coloring Book.” It contains 26 limericks. She listens to David Sedaris’s podcast at night so she can go to sleep laughing. Susan is having fun writing a book about coincidences.
Sarah Michie Pressler is the author of “Jambo Mama” and “The Little Askari,” both about the thrills of growing up in Kenya. That experience along with decades of teaching elementary school and singing semi-professionally have given her miles of material when it comes to funny stuff. Sarah is writing a book about a favorite time in her life, childhood.

Poetry Contest CLOSE
2025-04-02 23:59 | CA
The 2025 Poetry Contest AND 100-Word Story contests both end on April 2.
Both contests are open to GCW MEMBERS ONLY.
For submissions guidelines, see Feb 19 event Poetry Contest Submissions Open
Celebrations for both contests will be held on April 30 Poetry Contest AND 100-Word Story Contest Celebration

100-Word Story Contest CLOSE
2025-04-02 23:59 | CA
The 2025 Poetry Contest AND 100-Word Story contests both end on April 2.
This contest open to GCW MEMBERS ONLY.
For submissions guidelines, see Feb 19 event 100-Word Story Contest Submissions Open
Celebrations for both contests will be held on April 30 Poetry Contest AND 100-Word Story Contest Celebration

Read & Review
2025-04-11 10:00 - 12:00 | Depoe Bay, 893 High Street, Auburn, CA, 95603
Read and Review will meet Friday, April 11 at Depoe Bay Coffee Roasters, 893 High Street, Auburn. Please join us from 10 a.m.to noon.
We will be discussing two books.
Mission to Brimstone by Bill Baynes
Memoirs of a Track Nut by Michael O’Haver
All books chosen for the program are available for GCW members to check-out in our GCW library and for purchase on Amazon.com.
More information about Read and Review sessions can be found in our newsletter, The Dispatch.
For more information please email GoldCountryWriters1849@gmail.com

April Speaker - Donna Levin
2025-04-16 10:00 - 12:00 | Auburn City Hall – Rose Room, 1225 Lincoln Way, Auburn, CA 95603, CA, 95603, United States
April Speaker
Donna Levin
Wednesday, April 16, 2025 @ 10:00 am – 12:00 noon, PDT
Our speaker will be Donna Levin on the topic of “DIALOGUE: the rules, the revelations, and the room to experiment“

This meeting will be held in the Rose Room at Auburn City Hall.
The public is invited. The meeting is free to attend.
Click here for Rose Room address, map, and directions. Also, info on Rose Room parking, now offsite only.
Donna Levin is the author of two books on the craft of writing: Get That Novel Started and Get That Novel Written. Her five acclaimed novels are Extraordinary Means, California Street, There’s More Than One Way Home, He Could Be Another Bill Gates, and The Talking Stick — published by Skyhorse in April 2024. She is a longtime facilitator of fiction-writing workshops, and a frequent speaker at conferences. Donna’s work is included in the Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center at Boston University and in the California State Library’s collection of California novels.
For more information: https://www.donnalevin.com/

April Speaker Flyer

Drop-in Critique - 4th Wednesday - at NEW AUBURN AIRPORT
2025-04-23 10:00 - 12:00 | Barnstormer Room, Auburn Municipal Airport, 13626 New Airport Road, Auburn, CA 95602, CA, 95602, United States
***NOTE SPECIAL LOCATION***
The fourth Wednesday of each month is our Drop-in Critique. These events are in-person only.
Members may bring up to five pages of their work, double spaced, to read and receive feedback.
For information please email goldcountrywriters1849@gmail.com
Click here for Barnstormer Room directions, map, and parking info.

Poetry Contest AND 100-Word Story Contest Celebration
2025-04-30 10:00 - 13:00 | Auburn City Hall – Rose Room, 1225 Lincoln Way, Auburn, CA 95603, CA, 95603, United States
WEAR A HAT!
The Hats Off Celebration for the 2025 Poetry Contest AND 100-Word Story Contest will be held on Wednesday, April 30 at Auburn City Hall.
Awards ceremony will be followed by a potluck reception.
Public Welcome.
Click here for Hats Off event poster.
Click here for Auburn City Hall address, map, and directions.

Special Event - An Afternoon with the GCW Authors
2025-05-10 13:00 - 16:00 | CA
Saturday, May 10
1:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. – “An Afternoon with the GCW Authors.”
President Susan Korn will be hosting a special event for Gold Country Writers authors.
This will include a book festival, book signings, entertainment, socializing, refreshments, fun, and networking.
Contact Susan Korn for more information.

May Speaker - Chris Hennessy
2025-05-21 10:00 - 12:00 | Auburn City Hall – Rose Room, 1225 Lincoln Way, Auburn, CA 95603, CA, 95603, United States
Our speaker will be Chris Hennessy on the topic “WRITE IT, FILM IT, SHARE IT – The power of video for authors.”
As a filmmaker, Chris Hennessy marketed, sold, and produced over 1,500 professional projects for clients including Google, eBay, the SF 49ers, Deloitte, Office Max, and The American Cancer Society from 1990 to 2018. As a speaker, he regularly presents at writers’ conferences and clubs. Currently, he is working on his memoir, Touched by Hannah — about a man with cancer, his one-pound newborn, and their fight for life — and produced a film to promote it.
For more info, visit https://www.henchris.com.

This meeting will be held in the Rose Room at Auburn City Hall.
The public is invited. The meeting is free to attend.
Click here for Rose Room address, map, and directions. Also, info on Rose Room parking, now offsite only.

June Speaker - Jennifer Basye Sander
2025-06-18 10:00 - 12:00 | Auburn City Hall – Rose Room, 1225 Lincoln Way, Auburn, CA 95603, CA, 95603, United States
Our speaker will be Jennifer Basye Sander on the topic “Digging for Factual Treasure.”
Former Random House Senior Editor, Jennifer Basye Sander worked in the acquisitions end of the publishing industry for twenty years. She is a New York Times bestselling author and has written more than sixty books. As a literary historian, Jennifer has presented research papers at four International Hemingway Conferences, most recently in San Sebastián, Spain. Her most recent book is Churchill: A Drinking Life, Champagne, Cognac, and Cocktails.

This meeting will be held in the Rose Room at Auburn City Hall.
The public is invited. The meeting is free to attend.
Click here for Rose Room address, map, and directions. Also, info on Rose Room parking, now offsite only.

July 2 Indoor Potluck Picnic - No Business Meeting - 1st Wednesday
2025-07-02 10:00 - 12:00 | Auburn City Hall – Rose Room, 1225 Lincoln Way, Auburn, CA 95603, CA, 95603, United States
Gold Country Writers Board and Leadership will not be holding a regular business meeting on the FIRST Wednesday in July.
Instead, join us for a fun indoor Potluck Picnic Celebration.

Read & Review
2025-07-11 10:00 - 12:00 | Depoe Bay, 893 High Street, Auburn, CA, 95603
Read and Review will meet Friday, July 11 at Depoe Bay Coffee Roasters, 893 High Street, Auburn. Please join us from 10 a.m.to noon.
We will be discussing two books.
Create Your Own Closure Map: Avoid an End-of-Life Scavenger Hunt by Heidi Struve Currey
Maddie’s in the Middle by Mariah Clark Skewes (pen name for Mary Boyle)
All books chosen for the program are available for GCW members to check-out in our GCW library and for purchase on Amazon.com.
More information about Read and Review sessions can be found in our newsletter, The Dispatch.
For more information please email GoldCountryWriters1849@gmail.com

July Speaker - Jennifer K. Morita
2025-07-16 10:00 - 12:00 | Auburn City Hall – Rose Room, 1225 Lincoln Way, Auburn, CA 95603, CA, 95603, United States
Our speaker will be Jennifer K. Morita on “Querying A to Q — Pitching to Literary Agents.”
A former newspaper reporter, Jennifer K. Morita is the author of Ghosts of Waikiki released by Crooked Lane Books in November 2024. Her debut novel won the Lefty Award for Best Debut Mystery Novel in 2025, and was nominated for an Agatha Award for Best First Novel. Jennifer is a past president of Capitol Crimes, her local Sisters in Crime chapter, and also a member of Crime Writers of Color, Mystery Writers of America, and International Thriller Writers. For more info, visit her website: www.jenniferkmorita.com.

Speaker meetings are held in the Rose Room at Auburn City Hall.
The public is invited. The meeting is free to attend.
Click here for Rose Room address, map, and directions. Also, info on Rose Room parking, now offsite only.

Writer's Retreat at "The Ranch" in Penryn
2025-07-30 10:00 - 23:59 | CA
Attend a Writers Retreat hosted by Terry Wick at her beautiful ranch in Penryn, CA.
Wednesday, July 30, 2025, from 10am to ?
Bring a sack lunch & swimwear. Drinks will be provided.

Email Terry at terryshenhouse@gmail.com for more details and to RSVP.
NOTE: No Meeting in the Rose Room at Auburn City Hall.
