SFWC Director Laurie McLean has had a challenging year to be sure. In addition to producing the successful, but labor intensive, virtual 2020 San Francisco Writing for Change: Worldwide during the pandemic, Laurie’s home in LaHonda was in the middle of the horrific CZU Lightning Complex fire this summer. A volunteer firefighter herself, she was blessed to have her home and most of her town miraculously spared by the fire.

Linda Lee, SFWC Volunteer Director, is busier than ever creating author websites and servicing her clients virtually. “I walk the dogs, a lot! I’m also watching shows from other countries with sub titles. I wake myself up when I start to fall asleep, because when you are reading the dialogue, you cannot shut your eyes.” But most of all she says she is missing seeing people and hugging. Aren’t we all?

Lissa Provost, SFWC Operations Director says, “Like everyone I’m working and learning from home. I have three children who have shifted to online learning through different schools and I’m taking 12 units in Computer Science at the Santa Rosa Junior College to build on the Entrepreneurial Certificate Program I completed last spring and expand my skillset for publishing and marketing books with the publishing cooperative I launched in February. It’s off to a slow start, but I have four fiction books in the pipeline and may be republishing two amazing children’s books for an artist member. I’ve also been gardening and canning the harvest, and organizing and completing small home improvement projects. Every now and then I hide in my room and write smut on Wattpad for the fun of it.”

Elisabeth Kauffman, SFWC Social Media Director, is finishing up a successful Kickstarter campaign for her tarot deck for writers, Lunaria Tarot. The final draft heads to the printer in a few weeks! In the meantime, she’s gearing up for a month of online noveling mayhem with NaNoWriMo, and putting the finishing touches on her Story Mapping for Beginners workshop to launch early next year. Oh, and moving from Sacramento to Davis! Whew. That feels like a lot.

SFWC Registration Director Rich Santos got a fixer-upper 23-foot sailboat to ride out the pandemic. He thought he could use it to get away from the home office and crowded house when Barb’s mom moved in. WooHoo! Sadly, it’s been in dry dock for necessary work for a month. What’s that joke about boats? They are a hole in the water you throw money into!

SFWC Marketing Director Barbara Santos has become a great-grandma! Attycus is a six-month-old heartbreaker already. He entered the world through her son-in-law and she barely knows AJ’s mom, but it was instant love when she held him. On the opposite side of the age spectrum, she became the principal caretaker for her 91-year-old mom. She’s trying so hard to write a humorous book about it all. Any insights anyone cares to share are most appreciated!