Previous Speakers Archive | Published Writers of Rossmoor

October, 2024

Ron Cohn

Dictionary.com defines Artificial Intelligence as: “the capacity of a computer, robot, device, or software application to perform operations and tasks analogous to learning and decision-making in humans, such as speech recognition or question answering.” This emerging human-like ability has many supporters hailing its benefits while others sound the alarm. As Cohn points out, Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft, claims: "AI is as revolutionary as mobile phones and the Internet," while historian and author Yuval Noah Harari warns that “AI has hacked the operating system of human civilization.” Harari describes AI as “the first tool in human history that can make decisions by itself, the first that can create new ideas by itself,” while pointing out that “humans are not very good at using new tools, new technologies. While we are learning to use AI, it is learning to use us.”

To the uninitiated, Cohn describes three forms of AI: “Generative: A model that can generate or produce new content, such as text, based on the patterns it has learned. Pretrained: A model trained on vast amounts of data which helps it understand language structure, context, and meaning. And Transformer: a deep learning model known for its ability to handle sequential data (like sentences), capturing long-range dependencies (like what words will likely occur in the next few paragraphs.)”

While such abilities would seem to pose a threat to writers, Cohn points out that “AI’s are not perfect. They suffer from "hallucinations,” i.e., incorrect or misleading results generated by insufficient training data, incorrect assumptions made by the model, or biases in the data used to train the model. Nevertheless, Forbes Magazine reported in May that nearly 65,000 U.S. workers lost their jobs in the previous month to AI.

Cohn has been working with AI since 2023, primarily with graphics programs DALL-E2 and DALL-E3. A highlight of the October 5th meeting will be demonstrations of these programs along with a writing program called CHAT-GPT4. Using prompts from the audience, Cohn will show how AI can create complex images and written works in minutes.

Ron Cohn, a native of Baltimore, has worn many hats. A graduate of Johns Hopkins University with a PhD in Physics from the University of Maryland, Ron has led an eclectic life as world traveler, yoga student, assistant editor at Physics Today, sculptor, artist, cab driver, COBOL programmer, chairman of a college computer department and professor of physics. Along the way he found time to publish six books on Amazon on a variety of topics. His latest book is titled Advanced Fooling Around: Thought Poppers, Volume 4, a collection of drawings, photographs, poems, and autobiographical writings. He and wife Carol have lived in Rossmoor for thirteen years and are the proud parents of two children and two grandchildren.

Column

September, 2024

Column

Ruth Schwartz

You’ve written your book . . . now what?

You have finally finished writing your book and you know that self-publishing is probably the way to go, but there are so many decisions and details that you don’t know where to start. Plus, you aren’t ready—or willing—to spend the big bucks to buy a publishing package that can cost several thousand dollars.

In this program, Schwartz will explain the differences between traditional publishing, hybrid publishing and self-publishing. She will also give an overview of the self-publishing industry and its evolution, along with a high-level walkthrough of the self-publishing process and the importance of editing, formatting and professional cover design. The basics of marketing, choosing the self-publishing platforms that are right for you will be covered. Schwartz’s aim is to give the writer a solid understanding of the self-publishing landscape, the fundamental steps to get started, and practical tips to avoid common pitfalls.

Ruth Schwartz will provide a concise and powerful overview of the self-publishing process. Whether you’re a first-time author or looking to refine your self-publishing skills, her program will arm you with essential knowledge and actionable steps to kick-start your self-publishing journey. Ruth is an industry expert with years of experience, and will help you gain insights into the critical aspects of turning your manuscript into a professional, market-ready book.

What makes Schwartz unique among the other book shepherds, book midwives or self-publishing consultants is that, in addition to managing your project from start to finish, educating and advising you along the way, she is an experienced cover designer and does customized interior layouts. She also has great resources for creating eBook editions that incorporate the print edition typography and styling as much as possible.

Schwartz is a current board member, and a very active volunteer, with the Bay Area Independent Publishers Association. She recommends that all writers check out this dynamic organization.

Why the Wonderlady? Schwartz’s husband, Curt, called her that when, out of the blue, it seemed as though she made good things happen, just when they were most needed. He said that these magical happenings were due to his Ruth. When good things happened to anyone, he says, “it is clearly due to the Wonderlady Effect”.

Column

August, 2024

Column

Gregory Crouch

The speaker for PWR’s August meeting will be Gregory Crouch, a local author who specializes in historic and adventurous subjects. He will be talking about the process of writing his epic rags-to-riches tale, “THE BONANZA KING: John Mackay and the Battle Over the Greatest Riches in the American West”.

Crouch graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, where he studied history. He completed U.S. Army Airborne and Ranger schools and led two infantry platoons before leaving the Army to pursue other interests, most notably in rock and ice climbing and in mountaineering. He developed a particular fascination with the peaks of Patagonia. Along the way he became a writer; his work has appeared in magazines such as National Geographic, the Atlantic, Outside, Islands, American History, Ascent, Rock & Ice, Climbing (where he was a senior contributing editor), and many others.

A regular book reviewer, Crouch has reviewed for the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, the New York Times, and NPR.

“THE BONANZA KING” tells the story of John W. Mackay, a penniless Irish immigrant who came of age in New York City, went to California during the Gold Rush, and mined without much luck for eight years. When he heard of riches found on the other side of the Sierra Nevada Mountains in 1859, Mackay abandoned his claim and walked a hundred miles to the Comstock Lode in Nevada.

Over the course of the next dozen years, Mackay worked his way up from nothing, thwarting the pernicious “Bank Ring” monopoly to seize control of the most concentrated cache of precious metals ever found on earth, the legendary “Big Bonanza,” a stupendously rich body of gold and silver ore discovered 1,500 feet beneath the streets of Virginia City, the ultimate Old West boomtown. But for the ore to be worth anything it had to be found, claimed, and successfully extracted, each step requiring enormous risk and the creation of an entirely new industry. Gregory Crouch tells Mackay’s amazing story—how he extracted the ore from deep underground and used his vast mining fortune to crush the transatlantic telegraph monopoly of the notorious Jay Gould.

According to a review in The San Francisco Chronicle, “No one does a better job than Crouch when he explores the subject of mining, and no one does a better job than he when he describes the hardscrabble lives of miners”. “The Bonanza King” is a dazzling tour de force, a riveting history of Virginia City, Nevada, the Comstock Lode, and America itself.

Column

June, 2024

Column

Brett Weiss

Anyone considering writing their life story, or those needing a hand in getting their memoir over the finish line, should stop by the Published Writers of Rossmoor’s next meeting, 10AM-Noon on Saturday, June 1, in the Fairway Room at the Creekside Clubhouse, when Brett Weiss, founder of YourLegacy:YourStory, will talk about turning folk’s fondest memories into a polished, professionally-produced book or video.

Brett Weiss grew up "in a Kodak family, thrilled by the film and slide projectors and the family memories cast upon the wall." In college he worked at a large wedding photography studio, cutting his teeth in the image production business. After several years in a variety of photo-production related jobs, honing his technical, management and entrepreneurial skills, he decided to "dive into the digitizing industry," converting and restoring traditional film photos, slides and movies into digital format. As the operation grew, Brett and his team recognized that the images and information they were handling were personal, first-hand accounts of their clients' lives and life events; thus the storytelling division was born, using clients' "collateral," i.e., their digitized images and documents to produce books, documentaries and websites for everyday people with great stories to tell.

The MyLegacyMyStory team works with clients to realize their projects "going from idea to concept to plan to finished product." Their services include planning, creative collaboration, ghostwriting, editing, proofreading, layout and design and more. What sets them apart is their singular expertise in collecting, digitizing, curating and restoring people's photos, home movies, videos and important documents.

The process, conducted mostly online, begins with a Creative Exploration Meeting, where the company meets with the client for initial discussions of objectives and concepts. From there they move to a Creative Planning Meeting where the company presents their project vision and budget, based on the scope of work, size of book, number of pages, amount of collateral to be included, writing and editing to be done, etc. Projects range from Narrative Books with little to no images, Photos-Only books, Combination books and Special Project Books. Most books fall within the 60-250 page range and can cost anywhere from $1,500 to $10,000, depending on the scope.

Residents of Rossmoor, an incredibly diverse community filled with rich, compelling life stories, may find MyLegacyMyStory a valuable resource for organizing and telling those stories. Those interested in recording their histories in print--with photos, documents and narrative--may discover that Mr. Weiss's company can help turn their story into their legacy.

Column

May, 2024

Column

Anne M. Breedlove

Anyone contemplating a 4000-mile bicycle ride--and those who wouldn't dream of it--should attend the next meeting of the Published Writers of Rossmoor, Saturday April 6, from 10AM-Noon in the Fairway Room at the Creekside Clubhouse, when guest speaker Anne Breedlove will describe the rigors and joys of international bicycle touring. Anne's new book, "Part-time Nomads: Traveling the World By Bicycle," tells the story of her evolution from middle-aged recreational bicyclist to World Loaded Bicycle Traveler.

Anne's account begins in 1997, when she and husband Jim signed up for a self-guided bicycle tour of rural France that "changed the direction" of their lives. After ten years of preparation, training and waiting for the right moment they took the plunge, retiring early to travel the world on two wheels, under their own power. In the ensuing eight years they rode across twenty-one countries and several U.S. states, braving extreme weather, harsh terrain, unexpected route changes and many other physical and psychological challenges while making new friends and strengthening their own relationship along the way.

A native of New York, Anne has lived in the Bay Area since 1972. A historian by profession, she researched 18th and 19th-century American women printers, her Master's Thesis, "Inspired and Possessed, San Francisco's Nineteenth-Century Women Newspaper Publishers," being published in the 2001 edition of the California Historical Society Quarterly.

Anne lives in Martinez with husband Jim. She is currently working on her second book of cycling adventures, detailing their post-retirement 6-month bicycle sojourn from California to Bar Harbor, Maine, and halfway back again. Aside from writing, Anne is a fine-art screen printer and enjoys yoga, swimming, gardening, long walks, all things French and spending time with her two grandchildren.