Remember, you can still join Blazing Laptops even though the date of June 9th is coming up.
And you can definitely still sponsor another writer!
Just check out our pledge site for info.

Don’t know whom to sponsor?  You could sponsor the staff at SDWI!

or just look through the pages of writers and see what you like.  Some of our people have even made videos and special pleas.  Here is one of the fun ones.

Writing small is the way to go! Learn short structure with this fun course!

Ray Bradbury believed the best way to improve as a writer was to write short stories and lots of them! In this class we’ll study short story structure and tools to practice writing short and infusing your words with power. We’ll also write some flash fiction short pieces and you’ll get an opportunity to gain feedback on your own work.

Lisa Kessler has published multiple short stories in print anthologies and magazines.  Her vampire short story, Immortal Beloved, was a finalist for a Bram Stoker award and has been reprinted in the Dead Souls anthology by Morrigan Books.  After meeting Ray Bradbury she took up his challenge to write 52 Short Stories in 52 Weeks and one of the stories grew into her novel, Moonlight, became a finalist in the Kensington/RT Writing with the Stars contest.

Her debut novel, Night Walker, won a San Diego Book Award for Best Fantasy-SciFi-Horror and the Hearts Through History for Best Paranormal and Best First Book.

PLEASE NOTE: It is best to register early to help our instructors prepare and ensure the class does not get cancelled or shifted to another date and time.  We evaluate registration numbers between 7 and 3 days before a class start to decide about whether to keep or reschedule it.  By registering 7 days or more in advance, you help us help our participants and instructors in many ways.

T. Greenwood is the author of seven novels, including Two Rivers, The Hungry Season, and This Glittering World. Her seventh novel, Grace, was published in April of 2012. She has received grants from the Sherwood Anderson Foundation, the Christopher Isherwood Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Maryland State Arts Council. She lives with her husband and their two daughters in San Diego, where she is also an aspiring photographer.

Marni Freedman is a produced, published and award winning writer.  After graduating as an award winning student from the USC School of Filmic Writing, Marni began her career with her play, “Two Goldsteins on Acid,” which was produced in Los Angeles.  She worked as a script doctor for Fox Searchlight, Disney, and other film companies and worked as a script agent for the Mary Sue Seymour Agency.  One of her plays was made into a film, “Playing Mona Lisa,” and was produced by Disney. She has published articles in several magazines and online sites, worked as a ghost writer for a “how to” book series and is currently in demand as a book editor and script doctor.  Currently, around San Diego, you can find Marni teaching writing workshops at San Diego Writers Ink, UCSD Extension and running the popular San Diego Screenwriter’s group, The Writer’s Circle.

PLEASE NOTE: RETURNING STUDENTS WILL NEED TO REGISTER EVERY MONTH.

It is best to register early to help our instructors prepare and ensure the class does not get cancelled or shifted to another date and time.  We evaluate registration numbers between 7 and 3 days before a class start to decide about whether to keep or reschedule it.  By registering 7 days or more in advance, you help us help our participants and instructors in many ways.

Wendy Mnookin is a poet living in Newton, Massachusetts. Her most recent book is The Moon Makes Its Own Plea (BOA Editions, 2008). Her other books are What He Took, To Get Here, and Guenever Speaks. Widely published in journals and anthologies, Mnookin’s honors include an NEA Fellowship in Poetry and the Sheila Motton Book Award from the New England Poetry Club.

Mnookin teaches poetry at Emerson College and at Grub Street, a non-profit writing program in Boston. She has taught workshops around the country, including the Writers’ Center in Chautauqua, NY; the Nature of Words in Bend, OR; and the Writers’ Garret in Dallas, TX. You can learn more about her work at wendymnookin.com.

Fear no more!

Join us for “Fire Up Your Laptops: Blazing Laptops Info Session and Pep Rally,” on Thursday, May 16, 6:30-8 p.m. at Liberty Station, Barracks 16. Intended for both veterans of Blazing Laptops and the uninitiated, the info session will be a chance to learn more about what’s planned for June 9, get some strategies for fundraising, meet others participating, and get pumped up for our writing extravaganza!

The session will take place at member Jill Hall’s Inspirations Gallery in Liberty Station, located right next door to the future Ink Spot, in Barracks 16, officially 2730 Historic Decatur Rd., right above the Women’s Museum.

Join us, and learn how you can deepen your commitment to your writing and support the next chapter in San Diego Writers, Ink’s history!

LET YOUR WRITING LIFE RISE!

With tongue planted firmly in cheek, and full knowledge of the grammatical faux pax, John Vorhaus promises that he can help you write good. By exploding your notion of what good writing is – or even what proper grammar – is, Vorhaus will prepare you to make the most of your creative gifts, and make your writing – any writing at all – easier, more effective, and a lot more fun.

If you’re looking for the path to take your writing to the next level, and the wherewithal to do so, this is one masterclass you simply won’t want to miss.

Are you flattered that it’s called a masterclass? It’s a term John Vorhaus picked up overseas, where he has spent more than a quarter of a century teaching and training television and film writers in the far corners of the globe. In his journeys he has learned so many useful strategies for writing good, strategies like:

• ·         IF YOU MUST FAIL, FAIL BIG
• ·         KEEP GIVING THEM YOU UNTIL YOU IS WHAT THEY WANT
• ·         PUT YOUR HEART WHERE EVERYONE CAN SEE IT
• ·         PUBLISHING IN THE POST-PAPER WORLD

He has also learned the secret of simple, effective storytelling, the understand that everything in writing centers on the Pivot, a new piece of information that changes a character’s emotional state. With math-like simplicity, Vorhaus will show you:

• ·         HOW TO IDENTIFY THE PIVOT
• ·         WHAT SORT OF INFORMATION TO PUT TO WORK
• ·         HOW TO DETERMINE THE PRIOR EMOTIONAL STATE
• ·         HOW TO CREATE THE NEW EMOTIONAL STATE

This is a storytelling strategy that works for every sort of writing on any scale, from a limerick to a lengthy tome. And remember, story is easy: Just never have anything happen as planned. 

Some are born writers. Some achieve writing. Some have writing thrust upon them. John Vorhaus believes that most writers are addicts – hopelessly hooked on the creative act. He thinks there are good reasons – profound reasons – for this addiction, but also knows that that’s really not the point. If you have to write, you have to write. And you’d kind of like to do it kind of well. If you want to do it better than you ever have before, lock up your seat in the masterclass now.

John Vorhaus is best knows as the author of the comedy-writing classic, The Comic Toolbox: How to be Funny Even if You’re Not, as well as such other valuable writing books as Creativity Rules, The Little Book of Sitcom and, of course, How to Write Good, all of which he will have for sale on the day. He has also written six novels, including his new con-artist mystery, The Texas Twist, which he will be launching at San Diego’s own Mysterious Galaxy Bookstore on the evening of Friday, June 28. Those who caught John’s Comic Toolbox presentation last year will tell you that a day with this enlightening and empowering instructor is simply not to be missed. John tweets for no apparent reason @TrueFactBarFact, and secretly controls the world from www.johnvorhuas.com.

PLEASE NOTE: To help our instructors and other course participants, register early to ensure the course does not get cancelled or shifted to another date and time.  We evaluate registration numbers between 7 and 3 days before a course start to decide about whether to keep or reschedule it.  By registering 7 days or more in advance, you help us help our participants and instructors in many ways.