Between First Reads, Kindle Unlimited, e-book subscription services, and all the many other exclusive tools at its disposal, it is estimated that Amazon.com reaches 10 million or more readers with any given book’s release. Instantly. “The Seattle-based giant houses 15 imprints i[Click For The Rest...]

2019 is nearly upon us, which means another year of writing, rewriting, reading, rewriting, rewriting some more and, finally, hopefully–through fate, hard work, great storytelling and exceptional crafting–your book lands a passionate advocate, finds a good home, gets published and rea[Click For The Rest...]

“The hip-hop generation’s answer to Sherlock Holmes returns fast and furious in the third installment of [his] celebrated series … And Isaiah Quintabe remains an engaging, fascinating protagonist,” raves Kirkus about Joe Ide’s Wrecked. The breakout sensation that introduced us to this[Click For The Rest...]

Her work has appeared in the Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Al Jazeera, VIDA Review, the Offing, and elsewhere. Now a new memoir, First Comes Marriage: My Not-So-Typical American Love Story (Prometheus Books), dedicated to the themes of love and sexuality as experienced by an Mus[Click For The Rest...]

Legendary host Jim McKay called it, “The greatest show of courage in the history of Wide World of Sports.” In 1982, after becoming the unlikely leader of the Ironman triathlon, Julie Moss fell and lost all bodily function 50 feet from the finish. On hands and knees, she watched her ri[Click For The Rest...]

It sticks true today as in any time ever before, what author-philosopher Alan W. Watts had to say about writers and writing: “Advice? I don’t have advice. Stop aspiring and start writing. If you’re writing, you’re a writer. Write like you’re a goddamn death row inmate and the governor[Click For The Rest...]

[View roast video highlights.] I think it only apt that on the occasion of my 30th Southern California Writers’ Conference *San Diego I should lose my voice. In the screenwriting world we like to explain that, good dialogue is the verbiage you wake up in the morning wishing you’d said[Click For The Rest...]

An unexpected murder of crows boded well for conference weekend, and our plot of writers seized the occasion to shine. From Wes, Chrissie and myself, Rick, Linda and Cricket, to all the workshop leaders, guest speakers, and agents–and most importantly to the conferees themselves, who [Click For The Rest...]

Author of The Dining Car, his sumptuous telling of “a story of service, serendipity, and second chances,” Eric Peterson will round out our 32nd annual San Diego conference schedule. As our Sunday afternoon Special Guest Speaker, Eric will share how he navigated the turbule[Click For The Rest...]

Plot is not story. Even the most skilled application of craft will conceal a weak story for only so long. Story is story. Craft is the toolbox an author turns to to tell a story. Surprisingly, many good writers—craft execution-wise—don’t understand the distinction between the two. In [Click For The Rest...]