Squaw Valley Community of Writers

I am heading back to Lake Tahoe tomorrow to do a bookstore book signing and a few appearances at the Squaw Valley Community of Writers.

The Community of Writers has a nice tradition: it invites alumni who have published books to come back and read. It's a way to showcase the work of people who have gone through the writing program and also show those still aspiring to publish that it can be done. The organizer of the conference, Brett Hall Jones, tries to make sure there is a good turnout by offering free food.

I will be talking at 1:15 pm Wednesday at the Olympic Village Inn along with others alums, including Tanya Egan Gibson, Jamie Lee Ford, Vicki Forman, and David Bajo.

On Thursday at 2 pm, I will be on a panel called Using Historical Record to Create Scene, with Jason Roberts, Glen David Gould, and Sandra Scofield. Rick Wartzman will moderate.

As soon as I finish that panel, I will rush to Bookshelf at the Boatworks, the last independent bookstore in Tahoe City. I will be doing a signing there at 4 pm.

I have been attending the Squaw Valley Community of Writers on and off, as a participant and as a visitor, since 2003. It's a wonderful workshop and a wonderful organization. I always feel that its philosophy is to connect accomplished writers with aspiring writers and to show that they are the same .... just at different places on a continuum. Before I published, I found this attitude encouraging and inspiring.