Upcoming events
query letter One-Day Retreat
small but mighty: crafting a winning elevator pitch
Saturday, May 16m 11:00am
$10 CWC members; $15 non-members
“So, what’s your book about?” It’s a simple question that strikes terror in many writers. How do you condense your 300-page masterpiece into a few sentences without making your audience’s eyes glaze over? In this class, you’ll learn the key elements that will draw the reader in and make your story feel both unique and universal. Plus, you’ll see how this short piece of sales copy forms the foundation of your query letter, book jacket copy, and more. Come with your latest book premise and leave with a winning pitch.
Writing a Page-Turner: Pacing Tips to Keep Your Readers Engaged
Thursday, May 21, 5:30 - 7:00pm
Free, Online via Zoom
Narrative pacing is the key to keeping readers immersed in your story. Whether you’re writing an adrenalin-filled thriller or a “slow burn” literary novel, gauging the right pace can make or break a book. Move too fast and you’ll exhaust your readers; too slow and you risk losing them for good. In this workshop you’ll learn the three key ingredients that control your novel’s pacing and keep your story moving forward. You’ll discover pace killers that stop readers cold and gather technical tricks to create the illusion of speed. Finally, you’ll learn a simple litmus test to spot pacing issues in your own work and ensure your readers make it to “The End.”
san francisco writers conference 2026
RECENT events
August 22, 2026
Submission deadline: Midnight July 24th
We will be gathering with twelve juried-in participants to work intensively on our query letters at a luxurious private home looking down at the harbor of Half Moon Bay, less than 45 minutes south of San Francisco. Plenty of accommodation is available close by for those who want to make a weekend out of it.
Our full-day program will take you on a delicious, productive, and camaraderie-packed journey that will teach you how to draft, angle, and strengthen your all-important query letter, so critical to selling your book. The retreat has been structured so that you will receive instruction from one of us, coaching from another, and a detailed query-letter critique from the third, post-retreat.
Post retreat - Submit your finalized query letters by midnight, Tuesday August 25th to the breakout group leader you did NOT work with, and she will return her critique and edits by midnight, Monday August 31st. This means you will have the chance to receive input from all three of us during the course of this retreat, for what it roughly costs to get a query consultation from just one of us!
This retreat is juried in, with a limit of twelve participants.
Click here for more details and submission requirements
Wooing the muse
Writing a book is challenging. Maybe you’ve hit the saggy middle of your story, or you can’t figure out the ending. Perhaps you’ve fallen out of love with your main character, or maybe you’re struggling to get your brilliant idea out of your head and onto the page in the first place.
In this fun, idea-packed workshop, you’ll discover tricks and charms to get unstuck and get your writing back on track. Through out-of-the box writing prompts, you’ll learn how to reinvigorate your characters, discover the heart of your story to illuminate your plot, and find new ways into your work when the muse refuses to be helpful. Finally, you’ll learn new techniques to jumpstart your writing, tricks to keep you going, and self-care tips to avoid burnout and keep you falling in love with the craft.
Whatever your brand of writer’s block, you’ll leave with a bag of tricks to woo the muse and help you move forward again, including free-writing and free-drawing exercises (no drawing skills necessary) that we'll have tried together in class, and a handout to remind you of all the new ways you'll have of wooing the muse.
All Our Lies Are True VIRTUAL Launch Party
To celebrate the publication of All Our Lies Are True, I threw an online launch party with Jennifer Lynn Alvarez, author of the fabulously twisty thriller, Friends Like These. We talked about the inspiration for the book, how we plot a thriller, and answered your questions. You can watch the recording here: