SIBERIA/LA

We’re starting up a new 8-week session tonight, 4/8, running through 5/27.

It’s been a subtle in many ways, but amazing couple of years of the workshop. Just the amount of stuff all the writers have been able to crank out, to finish, the amount of progress made, has been nothing short of inspiring.

Every Tuesday night after class, after hearing all those vivid and true pages, my brain is completely scrambled. The writing just sucks me in and I end up having to go to St. Nick’s Pub and order a cheeseburger and Bushmills and try to climb out.

And then I get home, lie in bed unable to sleep because I’m still thinking about all the characters and stories and the crazy hot lines people wrote.

I was telling Conrad, who is doing some impressive work with his Scientology short stories, that it takes me a couple of days to feel like I’m back in my own world.

But then, that’s what I have always loved about reading, no? The way some evenly spaced monochromatic words on paper can create a whole universe right in front of your eyes, trap you in it, and won’t let you go.

Anyway, check this page for more info. Drop me a note if you’re newly interested.

Looking forward to seeing you and reading your mad words.

My class starts up again tomorrow night. I’m excited, especially since the NBA season is now over and no new episodes of Boondocks or The Girls Next Door yet.

The last (and first) session of The Finishing School was really incredible, for me and hopefull for all the writers that were there. I remember sweating through the first thirty minutes of the first night of class, wondering in my head what the hell I was doing sitting there with 7 great writers, acting like I knew what I was talking about. Anyway, in spite of that, it worked out. It worked out great.

This time around, there will be a couple of writers working on their theater pieces (full-length play and a one-woman show), along with the continuing work on short stories, novels, memoirs and such. The plays are going to be exciting because it’s a dynamic we didn’t have last time.

But as I was taught from the start, writing is writing. Words are words. Bad writing doesn’t all of a sudden become good because you put it in a different form. A piece of shit writing doesn’t become good because it’s called a “memoir.”

So, with that, wish me luck. Wish all the writers who’ll be joining together for the next 8 weeks much luck, patience, and courage.

That my website is officially launched. Yes, I am finally a dot com. This will be a place I write everyday, post all news pertaining to Wednesday, to my writing workshop, to the bright future of our publishing label. I’ve also posted my work history/bio/resume for work. But most importantly, I created this site so I can just write everyday and stay diligent with it.

So I hope you’ll all return everyday to read my posts. Anyway…on to the details!

First of all, the dates for the next session of The Finishing School, my writing workshop, are: 5/9/06 to 6/27/06.

That’s MAY 9, 2006 TO JUNE 27, 2006. Once again the class will be on Tuesday nights, 7 to 10 p.m., but if enough people sign up for it, I’ll be open to creating a second session on a different night. So contact me ASAP. The current class that we are wrapping up right now has been fantastic!

Back to the details of this site:

The HOME page, the page you are reading now, will be my blog. This is where I will be doing most of my writing. If I come across anything interesting, I’ll put a link here. If I have any news to pass along, here. I will also be posting a new poem, journal, or story every other day or so. Just another way to keep myself from getting lazy. So if you like my writing, I suggest you check in everyday to see. Also, don’t be shy about passing along this website to friends and enemies alike.

The BIO page is where I’ve put a bunch of my educational and work history. Even if you have no desire to look at my resume, there are some cool links in there. Check out the one about Walter Bernstein.

The CLIPS page is where I’ve placed a bunch of samples of my work. Poems, journals, fiction, screenplay and plays. Some are excerpts. They’re all in PDF. If you have a browser that can read PDF directly, then you can just click on the title and read it. Or you can download them and keep them. Hope you enjoy reading them. I will be adding some audio files on there soon, from readings that I have done.

THE FINISHING SCHOOL page is information about my writing workshop. If you can’t find the info you are looking for in there, let me know.

The WEDNESDAY page is a basic history/info/description of our beloved literary quarterly, which, by the way, is celebrating it’s first birthday! We are hoping to have the official Wednesday site up soon, but in the meantime, you can get information here and on our myspace.

The WRIT LARGE PRESS page is about the publishing label that we publish Wednesday under. Our goal is to publish one or two books per year from authors we have fallen madly in love with.

And finally, the REVIEWS page. I posted the very generous and kind things that the writers I have worked with have said about their experiences. If you are not sure about working with me, maybe you’ll get a better sense after reading what other writers think.

Well, that’s it for now. It has been exhausting getting this ready to go and, frankly, I don’t know what I have just gotten myself into. But I hope you’ll come along and stay for the ride.

Peace
Chiwan