Pikes Peak Writers Write Brains: What's in it for You?

By: Bowen Gillings

I mark the third Tuesday of every month on my calendar. 6:15. Library 21C. Write Brain.

These two-hour workshops focus on improving writers and authors. Educators at Write Brain range from published novelists, short story authors, and non-fiction writers to agents, editors, and marketing experts.

Write Brain consistently provides wonderful insights into the breadth and depth of what it means to be both a writer and an author. There is a difference. A writer is an artist, a creative person who composes narrative/prose/poetry/etc. An author is someone who does likewise as part of his or her livelihood.

Attending Write Brain taught me this.

Like so many others, I first approached writing as simply sitting down and putting to paper what was stirring in my brain. Little did I know at the time how much more there was to the process. Also, I was oblivious to what it took to get published and find readers.

I started attending the Pikes Peak Writers Write Brain workshops in 2015. Write Brain showed me Scrivener, the fantastic word processor and organizational tool on steroids. From Write Brain I learned the necessaries of marketing and how much of an author’s time must be committed to it, whether traditionally or self-published. A recent workshop used neuroscience to explain what story elements engage readers and why, giving fiction writers a road map to keep readers turning pages.

These workshops spurred me to relook at my work in progress. They made me reassess whether I wanted to put in the work to finish a manuscript, query, network, market, and all the rest of it. They motivated me to participate in the Pike’s Peak Writer’s Conference and get my work in front of agents.

The monthly injection of new information and new approaches that these free workshops provide always leave me invigorated, recharged, and ready to plant myself in front of a keyboard to hammer out the story that has tormented my brain for years.

I have to say, “Thank you, Write Brain.”

Each Write Brain workshop is selected by the Pikes Peak Writers Non-Conference Events (NCE) committee from the hundreds of submissions on our workshop proposal portal.

Have an idea for Write Brain or want to see a particular subject covered at a workshop? Go to https://www.pikespeakwriters.com/proposing-a-workshop/, read through, follow the guidelines, and click on the corresponding link to fill out a submission form. Better yet, join PPW here and volunteer to assist on NCE! Then, you can help decide which workshops get on the calendar for Write Brain.

See you there!

About the Author: Bowen Gillings lives in Colorado Springs with his wife, daughter, and dog.  He became a member of Pikes Peak Writers in 2015 and is President of Pikes Peak Writers. You can catch him climbing the Manitou Incline or at Garden of the Gods Park, where he heads the school programs for area elementary and high school students.  Or come listen to his overbearing voice as the emcee of Write Brain the third Tuesday of each month at Library 21C. He is screaming along the rollercoaster ride of his first novel about a disgraced soldier and pregnant sorceress fighting their demons in a fantastical version of the French and Indian War.