Login to see member resources.
Events
Announcing our upcoming
January Writers Panel
In-person monthly gathering. Come experience our new panel discussions and member-to-member knowledge sharing!
Culture Clash: Mastering Multicultural Dialogue.
Let’s say a character in your novel speaks a different language –– but your novel is in English! Wondering how to present foreign dialogue without losing readers or meaning? Join us for a fun, hands-on workshop where you’ll learn smart, effective techniques to weave multilingual or regional dialects naturally into your story—keeping voice clear and vibrant, while avoiding confusion. ¡Komm bereit, pour écrire, y explorar, dude!
Expect to leave understanding of the best way to format foreign dialogue in novels, memoirs, and short stories.
Moderator: Eduardo Santiago. Panelists: Victoria Castillo and Glen Veccione
The meeting begins at 11:00 a.m. and ends at noon.
This event is free for all members. Registration not necessary.
We may take photos and/or videos at any of our events for promotional purposes. Ready to become a member of the Palm Springs Writers Guild? Please click here.
Event Contact: Eduardo Santiagosantiagogo@aol.com
Announcing our next In-Person Workshop
Write from Your Heart: An Introduction to Memoir Writing Susan Shankin
IMPORTANT UPDATE
Susan Shankin is a publisher, creative director, and award-winning book designer with nearly a decade as a publisher and more than 30 years in the publishing industry. Known for her exceptional creative vision and unwavering commitment to excellence, she offers a full range of publishing services, including project management, editing services, cover and interior design, and marketing collateral.
Presentation Overview:
An interactive workshop designed to help writers uncover, shape, and begin telling their personal stories with clarity and purpose. Participants explore the difference between memoir and autobiography, identify why they want to write their story, and learn how turning points and themes form the foundation of a compelling memoir. Through guided exercises, writers begin mapping key moments in their lives, discovering patterns and emotional through-lines that give their stories meaning and direction.
The workshop also introduces essential storytelling craft, including how to build vivid scenes, develop plot through cause and effect, and structure a memoir with a strong beginning, middle, and end.
Takeaways:
REGISTER
To receive a full refund minus a $25 cancellation processing fee, attendees must cancel their registration 5 days before the event. No refunds will be given after that time. To cancel your registration, go to palmspringswritersguild.org and click on the blue icon at the top right of any page. Enter user name and password and click "LOG IN". On the next screen click "My event registrations". Select event and cancel registration.
We may take photos and/or videos at any of our events for promotional purposes.
Meeting begins at 12:30 p.m. and ends at 2:30 p.m.
Ready to become a member of the Palm Springs Writers Guild? Please click here.
Event Contact: Dak Kopec
Email: DakKopec@mac.com
Camaraderie, Creativity & Cocktails
Free Write and Mingle
Join fellow members to write and socialize! We will have writing prompts to spark our imagination, then transition to happy hour! Registration is not required for this free event, and please feel free to bring a guest!
Location:849 Restaurant and Lounge 849 N Palm Canyon Dr Palm Springs, CA 92262
Registration is not required for this free event, but it would be nice if you did.
Members only. Feel free to bring a guest.
Free Write begins at 3:30 p.m. Mingle begins at 5:00 p.m. and ends at 7:00 p.m. (see below) Attend either or both.
Event Contact: Eduardo Santiago (323) 377-9730 santiagogo@aol.com
Announcing our next Online Lab
Hone Your Craft and Edit For Success 2026! Ariella Moon, Author YA
About Ariella Moon
Award-winning author Ariella Moon draws upon her experiences as a shaman to create magical Young Adult fiction. She won the Aspen Gold Readers’ Choice Award for Best Romantic Short Story for “Covert Hearts,” which appears in Second Chances: A Romance Writers of America Collection. Discover her medieval Two Realms fantasy series and her contemporary Teen Wytche Saga novels at online book retailers and at www.ariellamoon.com.
In addition to teaching writing labs, Ariella Moon leads seminars on healing, women’s spirituality, and Defense Against the Dark Arts at local and international women's conferences. She lives a nearly normal life doting on her extraordinary daughter, two shamelessly spoiled dogs, and a media-shy dragon.
Description:
Start the new year with a fresh polish to your work-in progress or finished manuscript. In this interactive online lab, award-winning author Ariella Moon will show you how to scrutinize your manuscript through an editor’s eyes. We will review macro and micro edits that will help you identify common problems including structure, head-hopping, point of view, flat or AWOL characters, weak verbs, and much more.
Key Points to Take Away
Location: Zoom Online Meeting
Unable to attend, no problem, all paid registrants will receive a video replay.
You will receive an invitation to the Zoom online meeting after you have registered and payment is complete.
Event Contact: Ariella Moon authorariellamoon@gmail.com
TUESDAYS! HOST: Eduardo Santiago
Location:Tommy Bahama Miramonte Resort 45000 Indian Wells Lane Indian Wells, CA 92210 (442) 305-4500
Registration is not required for this free event, but we'd appreciate it if you did.
Free Write begins at 3:30 p.m. Mingle begins at 5:00 p.m. and ends at 7:00 p.m. Attend either or both.
Event Contact: Eduardo Santiago (323) 377-9730 (323) 377-9730 santiagogo@aol.com
What makes a romance? Who makes the rules? Who enforces them? Blake Allwood
Blake and his husband Shaun met on Valentine's Day in 1995, and they have been together ever since. Together, they fostered 12 children before selling their home and traveling the country in their RV with their two dogs. Blake’s books are often inspired by the places he’s visited. To date, Blake has written over twenty books.
Most of us follow the beats that don’t fit the official criteria for a romance book, so who gets to decide what a romance is? Are they places like Amazon, Goodreads, or Bookbub? Or is it the audience? People like reviewers who can cause a book to tank in the market. In this workshop, we’ll explore questions like these and take some time for emotional writing.
Location:Foxy's Kitchen & Bar 69-950 Frank Sinatra Drive Rancho Mirage, CA 92270 (760) 424-8615
March Writers Panel
Deadlines, not Flatlines: Caring for the body that writes the books
Description: This panel explores realistic movement habits, desk setups, and mindset shifts that help writers counteract long hours in the chair—without requiring a personality transplant into a gym rat. Panelists will share the simple routines, boundaries, and hacks that keep their backs, hips, and brains functioning well enough to finish the next draft (and the one after that).
Panelists: Andy Cohen and David Parrish. Moderator: Eduardo Santiago
Pacing: The Invisible Engine Dete Meserve
Dete Meserve is a bestselling novelist and award-winning film and television producer. Her latest novel, The Memory Collectors—about four people who get the chance to spend one hour in their past—is an Amazon bestseller and Goodreads Choice Award nominee, currently in development as a TV series with Meserve as showrunner. She adapted her novel Good Sam into a Netflix film, which she also produced. She is also the author of Perfectly Good Crime, The Good Stranger, and The Space Between.
Pacing is what keeps readers turning pages—but it's not about speed. It's about controlling their experience of time, tension, and momentum. In this workshop, bestselling novelist Dete Meserve breaks down pacing techniques at the sentence, scene, and structural level, with examples from her novel The Memory Collectors and other works. You'll leave with practical tools to make your book unputdownable.
