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Events
Announcing our upcoming
NOVEMBER 2026 Writers Panel
In-person monthly gathering. Come experience our new panel discussions and member-to-member knowledge sharing!
EMOTIONAL LANDSCAPING: How to Enrich Your Setting With Emotion.
Description:
Every writer has heard the advice to treat "setting as a character," but how do you actually make a physical landscape carry the heavy emotional lifting of a story? In this craft-focused panel, authors of fiction and memoir dismantle the static backdrops of traditional scene-building to explore how geography, sensory details, and physical constraints can mirror a protagonist’s internal chaos.
Panelists: Tanyo Ravicz, Victoria Vanransom. Moderator: Eduardo Santiago.
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 Santiago santiagogo@aol.com
Announcing our next In-Person Workshop
The Art of Writing for the Theatre with Luke Yankee
Luke Yankee is an award-winning playwright, director, producer, author, and educator. The son of Academy Award-winning actress Eileen Heckart, he grew up surrounded by theatre and film legends, including Marilyn Monroe, whose friendship with his mother later inspired his writing.
Trained at Juilliard, he assisted acclaimed Broadway directors Harold Prince, Ellis Rabb, and Brian Murray. He has led two regional theatres and directed productions nationwide, including CV Rep’s upcoming December production of Around the World in 80 Days.
His award-winning plays include Marilyn, Mom & Me, The Last Lifeboat, The Jesus Hickey, and The Man Who Killed the Cure. His memoir, Just Outside the Spotlight, has been praised as “one of the most compassionate, illuminating showbiz books ever written.”
Currently Head of Playwriting at Cal State Fullerton, Yankee brings decades of professional experience and practical, real-world insight to his workshops.
Presentation Overview
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: Brian Rouley
Email:Brian@Rouley.com
Camaraderie, Creativity & Cocktails
Free Write and Mingle
TUESDAYS! Host: Eduardo Santiago
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:California Bistro 69820 CA-111 (behind Willy's) Rancho Mirage, CA 92270 (760) 656-7300
Registration is not required for this free event, but we'd appreciate it 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. Attend either or both.
Event Contact: Eduardo Santiago (323) 377-9730 (323) 377-9730 santiagogo@aol.com
Announcing our next Online Lab
You Should Write a Book. Okay, I’ll Help. What I wish I knew before I published two novels:
About Byron Lane
Byron Lane is the author of the novels Big Gay Wedding and A Star Is Bored. The New York Times Book Review has called his writing "wildly funny and irreverent." He is a former assistant to actress and writer Carrie Fisher, a two-time Emmy Award winner for his work as a television news journalist, and the playwright behind the acclaimed show Tilda Swinton Answers an Ad On Craigslist. He's from New Orleans and lives in Palm Springs with his husband, The New York Times bestselling author Steven Rowley and their rescue dogs, Belle, Shirley, and Raindrop.
Description of talk:
Memoir or novel? (how to decide)
How to start (your logline is your beacon)
How to write an outline (or whatever framing is right for you)
How to make sentences jump off the page (it’s competitive out there)
How to f-ing finish it (and have the confidence to start writing query letters)
“Byron Lane’s [writing] workshop was smart, funny, and inspiring. He is an engaging presenter, and despite having taken ALL of the workshops and having read ALL of the craft books, this workshop laid out a roadmap in a way I hadn’t seen before, and that felt exciting and accessible: I left feeling like ‘I can DO that!’ I came away inspired, informed, and with some solid book recommendations, to boot. Don’t miss this opportunity!”
—STEPHANIE PASHA
Takeaways:
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.
Meeting begins at 1:00 p.m. and ends at 3:00 p.m.
Event Contact: Ariella Moon
authorariellamoon@gmail.com
TUESDAYS! HOST: Eduardo Santiago
Location: 849 Restaurant 849 N. Palm Canyong Drive Palm Springs, CA (760) 325-8490
December 2026 Writers Panel
MY/NEGLECTED/WEBSITE.COM
Building a website is easy; keeping it alive without losing your sanity is the real art. Too many writers fall into the trap of pouring their energy into fickle social networks like Facebook and Instagram, letting their primary digital home collect dust. Join a panel of authors who have been in the trenches and learned how to build a thriving, secure platform on their own terms. Discover the low-effort habits that keep your site fresh and automated, protecting you from social media distraction so you can get back to what matters most: writing.
Moderator: Eduardo Santiago Panelist: Carlotta Rinke Maryann Ridini Spencer
Event Contact: Eduardo Santiagosantiagogo@aol.com
Location:Tommy Bahama Miramonte Resort 45000 Indian Wells Lane Indian Wells, CA 92210 (442) 305-4500
TUESDAYS!Host: Eduardo Santiago
Jeniffer Thompson is an author branding coach, book marketing strategist, and publishing consultant. She co-founded Monkey C Media in 2004, an award-winning book cover and website design studio, hosts The Premise podcast, and is co-founder of the San Diego Writers Festival.
Jeniffer is passionate about helping authors establish highly visible brands. She and her husband, Chad, co-founded Monkey C Media in 2004 and have been creating award-winning book cover designs and author websites ever since. They specialize in author services that integrate digital marketing strategies and engage readers all over the world.
She is a co-founder of the San Diego Writers Festival, serves on the board of the San Diego Memoir Writers Association, and is currently writing her own coming of age memoir.
www.JenifferThompson.com
Presentation Overview:
Build a sustainable author brand that grows with you.
Book marketing isn’t just about selling books—it’s about building an audience of loyal readers and being known. In this workshop, Jeniffer shows you how to elevate your authority, design your personal brand, and increase your online visibility. You’ll leave with practical tools to build your three-year roadmap and guide your publishing career to new heights.
Event Contact: Dak Kopec
Email: DakKopec@mac.com
Substack for Writers: Build Your Audience One Subscriber at a Time
Brian Rouley is a writer, speaker, technology consultant, and Director of Programs for the Palm Springs Writers Guild. He has spent years experimenting with blogging, social media, online publishing, and digital tools that help writers reach readers. In July 2022, while living in Florida, he launched his Substack newsletter, Damn Near Perfect, beginning a four-year exploration of how writers can use the platform to publish their work, connect with readers, and build an audience. A longtime Toastmaster, Brian particularly enjoys taking technology that initially appears complicated and breaking it into practical, understandable steps. His current writing projects combine memoir, personal discovery, and artificial intelligence.
You have something to write. But how do you find people who want to read it?
Substack combines several things writers once had to manage separately: a blog, an email newsletter, a subscriber list, social networking, and, if you choose, the ability to offer paid subscriptions.
In this hands-on Online Lab, Brian Rouley will introduce Substack from a writer’s point of view. We’ll look at what the platform can do, how to get started, how writers are using it, and how to begin attracting subscribers without turning yourself into a full-time marketer.
Participants will be able to follow along as we explore the platform and begin creating or improving their own Substack presence.
Five Key Points to Take Away
Understand what Substack is and how it differs from a traditional blog, email newsletter, and social media.
Set up the essential pieces of your own Substack publication.
Learn how posts, Notes, subscribers, recommendations, and the Substack network work together.
Discover practical ways to find your first subscribers and steadily build an audience.
Leave with a simple plan for what to publish next and how to keep your Substack growing.
Location: Zoom Online Meeting
Event Contact: Ariella Moon authorariellamoon@gmail.com
