I’m immensely grateful to all those who supported me during Blazing Laptops Write-A-Thon 2014. Thanks to your donations, I was able to meet my goal and raise $1,000 for San Diego Writers, Ink. I wrote 4,000 words toward my novel in progress, and ate a kilo of peanut M&Ms.

When I moved from Los Angeles to San Diego in 2006, I was suspicious of the literary scene in my new city. I believed that San Diego couldn’t possibly compete with Los Angeles with its wealth of bookstores, workshops and reading series. So I ignored it. That decision didn’t work out so well.

After two years of going it alone, I signed up for a class at San Diego Writers, Ink. I had such a good experience, I signed up for a weekly read and critique workshop. I worked with an extremely talented and dedicated group of writers, and I’m not just blowing smoke here: three of the writers in that group got book deals for their projects. I would go on to read my work at the Ink Spot, teach classes at SDWI, and serve on its board.

San Diego Writers, Ink is where I honed my craft, became a novelist, and found the most supportive community of writers I’ve ever been a part of. That’s why I’m such a strident supporter of Blazing Laptops. I want to do my part to make sure SDWI continues its mission to support the literary arts in San Diego.

This year we fell just short of our goal. There’s still time to donate before Blazing Laptops closes its books at the end of the week. Please consider making SDWI part of your charitable giving for 2014. And if you’d like to participate in Blazing Laptops next year, message me and I’ll tell you all about it.