Teacher Feature: Dana Zed

The wisdom of Kathy Garlick’s guidance and the accountability inherent in Round Robin has helped me write hundreds of pages. In the past, I’ve had no other goals but to write. I do this easily. In college I wrote my first book about cycling from San Francisco to Washington DC and since then have written an ongoing blog about subsequent bike trips (www.bikingacrosstheusa.com). I’d like to get the bike blog into a real story worth publishing.

Also when I had a de Young museum residency drawing digital portraits, I started another blog (www.betweenstops.blog) to tell stories about the people I drew. In the course of over a decade, that has morphed into short stories. I could take a lot of Round Robin writes and put them in the blog and get more serious about the illustrations that go with the stories and perhaps turn that into something. The Writing Salon has helped me write more stories and think more seriously about writing and publishing.

Everything I have done at The Writing Salon has been beneficial, including the Saturday meetups (last one in person in Berkeley was great). Shelby Hinte’s brilliant, enthusiastic teaching has been a treasure. I am looking forward to going to her book launch. I also appreciate the member discount, and once I got some financial aid, which was helpful. I appreciate especially the positive aspect of The Writing Salon. I have received kindness which encouraged me and I have learned how to be more positive when looking at another’s work.