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The Queen of Twisted Tales and Doomed Choices – An Interview with Ute Orgassa
What is your name/pen name/ name you are comfortable giving us? Ute Orgassa. (It’s a rare German name and it is always an adventure to hear how people pronounce it. Ask me how, if you’re unsure.) What project or projects, if any, are you currently working on? Several short stories for story calls. There is
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“My current stories are like puzzles.” — An Author Interview with Heidi Gilbert
What is your name/pen name/ name you are comfortable giving us? Heidi Gilbert is my real name, but I think if I’m ever published I would most likely choose to go by H.R. Gilbert. I like the slight anonymity so people can’t judge me right away by race or gender if they pick up my
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Our First Anthology is Coming November 24th!
We are happy to announce our very first anthology is coming out on November 24th! Rough Seas & Strange Yarns captures short stories, poems, and visual art of fifteen Pen & Pier members, all focusing on the theme: Ocean. You can pre-order the eBook now by clicking the button down below!
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The Rough Art of Editing
In my writing journey, the part I have always had the most difficulty with is the editing phase. I can do a sloppy first draft, and I can usually make developmental changes that help the story and character arcs flesh out. However, when it comes to pure grammatical editing, as well as cutting down on
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September 19 to 21, 2025. The third annual Pen & Pier retreat!
By Ute Orgassa The weather was lovely, and the spirits were high when members of Pen & Pier descended on SLO locations for their third annual writing retreat. This year’s motto was: “A Tidal Wave of Inspiration,” and we followed this theme over three days. The first evening, we did a book-binding project. Our resident
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We Are On Social Media!
Pen & Pier is building our online presence in order to expand the group as well as promote our anthology and future events and anthology sub calls.Our leadership has put together a Substack, Facebook group, Instagram, Bluesky, and have updated our website to all match P&P!Do not feel pressured to join or follow all the
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Writing Consistently and Persistently: an Interview with Katherine Bonn
What is your name/pen name/ name you are comfortable giving us? Katherine Bonn, for now. I suspect there may be another pen name in my future. What project or projects, if any, are you currently working on? This summer I’ve mostly been working on editing the Pen & Pier anthology, Rough Seas & Strange Yarns
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Prompts for August 2025
August 25 Your protagonist goes to a masquerade party in which they’re completely anonymous for exactly one hour. Free from societal expectations, their true character begins to emerge. You might say they trade one mask for another. August 18 Characters find motivation when they want something they can’t have. When we can build that into
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Get Ready to Write: Our Third Annual Writing Retreat is Coming Next Month
This Fall we’ll meet in Grover Beach and Oceano for our annual Writing Retreat. This year’s theme, “a tidal wave of inspiration,” is inspired by our 2025 anthology and will feature: Schedule Friday 5pm–8pm at SLO Life Studio & Mercantile Before we write, we’ll spend an evening learning to make our own books in a
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The Pros and Cons of Indie and Traditional Publishing
On Aug. 17 authors Jeannin Counts and Kalyn Josephson met at Two Broads Ciderworks to discuss the pros and cons of independent and traditional novel publishing. We talked about many aspects of going with an established company versus going it alone, and a few points stood out. Marketing Using the right labels, or keywords, is
