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Napa (In-Person): The Fourth Column
August 9, 2022 @ 7:30 pm - 9:00 pm
Napa Valley Writers meets second Wednesday of the month
7 – 9 p.m.
$5 Fee for members, $7 for non-members. Students with ID – free.
Napa Valley Writers will host Kevin Fisher-Paulson, a weekly columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle.
Every writer has one column in him. The trick is to be the kind of writer who has one column in him every week.
Kevin will talk about the craft of writing from the perspective of purpose and structure. Specifically, Kevin will talk about the process of writing a weekly column for a major newspaper. The writer must learn how to open his soul without telling every secret, and how to establish a rhythm and a voice. The writer must learn to tell the truth, but let the world act as a fact checker.
Kevin grapples with great issues but knows that the narrative must be satisfied in a 750-word count. As the reputation of the column grows, he must be aware of consistency, fresh perspective, and the assertive reader.
The writing process begins with a commitment to the creative self. As Kevin will explain, everyone has an autobiography but not everyone has a memoir.
Kevin Fisher-Paulson earned a bachelor’s degree in American Studies at the University of Notre Dame and a master’s degree in Something Useless from the University of Michigan. He has completed post-graduate coursework at the University of Iowa, the University of Oregon, Rutgers University, and the New School.
Kevin is a weekly columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle.
In addition to the weekly column, he has published two books, A Song for Lost Angels and How We Keep Spinning. Song was nominated, and a finalist for both the Benjamin Franklin Award as well as the Independent Book Publishers award. A portion of his memoir was published in the anthology When Love Lasts Forever by Pilgrim Press.
Kevin’s works have been produced by ODC Summerfest, the San Francisco Bay Area Dance Series, the National AIDS Theater Festival and the Vital Signs Benefit for Healing Alternatives.
Kevin lives in the mysterious outer, outer, outer, outer Excelsior with two sons who have adopted him, two dogs who adore him, and a husband who endures him.
Kymberlie Ingalls will be August’s Member Reader.
Kymberlie is an award-winning essayist, speaker, editor, and writing coach, living in her native San Francisco Bay Area. The author of the successful sites Writer Of the Storm and Neuroticy = A Societal Madness and the books Bridges and 43, she began blogging in the late 90s, before it became the phenomenon that is prevalent today. Her work focuses on love, grief, with an examination of humanity and the heart. Beware of falling opinions.