Pikes Peak Writers Conference 2026

New to Pikes Peak Writers? New to writing conferences? New to writing, in general? Here's your chance to ask virtually everything about how to get the most out of your conference experience. There's etiquette, jargon, and a lot more to learn so that you present yourself in the very best light to our faculty and your fellow attendees. Learn what to do and what not to do by folks who have learned from their mistakes. You have questions? We have answers.

Get into the head of your evil mastermind villain and use logic to help shape your protagonist's arc. We’ll learn the basic structure of an argument, the difference between validity and soundness, and why it matters to build believable characters with motivations we don’t second guess. I’ll introduce several logical fallacies---ways people make illogical arguments sound good---so that your characters can act illogically in a believable way and justify bad (perhaps valid, but unsound) choices or manipulate others.

Owning and running your own business as a freelancer or an author is not only about the logistics of taxes, running a website, and marketing your business but also includes a foundational philosophy by which to focus the decisions that will affect your business and your brand.

This hands-on workshop teaches writers to look at their fiction or creative nonfiction as an editor would, on two levels: developmental editing (the big picture: characters, backstory, pacing, etc.) and line editing (the rhythm and flow of the prose). Participants will learn what agents and publishers consider red flags in a writing sample and how to avoid them; how to make their opening pages multi-task to capture a reader’s attention; and how to tighten their prose without losing its poetry. Targeted exercises will show how to recognize common pitfalls and craft a much stronger final draft. Along the way, writers will discover that revision can be fun!

During the class, attendees will be reading and analyzing first pages as actors. Samples will be available, but attendees are encouraged to bring your own first pages to work on.

Humans hear emotions first, then pitch and rhythm, and only then words. I want to give writers the most fundamental and powerful performance tools their creative cousins, actors, use to bring words to life. This will cover performance and speech skills that will render their text clear and easily understood. Emotional, expressive and analytical tools that bring their characters to life, vocal tools that will render their characters distinct from each other and grounded in the character's truth, and recording and editing technical how-to that will make the final product polished and professional quality on any budget. If you only had a few hours to take someone from 0 to a world class actor, how would you do it? That's what we're going to find out. Realistically, acting is like playing the violin, with a very high skill-cap, but progress can be fast with the right tools, the most precious thing that will come from this is the continuing education tools, resources, drills, and understandings that will have would-be author/narrators growing for years to come.

Get up and running with Scrivener--today (for those just starting out, or who feel they aren't using Scrivener's full features)

Scrivener writing software: everyone says they love it, but what writer has time to learn something new? And most writers already using Scrivener miss out on some of the program’s best elements.

This workshop will help you get up and running right away. You'll learn Scrivener's 5 main features, how to get your writing in, organize it, and get it out (when it's time to publish).

Even long-time users will learn to take advantage of features they didn’t know were there. Learn to navigate stunning elements to make writing--and research--faster and more efficient, no matter what genre. This workshop is for both fiction and non-fiction writers.

Advanced techniques for the motivated writer (customization for those already using Scrivener)


In this workshop, writers already familiar with the basics of Scrivener will discover the many ways Scrivener can be configured for novels and non-fiction projects.

>Find out how to customize Scrivener to your particular needs--and if you love color, you'll be super happy.

>Take advantage of little-known elements to make your writing life easier to manage.

>Learn to plot your book with virtual index cards.

> Manage scenes (and your own motivation) with the outliner.

>Fly through revisions with features most Scrivener users have not yet discovered.

>And much more!