SF Creative Writing Institute

We are so incredibly proud of our amazing SFCWI student, Sidharta Muskat, whose brilliant piece “The Angel of Clement Says F*ck You” just took home Third Prize in Flash Fiction Magazine Contest! 🥉✨

We couldn't be more thrilled to see their talent recognized! If you want to dive into a truly fantastic, place-rooted slice of SF writing, you need to read this right now.

👉 Head over to Flash Fiction Magazine to read the full award-winning story! 







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What an incredible evening celebrating San Francisco’s resilience, humor, and humanity! 🌉

A huge thank you to everyone who joined us at the SF Public Library for our Dispatches from the City of Awe reading. From the powerful stories shared by our writers and community members to the voices captured in our listening booth, it was a beautiful reminder of the everyday brilliance that fills this city.

SFCWI would like to extend a special thank you to the SVANE Foundation for their support in making this event possible.

📝 Missed the event but still want to share your story? We are always looking for new voices! We’d love to read your stories for our project blog. 

👆Head over to the link in our bio!





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Before Stephen King became a household name, he was just a kid in Maine with a nail in his bedroom wall to hold his rejection slips.

By the time he was 14, the nail could no longer support the weight of the paper, so he replaced it with a metal spike and kept on writing. He kept going through years of silence.

At 25, broke and teaching high school, he began working on Carrie. Frustrated and convinced he couldn't write a convincing female lead, he threw the first three pages into the trash. His wife, Tabitha, pulled them out, read them, and told him he had something special. She coaxed the rest of the story out of him.

King had faced dozens of rejections on earlier unpublished novels, but this time, Doubleday bought the hardcover rights for a modest $2,500 advance.

Just months later, the paperback rights sold for an astonishing $400,000. Carrie was published in 1974 and changed the literary landscape forever.

King’s career was built on volume and persistence, not instant approval.

Every literary giant, especially the successful ones, were told NO many times before the world said Yes. Use rejection as motivation, keep learning, keep growing, and most importantly, keep writing.

Your words matter.

Join our FREE newsletter (link in bio) to find your creative community and guidance. 💛👆







Writers Block Writing Workshop, Editing tips, Finish Your Book, Write Your Story, Writing Process, Fiction, Memoir, Writing Advice, SF Writers, Bay Area Writers, Writing Group, Author Community, Emerging Writers, Revision Process, Writing Accountability, Storytelling Tips, Creative Nonfiction, Novel, San Francisco, Writing Goals, Drafting Tips, Writers Community

We’ve all been there, holding onto a story, a memory, or an idea that just needs to get out.

Your voice and your experiences matter, and keeping them locked away is the hardest part. Whether you're writing a piece of fiction, your lived experiences, or a poem to your inner child, it’s time to let those words breathe.

If you’re ready to finally tell your story, come write with us. Check the link in our bio to join our upcoming free workshops and community projects.






, Writers Block, Editing tips, Finish Your Book, Write Your Story, Writing Process, Fiction, Memoir, Writing Advice, SF Writers, Bay Area Writers, Writing Group, Author Community, Emerging Writers, Revision Process, Writing Accountability, Storytelling Tips, Creative Nonfiction, Novel, San Francisco, Writing Goals, Drafting Tips, Writers Community

Can you relate? 😭🙌

If you need a published author as a mentor by your side to help you finish your manuscript, join our Online Manuscript Intensive Course now (link in bio) 👀⭐

Hurry up, seats are limited!





Writers Block Writing Workshop, Editing tips, Finish Your Book, Write Your Story, Writing Process, Fiction, Memoir, Writing Advice, SF Writers, Bay Area Writers, Writing Group, Author Community, Emerging Writers, Revision Process, Writing Accountability, Storytelling Tips, Creative Nonfiction, Novel, San Francisco, Writing Goals, Drafting Tips, Writers Community

Your story deserves to be finished. ✍️

Our Manuscript Intensive Workshop provides the dedicated space and support you need for the deep, structural work of a final revision. This course is built for writers who have done the heavy lifting of a first draft and are ready to sharpen their narrative arc with high-level feedback.

The finish line is in sight, and we are here to help you cross it.

Enrollment closes soon. Secure your spot through link in bio 🙌







Writers Block Writing Workshop, Editing tips, Finish Your Book, Write Your Story, Writing Process, Fiction, Memoir, Writing Advice, SF Writers, Bay Area Writers, Writing Group, Author Community, Emerging Writers, Revision Process, Writing Accountability, Storytelling Tips, Creative Nonfiction, Novel, San Francisco, Writing Goals, Drafting Tips, Writers Community

Join us at the SF Public Library for our FREE reading celebrating Dispatches from the City of Awe, a storytelling project uplifting the real voices, hidden histories, and everyday brilliance of San Franciscans! 🌉

Come hear community members, writers, and cultural partners share new stories that reflect the resilience, humor, and humanity of San Francisco.

We’ll also have our listening booth ready to record your stories!

🗓️ Tomorrow, May 28
🕒 4:00 PM – 7:00 PM
📍 SF Public Library (Main Branch)
💰 Free admission!

SFCWI would like to thank the SVANE Foundation for their support!

Click the link in our bio to RSVP! 🔗

P.S. 📝 Want to submit your story for the project? We’d love to read your stories for our blog! Visit: https://dispatchesfromthecityofawe.com

Before Bad Feminist broke out, Roxane Gay founded Tiny Hardcore Press to publish work that struggled to find a home elsewhere. Her debut story collection Ayiti was first published in 2011 by the micro-indie Artistically Declined Press after years of rejections, and later reissued by Grove Press.

She wrote through overnight shifts at a video store and bartending jobs, calling writing her true north.

Today she’s a New York Times bestselling author, Guggenheim Fellow, and runs her own imprint. Her events sell out in San Francisco and Oakland because she speaks plainly about race, body, feminism, and power - topics central to the Bay Area’s social and political literary community.

For the writers collecting rejections right now, it's okay to be salty, but it's important that you work harder.

Every literary giant, especially the successful ones, were told NO many times before the world said Yes. Use rejection as motivation, keep learning, keep growing, and most importantly, keep writing. Your words matter.







       Writers Block Writing Workshop, Editing tips, Finish Your Book, Write Your Story, Writing Process, Fiction, Memoir, Writing Advice, SF Writers, Bay Area Writers, Writing Group, Author Community, Emerging Writers, Revision Process, Writing Accountability, Storytelling Tips, Creative Nonfiction, Novel, San Francisco, Writing Goals, Drafting Tips, Writers Community

Poetry is not a luxury. Audre Lorde reminds us it’s a vital necessity - the light we use to imagine survival and change, first into language, then into idea, then into action.

Some weeks that look like a finished draft. Some weeks, it looks like one true line in a notes app. Both count. If you’re writing in the margins of your day right now, you’re in good company here.

Save this for the days you need a reminder why you come back to the page.





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This is your sign to keep a notepad by your bed, because the best ideas always hit right when you’re drifting off.

Can you relate? 😭🙌

If you need a community by your side to help you get your words out and support your writer journey, join our FREE newsletter (link in bio) 👀⭐





Writers Block Writing Workshop, Editing tips, Finish Your Book, Write Your Story, Writing Process, Fiction, Memoir, Writing Advice, SF Writers, Bay Area Writers, Writing Group, Author Community, Emerging Writers, Revision Process, Writing Accountability, Storytelling Tips, Creative Nonfiction, Novel, San Francisco, Writing Goals, Drafting Tips, Writers Community