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THE GROTTO LIFE As many of you know, writing is hard work. It’s also boring, brutal on your back,
neck, and wrists, tough on self-confidence. Ultimately, it's terrifying. Writing works
best when you dig deep into your soul, and who likes doing that?
There are good things. For one, you realize you do have a soul, however murky it may be. But every writer needs support to pull them through. Some find it in cheap drink and cigarettes. Others in meditation, religion, or a guru. I've found it in the Grotto community. I came to the Grotto in 1998, when there were only 9 writers in a small flat on Folsom Street. When the dotcom boom hit, our rent skyrocketed. We moved to an abandoned Dog and Cat Hospital in a shabby part of town. For five years, 21 writers churned out amazing work, though the paint was peeling on the ceiling and the heat never functioned properly. Recently we’ve moved again, upgrading from our crumbling building to a large floor in the beautiful South Park neighborhood of San Francisco. We have a conference room, a library, a kitchen and two bathrooms. We also have a lot more offices. Now 31 authors, screenwriters and journalists are poised to break even more new ground in this amazing creative experiment called the Grotto. Grotto members have produced New York Times bestsellers (Po Bronson, Mary Roach, David Duncan, Tom Barbash, Laura Fraser, Ethan Canin, Julia Scheeres) Emmy Award winning documentaries (Xandra!), Sundance films (Josh Kornbluth, David Munro), National Magazine Awards (Todd Oppenheimer, David Duncan), Hollywood films (Po Bronson, Noah Hawley, Lucas Sussman) New York Times Notable Books (ZZ Packer, Vendela Vida), Pushcart Prize winners (Marianna Cherry), Stegner Fellows (Kaui Hart Hemmings, Stephen Elliott, Tom Barbash, Peter Orner, ZZ Packer), Guggenheim Fellows (Peter Orner), countless Publisher Weekly starred reviews (ZZ Packer, Julia Scheeres, Jason Roberts, Lisa Margonelli just to name a few) Best Books of the Year (Jason Roberts, Stephen Elliott, Peter Orner) and a National Book Award (Victor Martinez!). This is a testament not only to the tremendous talent in the Bay Area, but also to the ineffable, almost unexplainable, power that a community can generate. For more information on the Grotto, visit the website at http://www.sfgrotto.org Now, meet the writers at my office and in my life who keep me away from bad gin.
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