Morning arrives in Santa Monica, and a crisp, coffee-fired Academy considers the rules and regulations of point-of-view, French musician’s etiquette, Argentina’s working-class cooking protocols, and the satisfaction that comes with saying, “Know it? Hell, I wrote it!”

ACME Writing Academy Season Two:

ACME’s California Adventure

Hosted by Rick Krizman.

Produced by Rick Krizman and Mike Magnuson

Featuring Chef Marcello Vazquez

With Bob Clark and Mike Magnuson

With the California sun shining and everyone’s mood improving, the Academy sidesteps the broader, abstract concerns of writing and opens up the toolbox of grammar and rhetoric and what writers actually need to know to put words on the page.

ACME Writing Academy Season Two:

ACME’s California Adventure

Hosted by Rick Krizman.

Produced by Rick Krizman and Mike Magnuson

Featuring Chef Marcello Vazquez

With Bob Clark and Mike Magnuson

On Sunday, after Rick wakes up at 4:30 in the morning excited about sentences, the Academy declares this to be Sentence Day and puts on ACME party hats and lays out a magnificent smorgasbord of sentences for an all-day celebration.

ACME Writing Academy Season Two:

ACME’s California Adventure

Hosted by Rick Krizman.

Produced by Rick Krizman and Mike Magnuson

Featuring Chef Marcello Vazquez

With Bob Clark and Mike Magnuson

ACME’s California Adventure draws to a close in an oddly serious discussion of the benefits of planning ahead as opposed to improvising and allowing the words to lead the work wherever it wants to go, even if the words lead to nothing, which begs the question: What do you do when you got nothin’?

ACME Writing Academy Season Two:

ACME's California Adventure

Hosted by Rick Krizman.

Produced by Rick Krizman and Mike Magnuson

Featuring Chef Marcello Vazquez

With Bob Clark and Mike Magnuson

ACME kicks around the writing advice we’ve heard or given over the years, the advice we’ve heeded or ignored or didn’t mean in the first place or that we might have been just too damn lazy to put into effect.

ACME is

Hosted by Rick Krizman.

Produced by Rick Krizman and Mike Magnuson.

Featuring Bob Clark, Jim Frank, and Marcello Vazquez.

With Mike Magnuson.

A funny, serious, lowbrow/highbrow, and ultimately honest discussion of the value of writing workshops. Does the old, often brutal workshop model still work? Or should there be new way for us to get feedback on our works in progress?

ACME is

Hosted by Rick Krizman.

Produced by Rick Krizman and Mike Magnuson.

Featuring Bob Clark, Jim Frank, and Marcello Vazquez.

With Mike Magnuson.

ACME gets personal in this discussion of Vietnam, Argentina, Iowa, the Bronx, and the differences between influence, appropriation, and plagiarism.

Acme is

Hosted by Rick Krizman.

Produced by Rick Krizman and Mike Magnuson.

Featuring Bob Clark, Jim Frank, and Marcello Vazquez.

With Mike Magnuson.

The ACME Writing Academy discusses the nature of rhythm and tempo in prose, in music, and in the heart. Is the music of writing natural and unconsciously created? Or do writers construct it to control their reader’s experience? Special guest appearance by Ludwig van Beethoven.

ACME is

Hosted by Rick Krizman.

Produced by Rick Krizman and Mike Magnuson.

Featuring Bob Clark, Jim Frank, and Marcello Vazquez.

With Mike Magnuson.

#9 ACME Lost in Place. In this rather heartfelt episode – Really! – the ACME Writing Academy ponders the one undeniably stupid question known to exist in the universe: Is there no place like home?

ACME is

Hosted by Rick Krizman.

Produced by Rick Krizman and Mike Magnuson.

Featuring Bob Clark, Jim Frank, and Marcello Vazquez.

With Mike Magnuson.

GENRE! A truly whacked, bandwidth-challenged, chuckling-around-the-peanut-barrel conversation about the nature of genre in writing. Crack one open, light one up, and join us!

ACME is

Hosted by Rick Krizman.

Produced by Rick Krizman and Mike Magnuson.

Featuring Bob Clark, Jim Frank, and Marcello Vazquez.

With Mike Magnuson.