Gualala Arts Promoting public interest and participation in the arts since 1961
What’s all the buzz about AI and ChatGPT.? Find Out at Gualala Arts Center!
Attention all aspiring writers! Are you struggling with writer’s block or a lack of confidence in your writing abilities? Join Mark Sanford Gross of KGUA Writers and Write Up the Coast Writing Workshops for a free workshop on how to use AI to help with your writing. At the Gualala Arts Center, THIS Saturday, February 11th from 2 – 4 pm, you will learn how to experiment with AI-ChatGPT and Mark’s process of using simple prompts and freewriting to create your own story. This workshop is designed to build self-confidence and excitement for writing. Don’t know what to give your special someone for Valentine’s Day? Why not write a simple story for them? Or write your first story for KGUA Writers and hear it on the air on Monday, February 13th. By the end of the workshop, you will have both. Bring your laptop or device and let’s get writing! Admission for this mini-workshop is free.
About Mark Sanford Gross
“1/3 NY, 1/3 Washington, DC and 1/3 San Francisco.” For the past 8 years Mark calls the Mendonoma Coast home where he lives with his husband Billy, their two Hungarian shepherds, Woof! and Ruf? in Anchor Bay. “I didn’t realize the hidden metaphor of Anchor Bay until I was here for a few years. Our home now is truly my anchor.”
Growing up in New York, Mark always says that New York is a great place to be from. “You learn a street sense and a way of living in diverse crowds that is not taught but lived.” He moved to Washington DC to work in radio where he sold advertising for ABC radio’s first FM Rock station, WRQX. During that time he earned his MBA in Management from Marymount University. He moved on to two other radio stations learning radio formats and audience behavior. The Washington Post took Mark out of radio and into the world of newspaper in the nation’s capitol. It was during that time mark was accepted into part-time creative writing at John Hopkins University where he earned his MA over three years of full time work and full time writing fit into part time structure. After 12 years at the Post’s “DC mothership” he was asked to start an experimental remote home office in San Francisco to be the brand ambassador representing The Washington Post and Washington DC. “It was the first time of blending opposite ways of thinking. Silicon Valley was becoming the center of innovation and Washington, DC was the center of policy and regulation. Often one didn’t understand the language of the other”. Over the next fifteen years Mark developed his relationship skills learning how to bring together groups and teams of individuals with all their differences. In 2013, Mark was awarded the Washington Post prestigious Eugene Meyer Award named after Katharine Grahams father for his career contributions and principles.
He retired in 2015 when they moved to Anchor Bay. On his first day living in Gualala, he stopped at The Sea Trader. The woman welcomed him and could tell he was new. She offered the best advice, “You need to give it at least two years. It will take that time for you to realize who you are and how to fit in here and how all our surroundings work. Too many people give up. Don’t. I promise you magic.”