The last section of this article gives you a complete writing course from a well known author from Fresno, California.

Many people in the country that have actually heard of Fresno think it has no culture and also has absolutely nothing going for it. That is absolutely not true. It has a great deal going for it.

I do not actually live in Fresno but I live in a city attached to it. Clovis is the exact geographical center of the State.

While we are on the subject you should know that Clovis has the distinction of being the only city in the world that has a life-size statue of Festus (Gunsmoke) in its downtown, "Old town". If you come to visit me and you are very nice to me I will promise not to take you to see it.

Agriculture is being shut down by Nancy Pelosi, George Miller who is the third most powerful person in the House and our two Senators. They are using the excuse of a two inch fish in the Delta to shut off our water. The fish is not in endangered species.

Over 40,000 Hispanics in Fresno County, including a loss who own farms are out of work and many are living in their cars because the west side of the valley is turning into dust. Except for the former dictator in Iraq this is the only time a government is used water as a weapon against its own people.

Fresno has the Save Mart Center. In its second year of operation it became the fifth largest venue in the world and has attracted many major stars. The first one there a couple of years ago was the world famous blind opera singer. Apparently the only one that never heard of him was me. It is now the fourth biggest venue in the world. People come from many overseas areas to see the acts that are here. The tickets are expensive but we no longer have to go to Las Vegas to see them.

It has a great zoo, a Metropolitan Museum, several other museums, an Opera and one of the finest symphony orchestras in the country.

Fresno is part of The Big Valley which stretches over two hundred miles from just north of Los Angeles County to Stockton. It has many well known singers, entertainers, movie stars, musicians, artists and sports figures. Many famous baseball players, football players, golfers, and basketball players come from here.

Fresno is one hour away from Yosemite, Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Parks. There are several recreational Lakes in the area.

We have the biggest and best civil war reenactment here every year as well as the biggest Veterans Day parade in the country.

There are 27,000 students in Fresno City College and we have CSUF (California State University Fresno) which has a great agriculture Department, fine business school and a wide variety of other good departments.

It also has University High School which is the 35th best high school in the country even counting all the famous private high schools in the United States. It is on the university campus. The students have access to many college classes and often save one to two years of actual college attendance by going here. It has an outstanding ambience. Each student gives any necessary help to any other student regardless of their grade level. Each student volunteers to go there. They have to have an interest in music.

There is Roger rocka's Dinner Theater. It has presented many tremendous amounts of local talent for 20 years. At one time we had five people from the junior company players, who come on before the main performance, grow up and end up on Broadway at the same time. One of these was our Audrey McDonald who won three Toni's on Broadway.

I would say Fresno/Clovis has some culture and many good things going for it.

30 years ago I met a well known professional writer living in Fresno, California. He taught writing to many aspiring writers. Following is his complete professional seven section writing course.

(#1) = Read.

(#2) = Read.

(#3) = Read.

(#4) = Write.

(#5) = Write.

(#6) = Write.

(#7) = Suffer.

At first you may feel this is a joke. It is not. After thinking about it you will find their are many words of wisdom in the course mostly, hidden between the lines.

As I could still see then it would have two be, at least, 26 years ago when James Michener (Centennial, Chesapeake, Hawaii, Tales of the South Pacific, The Bridges at Toko-Ri etc...

) and I had lunch. He said, "I am the world's worst writer. I am also the world's best editor." His statements sure gives us all a tremendous insight into good writing.

Some feel I did not have lunch with him. I was having lunch and he was being interviewed on television but he was looking directly at me.

My suggestions are to write about what you know and write it as if you were talking to your neighbor over the back fence.