Monday Night Writing Workshop: A fun supportive and committed writing group that meets for six Monday nights from 6:30-8pm in downtown Truckee.

Generate new material, explore craft techniques to develop work, provide feedback, learn ways to inspire ourselves to write consistently and playfully, and write a lot.

This workshop will help you develop work in progress as well as create new work. Productive for all levels of experience and any genre. $90.

Next six-week session is Jan. 10-Feb. 14.

For more info and to sign up, contact Karen Terrey at tangledrootswriting@gmail.com or call (530) 386.3901.

Writing Escape Workshop: A three-hour workshop on a weekend from 10am to 1pm in downtown Truckee.

Play with language and meaning in several writing prompts, generate new material, explore craft, and inspire ourselves to develop a consistent writing practice. Each workshop is different and involves much writing.

For all levels of experience and any genre.

It costs $35 each or $60 for two. The workshops are Jan. 23, March 13 and May 14.

For more info and to sign up, contact Karen Terrey at tangledrootswriting@gmail.com or (530) 386.3901.

• Beginning Jan. 1 Nevada constitutional officers and legislators will get a 6 percent pay increase.

• Learn about the trail improvements to the Carson-Iceberg Wilderness area.

• The Obama administration plans to reverse a Bush-era policy called “No More Wilderness” that will make millions of undeveloped acres of land eligible for federal wilderness protection.

• Click here to win a trip to the final stage of the Tour de California in May.  The race begins in South Lake Tahoe on May 15.

• Fly into Reno-Tahoe International and ski for free that day at Squaw by showing your bordering pass.

On Jan. 6, the Slowrollers Bike Club is hosting the annual “After Christmas Christmas Party” to benefit local friend and skier Darren Johnson. Johnson was caught in an avalanche backcountry skiing near Kirkwood on Nov. 28.

The path took him over a rock cliff, and while amazingly he didn’t have any injuries from the neck down, he sustained massive head trauma. After being airlifted to Reno, surgery added a metal plate to his head, another under his left eye, which he’d almost lost. After 10 days in ICU, Johnson remained hospitalized for another 20 days and is now in a rehab unit in Las Vegas for two to three months.

Darren Johnson

Despite all that trauma, he has no brain loss, but the left side of his face has extensive nerve damage.

DJ, as he’s known to friends, is an experienced backcountry skier and has skied all along the Sierra with childhood pal, Glen Plake, among others. Growing up in South Lake Tahoe with Plake, the two were featured in several Greg Stump ski films in the 1980s.

The benefit is at Mo’s Place from 6-9pm, 3600 Lake Tahoe Blvd. in South Lake Tahoe.

There will be a place to make donations at the door, along with raffle and auction items.

For those who can’t make the event, an account has been set up for Darren at Bank of the West, under the name of Andy Kaufer.

BlueGo is offering extended hours on the South Shore some of its bus routes for New Year’s Eve.

• Route 53 will run until 3am.

• Route 50 will run extra bus service every 15-20 minutes from 7pm-3am.

• Route 23 will run extra bus service every 30 minutes from 7 pm-3am.

• Additional oncall door to door service will be from 7pm-3am. Call (530) 541.7149, ext. 3 to make a reservation.

• After 7pm, Route 50, 53 and the oncall bus will not use the Stateline Transit Center bus stop. Use the Holiday Inn Express bus stop on Highway 50 near Pioneer Trail instead.

• After 7 pm, Route 23 will not use the Stateline Transit Center bus stop. Use the MontBleu side entrance bus stop instead.

South Lake Tahoe AAUW will welcome members, guests and the public as the group examines geotourism and a sustainable Tahoe at the Jan. 8 meeting at 10am in the Aspen Room at Lake Tahoe Community College.

Two guest speakers will be featured. Susanne Stone, author of “Lake Tahoe, A Guidebook with a Point of View”, is a long time local who wrote her guidebook well before the word “geotourism” was popularized. Stone will talk about her book and why she wrote it.

Jacquie Chandler, executive director of Sustainable Tahoe, one of the pioneers of the geotourism movement, will speak on how this aspect of tourism can help build a durable economy and enhance local pride while also preserving authentic features of a special area.

At this meeting, a $4 optional brunch will be available as well as complimentary beverages. For more information or to reserve a spot, call (530) 541.2799 or email slocumsrus@msn.com by Jan. 6.

Explore Tahoe, located at 4114 Lake Tahoe Blvd. in South Lake near the Heavenly Village, is now selling California Sno-Park permits. These permits are $5 for a single day or $25 for a season pass and are valid at any California Sno-Park site.

Explore Tahoe may be reached at(530) 542.4637.

• Tahoe City resident Roger Paul Huff has published another book – “Journey of the Lost Princess.”

• Hear Lake Tahoe Unified School District Superintendent Jim Tarwater’s webinar about technology.

• El Dorado County has sandbags available for residents, though none of the locations is in the Lake Tahoe Basin.

• El Dorado County officials will take the oath of office Jan. 3.

• U.S. News & World Report lists Sierra Nevada College in Incline one of the top 10 colleges for winter enthusiasts.

• Liftopia has discounts on lift tickets for Tahoe resorts.

The North Lake Tahoe Resort Association, in collaboration with the North Lake Tahoe Chamber of Commerce, has awarded $49,133 in Community Marketing Grants to a variety of special events and organizations. Twenty nine applicants requested $105,000 in grant funding. Many of those not awarded grant funding are getting in-kind support from the Resort Association.

The 2010-11 Community Marketing Grant Program recipients are: Wanderlust Festival ($5,000), Telluride Film Festival ($5,000), Snowbomb Sick ‘N’ Twisted Freestyle Tour ($3,050), Alpine Meadows Ski Resort’s Take the Lake ($3,000), Squaw Valley Neighborhood Company’s Peaks & Paws Festival ($2,500), Tahoe Sierra Century ($2,500), Annual Ta-Hoe Nalu Stand Up Paddle Festival ($2,500), Squaw Valley Neighborhood Company’s Village Oktoberfest ($2,500), Big Blue Adventure’s Adventure Sports Week ($2,500), Sierra Mountain Soccer Club’s 3rd Annual Fire in the Sky ($2,400), Tahoe Maritime Museum ($1,560), Tahoe Mountain Sports’ Annual Pro/Am Disc Golf Tournament ($1,500), Alpenglow Sports’ Pacific Coast Trail Runs ($1,500), Tahoe Nordic Search & Rescue Team’s Great Ski Race ($1,000), Disabled Sports USA Far West’s Ability Celebration ($864), Girls on the Run Sierras’ Lunafest ($750), Tahoe Cross Country Ski Area’s Ski Dazzle Sacramento ($509) and Big Blue Adventure’s Lake Tahoe Open Water Swim & Triathlon ($500). The North Lake Tahoe Chamber of Commerce also received a grant of $10,000 for programs and events.

The Community Marketing Grant Program provides marketing and promotional support to special events or projects and programs that bring visitors to the region; generate local and regional business revenue; provide local and regional media exposure; and opportunities for public relations. Since the funding for this grant program comes from Placer County Transient Occupancy Tax, through the North Lake Tahoe Resort Association, the public revenue and other benefits generated must accrue principally to areas within Placer County.

Everyone has a Tahoe story. Bona Fide Books wants to read yours.

Bona Fide Books, a small press in Meyers, is seeking short fiction and nonfiction for a collection about life at the lake. Micro-stories from any fiction or nonfiction genre are welcome: memoir, humor, action-adventure, tragedy, mystery, love or love lost, even ghost stories. The only requirements: each piece must be about or occur in the Tahoe region, and it can be no more than 500 words.

Like the pea-sized gold nugget sifted out of the Upper Truckee, tiny but priceless. Short enough to be read on the lift or while sipping a latte. No time for a warm-up, just instant clarity.

No subject is taboo. Gambling, mountaineering, romance — let it fly. Unsung stories are also sought: the Washoe, environmentalists, old-timers. Bona Fide Books wants to hear from everyone and create a book that reflects the amazing, complex place we know and love.

Submissions will be accepted through May 1. Go online for more information.