Author teaches creative writing to teens

Ramona author, coach and pastor Pete Zindler offers a teen creative writing workshop on Thursday afternoons at 4 p.m. in the Ramona Community Library.

Zindler has authored and published five books, produced and directed several stage plays—some in Ramona—a radio show in Los Angeles, and two television pilots.

He produced and directed one of his staged plays, “The Living Last Supper,” in Romania using Romanian actors. It was so successful that it was filmed and aired live on national television.

His second book, “Spirit Warrior,” was used to raise money for the Kiwanis of Ramona Club to raise money to build a trade school for orphans in Romania. Zindler has been a Kiwanis member for 19 years. He wrote and produced a radio show, “Enoch the Elephant” that aired in Los Angeles. In the Academy Award winning film “Rainman,” he had a small part in the opening scenes with Tom Cruise.

Zindler’s books, from five different genres, have won several writing awards and have been translated and sold in Europe. Five years ago he was asked to lead the Ramona Christian Writer’s Group and within two years of a taking over the group, four new writers were published. The group now has 12 published writers with 26 published books among them. The group has won 10 awards for their efforts.

Teaching writers is a passion for him, and he hosted a creative writing/self-publishing conference a couple of years ago and is setting up the second “Backcountry Writer’s and Self-Publishing Conference” this spring. He has mentored many young writers and has taught creative writing at the high school.

He has a love for sports and has been an assistant wrestling coach for the past 13 years for the successful Ramona wrestling team, this year’s Division III CIF champions and last year’s second-place award winners out of 92 San Diego wrestling teams.