Kids, Adults Sharpen Writing Skills With Mililani Author

By: SHANNON ROSENBERG

Award-winning writer Chris McKinney now shares his talents through his own writing school in his hometown of Mililani, where both youths and adults can enhance and sharpen their skills to tackle school, fiction and screenplays.

He and wife Mika, a marketing specialist, opened the Chris McKinney Language Arts Center last winter, offering a new approach to learning language by switching up the curriculum every week to keep students involved and engaged.

“We want to keep the kids interested,” he said. “Every week we’ll change it up, whether it’s paragraph structure or summarizing stories.”

One of the most enjoyable parts of running his own language center, he said, is working with a large age range of clientele. “I like that we offer a variety of programs to a variety of people. One hour I’ll be teaching 6- or 7-year-olds about grammar, and then the next hour I’ll be teaching a 60-year-old who is writing a first novel.”

Located at 95-390 Kuahelani Ave., Suite F, the center has summer workshops, free consulta- tions and assessments. For more information, email mckinneylac@gmail.com or call 230-7569.

A published author and professional screenwriter who grew up in Kahaluu, McKinney has six novels to his credit, including Mililani Mauka and the soon-to-be-released Boi No Good. He has written a feature film screenplay and a short film, taught at Honolulu Community College for 12 years and is currently a Visiting Distinguished Writer at UH Manoa.