In this class, writers will write about illness (mental, chronic, terminal, and/or invisible) as a means to explore the human condition. Through writing the visceral experience of the body and mind, interrogating what it means to be vulnerable, writers (whether patients, caretakers, or survivors), establish empathy by making art. At the end of five weeks, […]
Mary Oliver asks in her poem “The Summer Day”: “Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?” This workshop will guide you through questions: What would you like to focus on this year? What are your almost forgotten dreams? What is meaningful to you? What are your […]
What if you could overcome self-doubt and give yourself permission to write? What if others celebrated your creativity and encouraged you to plow ahead? Whether you journal, write poetry, fiction or non-fiction, there’s a place for you here. We’ll give you the tools to help you break through and establish a regular writing practice. Join […]
Jump-start your writing year by spending an invigorating week at Writers & Books. Perfect for getting those gears turning, each evening will feature a different teaching artist, culminating in a student reading Friday night. In this course, we’ll sharpen the skills necessary to make our fiction sizzle and pop off the page. This instructive workshop […]
The easiest way to bring your characters to life is through their own voices, yet many writers struggle with dialogue. We’ll look at common pitfalls writers face when making their characters speak and how to avoid them. You’ll learn the elements of good dialogue through lecture and class discussion and then put them into practice […]
Have you written a great book but it is not selling the way you hoped? Are you in the process of writing a great book and want to know how to launch it properly? This workshop will guide you through the distribution, marketing, and promotional side of things. We will cover how to find your […]
This class is now full.
Personal writing can help individuals understand themselves and their place in the world around them. This course will focus on expression first and craft second as we work from provided texts and writing prompts and share our experiences in a safe, supportive space. Ultimately, participants will learn a variety of strategies for establishing a regular […]
“Did I mention to you Robert Frost's remark — it is a very Horatian remark — that if you have a book of twenty-four poems, the book itself should be the twenty-fifth? And I have tried that every time, every time.”--James Wright This six-week workshop will focus on the various strategies for organizing a chapbook […]
Create drama on the spot, learn and refine storytelling techniques for the stage. By the end of the class you will have a solid understanding of the elements of drama: character, action, themes, language, tone, etc. And you will have a 2-page and 10-page play to submit to the many contests and festivals that feature […]
This class is now full
Poet Billy Collins tells us “the birds are in their trees,...and the poets are at their windows.” Are you at your window or out in the wild? Contemporary nature poems touch on feelings about nature, metaphorical and symbolic meanings, or issues of ecology. We will read poems and essays, discuss human-nature relationship, danger, healing, and […]
A journal is a container for a writer’s fullest expression; it holds no judgment and provides a safe place where any subject can be explored. The course will introduce new writing techniques each session with an opportunity to create entries in a new/existing journal. We’ll learn about ourselves, how to become “unstuck” when writing, and […]
You’ve been writing fiction, you’ve taken classes, and you’ve finished some stories or chapters. Now a workshop-centered class may be just the ticket to take your work to the next step. We’ll read each other’s work and critique closely in a spirit of encouragement, and you will come away a better fiction writer.
Ever find yourself staring at a blank screen just watching the curser blink? Or maybe you have an important story but don’t have the time to get it done. This class will equip you with the motivation, mindset, and tools to stop procrastinating and start creating, to do more with tight time constraints. Through fun […]
Here is your chance to learn from acclaimed author Omar El Akkad, through a series of writing exercises and discussions that will help propel your writing forward.
Mini 1: Start Late, Finish Early: How to hook your reader and pick up the pace Never taken a writing workshop before? Want to try something new? Thinking about taking a longer class? These fun, low-cost sessions are a good way to meet our instructors, share with fellow students, and get writing! These classes have […]
Personal writing can help individuals understand themselves and their place in the world around them. This course will focus on expression first and craft second as we work from provided texts and writing prompts and share our experiences in a safe, supportive space. Ultimately, participants will learn a variety of strategies for establishing a regular […]
You know you want to write regularly—for your sanity, for your soul, to understand your own mind, to get a desired project completed, or to fulfill your dream or destiny as a writer—but something is getting in the way. Each session we will gather and write, explore techniques for carving out time and silencing inner […]
What if you could overcome self-doubt and give yourself permission to write? What if others celebrated your creativity and encouraged you to plow ahead? Whether you journal, write poetry, fiction or non-fiction, there's a place for you here. We'll give you the tools to help you break through and establish a regular writing practice. Join […]
Mini 2: Writing Exercises Never taken a writing workshop before? Want to try something new? Thinking about taking a longer class? These fun, low-cost sessions are a good way to meet our instructors, share with fellow students, and get writing! These classes have been popular, so register early to get a spot!
In the classic film Groundhog Day, Phil the weatherman is confronted by a storm he didn't predict and couldn't control and forced to stay in Punxatawney, PA, doomed to repeat the day again and again. Using this film as a template for writing, we will explore Phil's progressive “waking up” experiences from a lonely, cynical […]
Mini 3: "Conversation is But Carving": Writing Dialogue How can you squeeze more juice out of your dialogue? If all you’ve got is two characters talking, you could be getting a lot more! In this mini-workshop, we’ll look at very different approaches skilled novelists take to make their dialogue jump off the page. We’ll take […]
Doris Lessing said, “There are no laws for the novel.” But agents, editors, and writing instructors have a host of commandments for strong writing. So are there hard and fast rules to creative writing? Yes and no. This course will investigate a short list of “guidelines” and how you can practically apply them to strengthen […]
We all have stories that are particular to our own experience. This two-hour workshop will lead you to produce two pieces of writing based on these events. We will muse on particulars by first answering questions and jotting down notes. Then we will let our imagination fly and use these bits and pieces to create […]
Mini 4: Overcome Writer's Block—Break through the resistance, overwhelm, and inner criticism that keep you from writing Never taken a writing workshop before? Want to try something new? Thinking about taking a longer class? These fun, low-cost sessions are a good way to meet our instructors, share with fellow students, and get writing! These classes […]
1 Session Have you always wanted to write about your experience raising your child or children? This class will help you gain the confidence to start writing about your life as a parent. In this course you will read poems, essays, and non-fiction pieces by parent-writers and practice writing your own stories.
Mini 5: Freelance Writing Tips Freelancing is like hitchhiking; you never know when a ride might come along. But do you have to take every ride that comes along? During our time together, I’ll help you figure out some strategies to finding the right clients and developing a freelance business. Come armed with questions. […]
Cross the genre border and explore new terrain! Developing intriguing characters and engaging plots can enhance nonfiction pieces, while researching facts can bring depth to fiction writing. Writing poetry can sensitize us to wordplay and imagery. We will read personal essay, flash fiction, and poetry; and strengthen craft through writing exercises. Try creating mixed genre […]
4 Sessions Since the earliest hieroglyphics, people have been injecting humor into their writing. (Bird, bird, eyeball, guy facing left!) When used correctly, humor can help you win over your audience, get your point across, or diffuse a tense situation. When used incorrectly, it can have the opposite effect. This class will examine various types […]
Mini 6: Improv for Writers Never taken a writing workshop before? Want to try something new? Thinking about taking a longer class? These fun, low-cost sessions are a good way to meet our instructors, share with fellow students, and get writing! These classes have been popular, so register early to get a spot!
The juxtaposition of time and tenses is something memoirists have to deal with. When to comment on the past, when simply to portray experience and let it speak for itself? Memoirs by definition look backward. They are the response to what Kierkegaard said—that life can only be understood backward but must be lived forward. Come […]
Motherhood, mothering, being mothered—a subject central to our lives—has always attracted writers. In this class, you'll consider examples of mothers from literature, with a focus on the techniques the authors used to create compelling characters and conflicts, and practice writing around the universal, expansive concept. Whether your chosen form is fiction, non-fiction, or poetry, you'll […]
Mini 7: Writing Exercises Never taken a writing workshop before? Want to try something new? Thinking about taking a longer class? These fun, low-cost sessions are a good way to meet our instructors, share with fellow students, and get writing! These classes have been popular, so register early to get a spot!
Mini 8: Editing Out Ego and Fear Practicing reflection and fearlessness is an important part of writing, both in initially putting words on the page and during the revision process. This means cutting away at some of the fluff that obscures our work when we transpose ourselves too heavily over characters or narrative. This class […]
2 Sessions Let's take an in-depth look at three classic short stories--stories that are widely praised, and anthologized. What elements makes them great? How does a piece of writing carry an emotional impact? Through close reading, analysis, and discussion we will learn how a story can be successful and what we can do to emulate […]
1 Session Frank O'Hara ignored the poetic rules of his time and wrote with uninhibited play of the imagination, generous emotions, and ordinary events. He saw poetry as something living, not academic. His style opened up poetry for generations to come. Like us, he juggled the contradictory components of modern life. Come study his work, […]
New date: Wednesday, June 12 1 Session The labyrinth is an ancient geometric pattern, usually circular, formed of intertwined spirals with a single path leading to the center. The path in is the same path out (unlike a maze, which has numerous choices of routes and is designed to confuse). Walking the labyrinth activates the […]
Mini 1: Writing From Family Photographs - Please bring a few photographs Never taken a writing workshop before? Want to try something new? Thinking about taking a longer class? These fun, low-cost sessions are a good way to meet our instructors, share with fellow students, and get writing! These classes have been popular, so […]
1 Session Great great works of literature have been told via lists, powerpoints, tweetstorms, hotel reviews, recommendation letters, emails, youtube comments, .gifs... The first novels ever written were made-up diary entries. One of the best poems published last year was a flowchart. The number of forms your writing can take is endless. This generative workshop […]
Jump-start your writing year by spending an invigorating week at Writers & Books. Perfect for getting those gears turning, each evening will feature a different teaching artist. In this course, we'll sharpen the skills necessary to make our fiction sizzle and pop off the page. This instructive workshop will include generative exercises to help you […]
5 Sessions, Monday-Friday Ignite or re-energize your poetry by spending an invigorating week at Writers & Books. Perfect for getting those gears turning, each evening will feature a different teaching artist. This course will include generative exercises and discussion of your own as well as published poems to help you get the most out of […]
Gell One-Day Intensive Instructors: Karen Van Meenen and Patricia Roth Schwartz Deadline to Register: September 27, 4:00 pm Spend a day getting to know Emily Dickinson at Writers & Books’ retreat center, set on 24 bucolic acres in the Bristol Hills. Karen vanMeenen and Patricia Roth Schwartz will guide you on an exploration of what […]
