Winter 2003 Workshops at Writers & Books

Mixed Genres & Creative Process

Writing Aerobics

• W3-108
• Instructors: Various Writers & Books Instructors, see schedule below.
• 12 Saturdays, starting January 11, 10–11:45 am
  • Full “Season Pass”: $125 W&B Members/$154 General Public
  • Four-session pass: $51 W&B Members/$65 General Public
    (Can be used any time during the series.)
  • Drop-in: $17 W&B Members/$21 General Public

Get in the writing habit! Start each weekend with stimulating exercises given by many of the gifted writers who teach at Writers & Books. Exercises can be used to generate fiction, nonfiction, poetry, or drama.

The emphasis is on generating work. We may also share our work to encourage each other. Other workshops might be more appropriate if you’re seeking critique in order to rewrite. This class is for getting oxygen to the writing brain and heart!

Planned schedule:

1. January 11, Wendy Low [ bio ]
2. January 18, Tim Wright [ bio ]
3. January 25, Darby Knox [ bio ]
4. February 1, Thom Ward [ bio ]
5. February 8, T.M. Wright [ bio ]
6. February 15, Nick DiChario [ bio ]
7. February 22, Marcos Donnelly [ bio ]
8. March 1, Len Messineo [ bio ]
9. March 8, Patricia Schwartz [ bio ]
10. March 15, Sarah Freligh [ bio ]
11. March 22, Anaïs Salibian [ bio ]
12. March 29, Paula Marchese [ bio ]

Jumping Genres!

• W3-188
• Instructor: Dave Smith [ bio ]
• 8 Thursdays, starting January 23, 1:30-3 pm
• $95 W&B members/$105 General Public
• Limit: 15

Every literary form has something to offer, something you can use to improve your own writing’s freshness and vigor! Together, we’ll look at popular masterworks to see what makes haiku so hot, plays poignant, movies magical, memoirs really memorable, and just which sparks set stories afire. We’ll flex a different set of literary “muscles” in each form by writing brief samples of our own. In-class critiques and roundtable discussions help ensure everyone wrests maximum benefit from these creativity cram sessions. Heads up for some intensive hands-on!

Thousand Word Club

• W3-181
• Instructor: Len Messineo [ bio ]
• 8 Thursdays, starting February 6, 6:30–8:30 pm
• $116 W&B Members/$142 General Public
• Limit: 12

Not strictly fiction, or creative nonfiction, or feature writing (profiles, travel, humor, travel, service, etc.), this workshop, in keeping with the popularity of the one page essay, will concentrate on writing that falls outside of strict genera lines.

While workshopping our own pieces, and studying successful examples of writing sui genera, we will study those general rules of rhetoric that transcend specific genera. This is an advanced Creative Writing 101.

Time to Write: Explore Creative Writing

• W3-155
• Instructors: Wendy Low [ bio ] & David G. Smith [ bio ]
• 10 Thursdays, starting January 16, 12–2 pm
• $75 W&B members/$90 General Public
• Limit: 12

Have you been having trouble finding time to start or continue the practice of creative writing?

This class will give you open-ended exercises leading to poetry, fiction, non-fiction, and drama. We will write in class and investigate what is challenging. We will discuss why creative writing is revitalizing and find ways to find time to write amid busy lives.

Optional assignments outside class will be offered to stimulate your creative juices. Whether you’ve always promised yourself to try creative writing, or whether you’ve taken too long a break, this class will get your pen moving again. Although the class focuses on creative writing as a way to explore our inner and outer landscapes, we will also discuss the virtues and possibilities of publication.

Please note that the formal part of the workshop will run from 12 –1 pm Those who wish may stay in the classroom until 2 pm to write longer.

Beginning Internet Workshop for Writers

• W3-170
• Instructor: Joy Bennett [ bio ]
• Saturday, March 29, 10 am–1 pm
• $34 W&B Members/$43 General Public
• Limit: 12

Don’t have a computer at home? No problem—if you have a library card you can easily set up a free writer’s web page in minutes. If you are a writer at any level and don’t have a writer’s web page yet, it’s time you get your own site up and running!

Joy Bennett, a local writer and web page designer, will show you how to easily set up a web page for publishing your own writing on-line in minutes. She’ll also cover using the Internet for research and marketing, and show you how to raise your visibility, sharpen your writing skills, and gain invaluable access to editors, publishers and other successful authors.

This hands-on workshop is designed for writers at all levels who are not comfortable with advanced computer and Internet use—yet!

Creative Writing 101

• W3-156
• Instructor: Darby Knox [ bio ]
• 8 Mondays, starting January 13, 6:30–8:30 pm
• $116 W&B Members/$142 General Public
• Limit: 12

The common misconception is that only those with advanced degrees write effectively. It’s true, there are PhD’s with creative ability, but it’s just as true that anyone, regardless of education, can learn to write effectively, whether it be fiction or nonfiction.

Talent can not be taught, but it can be cultivated. This workshop will cover creative writing in general, poetry to short stories and beyond, by teaching the rudiments of writing, and by tapping into your innate ability with class exercises that will be both fun and functional.

Come to class prepared to learn by doing, by listening, and by reading the occasional handout. But most of all come to class to have fun, because if you’re not having fun writing, you’re not doing it right.

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