Spring 2007 Workshops at Writers & Books

Creative Writing

Writing Picture Books for Children

• SA7-C101
  5 Mondays, 7–9 p.m.
  April 16 through May 14
  $95 W&B members / $99 general public
  Instructor: Ellen Stoll Walsh

This course will concentrate on writing the 32-page picture book with some emphasis on breaking down stories into pages for the illustrator. We will discuss the necessary elements that make a good picture book story. And we will work on editing for content and word count. Each student will be expected to bring in stories to be read aloud and critiqued by others in the class.

Register online

Getting Started in Children’s Books

• SA7-C102
• One Saturday, 1–4 p.m.
• May 12
• $36 W&B members / $39 general public
• Instructor: Will Hubbell

Interested in writing for children?  This seminar will get you started.  Published children’s author and illustrator Will Hubbell provides three hours of inspiration and information. The aesthetics of writing for children will be covered as well as the nut-and-bolts of submission, publishing, agents, contracts, and even taxes. Handouts provided.

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Writing the Life Cycle(s)

• SA7-C103
  8 Thursdays, 6:30–8:30 p.m
  April 12 through May 31
  $149 W&B members / $159 general public
  Instructor: Karen vanMeenen

In this unique, memoir-based class, we will explore the life cycle(s) using outside prompts to spur personal writing and in-class discussions. Exercises will be tailored to the interests and experience of the course participants and writings will take many
forms, from poetry to essay to song. Sharing is recommended but not mandatory. Participants will also be encouraged to keep personal journals, and the we will explore various means of doing so while maintaining interest in the process. One session will incorporate a labyrinth walk at Writers & Books with related writing prompts.

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Brain Works: The Creative Thinker's Tool Box

• WA7-C03
• 2 Saturdays, 10 a.m.–1 p.m.
• April 21 through 28
• $45 W&B members / $52 general public
• Instructor: Len Messineo

Do you sometimes find yourself at wit’s end in that work-in-progress, hopelessly blocked, digging yourself into the same mental hole? Brain Works will offer writers of all genres a toolbox of creative thinking techniques gleaned from sources as diverse as Aristotle and Edward deBono, as well as borrow from the most recent discoveries in neuroscience. We will look at processes such as freewriting/looping, clustering, decisional PMI, horizon thinking, lotus blossom, and much more. In addition, we will discuss several software programs supportive of creativity and idea generation.

How to register

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Writing Aerobics

• SA7-C05
  8 Saturdays, 10:00 a.m. – noon
  April 14 through July 14
  $99 W&B members / $129 general public
  Instructor: Various

Yes! Writing Aerobics gets your blood going. It may even burn a few calories. But it is not like running on the treadmill or sweating it out on the stationary bike. Instead, the emphasis is on impromptu writing exercises and heart-pounding spontaneity. However, it is not competitive. Work at your own spontaneous pace, learn to tap into your creative subconscious, and write with an ease that only comes with pumping the brain muscles. Sign up for individual sessions, or save by signing up for all eight. Either way, no workout will ever give you a greater high!

Register online