"The workshop is based on a simple philosophy--whoever we are, whatever our educational background
or our circumstances in life -- we are all writers." Pat Schneider
Writing is a solitary journey but it also can be a communal experience. After 25 years of writing alone and in groups I feel my best new work often begins in a writing workshop. Sometimes a prompt or exercise helps me get started.
It is the simple act of writing with other writers, bringing my pen to paper as others do, at the same time, which keeps me going. After so many years of being in a variety of writing circles, I want to offer beginning and advanced writers this opportunity. All genres are welcome.
The workshop will be based on the Amherst Writers and Artists (AWA) method developed by Pat Schneider and continued by Patricia Lee Lewis. The method reminds us that each person has his/her own unique voice and in the group we will come to know and appreciate each person's voice.
Like most artists, we need to practice our craft, take risks, and free ourselves to create. We will write together in a safe, comfortable home.
I will offer (see writing prompts) writing exercises or prompts which workshop participants can either
use or ignore.
We read aloud from our first drafts or we can choose not to. We learn to hear, trust, and discover our individual voices. We comment on what works, what stands out, and what we remember in our pieces. Confidentiality is essential so that we may each feel safe to go deeper into our own work. This is not a critique group, nor is it a place for editing manuscripts, but a place to generate new writing. What matters most is that we each come away from the group supported and nourished so that we will continue to write.