The Writer's Center Weekly Event Guide - Fall 2014 by The Writer's Center

EVENTS 8

WORKSHOPS 12

Workshop & Event Guide

BOOK TALK 27

Fall 2014

A New Chapter

The Writer’s Center Workshop & Event Guide Fall 2014

www.writer.org

DEPARTMENTS PRESIDENT’S NOTE

Editor

BOOK TALK

EVENTS

Mía R. Cortez

mia.cortez@writer.org

INSTRUCTOR BIOS

WORKSHOPS:

Graphic Design

DONORS

Schedule

Virtually Detailed, Inc.

REGISTRATION

Descriptions

Editorial Contributors

FEATURES

Stewart Moss Emily Rich Copyeditors

Vanessa Mallory Kotz Laura Spencer Ellyn Wexler Cover Images

McInturff Architects Image courtesy of McInturff Architects

5 Our Next Chapter

4508 Walsh Street Bethesda, MD 20815

TWC’s outgoing board chair Sally Mott Freeman on the Center’s milestones and plans for the future.

301-654-8664 (p) 240-223-0458 (f)

6 Writing From Life Ellen Herbert’s popular workshop encourages writers to get their memories on the page, and sell what they write!

Writer.org Join the conversation: Facebook.com/writerscenter Twitter: @writerscenter

7 The Poet as Essayist An Interview with Rod Jellema

The Writer’s Center

cultivates the creation, publication, presentation and dissemination of literary work. We are an independent literary organization with a global reach, rooted in a dynamic community of writers. As one of the premier centers of its kind in the country, we believe the craft of writing is open to people of all backgrounds and ages. Writing is interdisciplinary and unique among the arts for its ability to touch on all aspects of the human experience. It enriches our lives and opens doors to knowledge and understanding. The Writer’s Center is a 501 (c) (3) nonprofit organization. Donations are tax deductible. A copy of our current financial statement is available upon request. Contact The Writer’s Center at 4508 Walsh Street, Bethesda, MD 20815. Documents and information submitted to the State of Maryland under the Maryland Charitable Solicitations Act are available from the Office of the Secretary of State for the cost of copying and postage. Workshop & Event Guide Fall 2014

ABOUT US

The Writer’s Center

Other Locations Annapolis Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts 801 Chase Street Annapolis, MD 21404 marylandhall.org

Arlington Cultural Affairs Building 3700 South Four Mile Run Drive Arlington, VA 22206 arlingtonarts.org

Capitol Hill The Hill Center 921 Pennsylvania Ave., SE Washington, DC 20003 hillcenterdc.org

Executive Director

Marketing & Comnmunications Manager

Stewart Moss

Vanessa Mallory Kotz

Assistant Director

Managing Editor of Poet Lore

Sunil Freeman

Genevieve DeLeon

Program Manager

Office Manager & Graphics Assistant

Laura Spencer

Judson Battaglia

Board of Directors

Glen Echo

Chair: Sally Mott Freeman

Glen Echo Park 7300 MacArthur Blvd. Glen Echo, MD 20812 glenechopark.org

Treasurer: Les Hatley

Vice Chair: James Mathews Secretary: Patricia Harris

Ken Ackerman • Margot Backas • Linna Barnes • Naomi Collins

Leesburg

Mark Cymrot • Michael Febrey • Neal Gillen • John M. Hill

Leesburg Town Hall 25 West Market Street Leesburg, VA 20176 leesburgva.com

Jeff Kosseff • C.M. Mayo • Jim McAndrew • Ann McLaughlin Margaret Meleney • E. Ethelbert Miller • Joram Piatigorsky • Bill Reynolds Mier Wolf, chair emer. • Wilson W. Wyatt, Jr.

McLean

Honorary Board

McLean Community Center 1234 Ingleside Ave McLean, VA 22101 mcleancenter.org

Kate Blackwell • Dana Gioia • Jim & Kate Lehrer Alice McDermott • Ellen McLaughlin • Howard Norman

Poet Lore is the oldest continuously published poetry journal in the United States. We publish it semi-annually, and submissions are accepted year-round. Subscription and submission information is available at poetlore.com.

Supported in part by:

Book Gallery TWC’s book gallery carries an extensive collection of literary magazines and books on craft.

The Writer’s Center also gratefully acknowledges the support we receive from: The TauFoundation, The Omega Foundation, The Kiplinger Foundation, The Bydale Foundation and Radar Collective.

4508 Walsh Street Bethesda, MD 20815

View online at www.writer.org/guide

PRESIDENT’S NOTE My dear fellow members, It has been my pleasure and honor to serve three terms as Chair of TWC’s Board of Directors. During that time period, thanks to a tremendous team effort, The Writer’s Center has made momentous strides. The ‘team’ consisted of a number of dedicated and talented board members, important allies in Sally Mott Freeman state and county government, a hard-working staff and outstanding workshop leaders. Despite the historic challenges facing our economy, we have advanced in a number of critical areas: After two years of negotiation, I am thrilled and grateful to report that we have a signed, long-term lease with Montgomery County, enabling us to proceed with needed renovations and upgrades to our Walsh Street home. Also, after decades of breakeven operations, our financial outlook is stable and strong. Not only has our annual giving participation improved, but we also now have an Endowment Fund – to ensure our long-term financial stability – and a Capital Improvement Fund to provide for the modernization of our building. Over the past three years, we have raised $800,000 in public grants and $200,000 in private matching pledges for these capital improvements! In fact, by the time you read this letter, Phase I of the renovation – urgent exterior repairs, ADA upgrades, and a complete overhaul of our lower level – should be at or near completion. I believe you will be as excited as we are when you see the remarkable transformation of that once-dreary space. Phase II and III of the renovation will follow as we raise the necessary funds. I thank you in advance for your continued support in helping us make your writing home everything it can be! I am also pleased to report substantial programming growth and innovation. We now offer 350 writing workshops annually, in the full range of genres – a 20% increase over 2011 – including 45 online workshops. In October, we will hold our third Publish Now seminar which provides how-to advice on publication of written work in today’s ever-changing publishing environment. In addition,

thanks to Jody Bolz, Ethelbert Miller, and Genevieve DeLeon (among others!) our storied Poet Lore literary journal – now celebrating its 125th year – is enjoying broad media recognition and a major boost in subscriptions. Check our website for updates on a September celebration to commemorate this important milestone! Another initiative of which I am particularly proud is our role in the treatment and healing of wounded service members in conjunction with the healing arts initiative jointly founded by the NEA and Department of Defense. As part of this effort, TWC instructors and staff helped develop and now administer an inpatient therapeutic writing program for PTSD and Traumatic Brain Injury sufferers at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. Heartfelt thanks are due to Board Vice-Chair (and Chair-elect) Jim Mathews and Veteran’s Writing Project founder Ron Capps – as well as to TWC’s Stewart Moss and Sunil Freeman – for conceptualizing and leading this and other of our veterans’ writing initiatives – beginning with Operation Homecoming in 2004. No doubt many of you have already enjoyed another cultural innovation at The Writer’s Center – the delightful art exhibits featuring student and instructor works from Glen Echo’s Yellow Barn Art Studio and Gallery. The brainchild of board member Joram Piatagorsky and his artist wife Lona, this ‘cross cultural’ enterprise has not only added beauty and visual stimulation to our writing environment, but also sparked exciting synergies between our two creative organizations. It is impossible in this limited space to sufficiently thank all of the individuals that have made all these terrific advances possible. Still, some contributions stand out. In addition to the above-noted Yellow Barn initiative, we are incredibly thankful to Joram and Lona for their persistent philanthropic leadership, including their founding of TWC’s Endowment Fund. And our state senator, Richard Madaleno, made all the difference in our urgent quest to fund badly needed improvements to our Walsh Street facility. We are also endlessly grateful to visionary and Chair Emeritus, Mier Wolf, whose tireless advocacy of TWC to both County and State policymakers was crucial to the success of our long-term lease and

Workshop & Event Guide Fall 2014

Continued on page 32

A Worthy Dozen Workshop Leader Creates Community of Writers By Emily Rich

Ellen Herbert

llen Herbert delights in seeing her students’ work find a broader audience. In the 12 years she has taught her Writing from Life class at The Writer’s Center, more than 20 of her students have seen their work placed in local newspapers, literary magazines, and anthologies. “She has great respect for everyone in the class,” says Toni Clark, whose story “Going Home” was published first in The Washington Post and later in the Feminist Press anthology This is the Way We Say Goodbye. “She gives great feedback and is very enthusiastic about having people take risks and submit.” Herbert’s class is lively and fast paced, with weekly prompts and five-page assignments that students read aloud. Every class begins with a reading and critique of the Sunday New York Times “Modern Love” column. Its 1,500-word submission limit mirrors the length of Herbert’s assignments. “To create an essay in 1,500 words takes a lot of discipline,”

she says. “It forces you to really focus on what it is you want to say.” Herbert helps students refine and distill their work, to make it crisp and appealing. “As fellow workshop writers, we anticipate an audience where understanding is achieved through careful attention,” says Glen Finland, whose book Next Stop was honored as a Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers pick. “Ellen accomplishes this in her workshops by allowing each of us time to explore the story within our stories. Maybe we thought we’d already nailed it, but with her fresh eyes on the manuscript, we find ourselves re-kindling the transformative power of the story. And if it’s not yet there, it’s a safe bet Ellen’s clear-cut questions will lead us to it.” Desiree Magney says she has taken Herbert’s class multiple times “because she inspires me. Her excellent prompts have given me so many topics to consider and write about.” Magney says Herbert’s feedback is unique. “She not only takes the time in class to give each student direct feedback, but also comes to class the next week, having gone over your piece once again, and presents you with a typewritten page of further comments and a marked-up version of your piece.” She is also “upfront” about whether she think a piece is

publishable and suggests places to submit it, Magney adds. Bethesda Magazine, the Washingtonian and The Washington Post Magazine have published some of Magney’s pieces that originated in Herbert’s class. Part of Herbert’s motivation is that a Writer’s Center class once gave her life-transforming encouragement. While she always liked to write, and even had some short works published, Herbert credits Joyce Renwick’s short fiction class with starting “to make me feel like a real writer.” The class, along with some readings she did at TWC, inspired her to pursue an MFA at George Mason University. Publications and literary awards followed, including the PEN Syndicate Fiction Prize. Herbert’s first short story collection, Falling Women (Shelfstealers Press), was published in 2012. Now she is working on a crime novel set in World War IIera Washington, D.C. Beyond encouragement and focus on getting your work “out there,” what makes Herbert’s class successful is the supportive, welcoming and energetic environment she creates. It takes dedication and care to transform a class into a community of writers in the span of a few short weeks. Emily Rich is non-fiction editor of Little Patuxent Review.

View online at www.writer.org/guide

The Poet as Essayist: An Interview with Rod Jellema Essays Tinker with Words to Express Ideas on Poetry

od Jellema, author of five books of poems and a workshop leader at The Writer’s Center (TWC) for more than 20 years, recently wrote essays about poetry and the craft of teaching poetry. These “Undercurrent” essays will appear in the Fall/Winter 2014 issue of Poet Lore, which also has published his poems and several by his students. Stewart Moss, executive director of TWC and a frequent participant in Jellema’s workshops, recently sat down with Jellema to discuss these essays. As a poet, why do you write essays? How does the writing process resemble, or differ from, the process of writing a poem? I started some essays when drafts of poems were feeling lifeless. The process for me is very different. Poems for me rely on a quick start with images or phrases that begin a flow toward an idea that is not much there at the start. And these late drafts were stumbling – jerky, hesitant – relying too much on just tinkering with words. But essays rely a good deal on tinkering with words, trying them out for their exactness in service to an initial full idea. It’s a different discipline: surface clarity rather than discovery.

In your “Undercurrent” essays, you emphasize the importance of tapping the unconscious in writing poetry. What do you mean by this and what practical recommendations do you have for poets who want to use this practice in their own writing? I mean simply that the writer pay attention to things – images, sounds, words or phrases, flashes – things that make you ask, ‘Now where did that come from?’ What drifts in from beneath your consciousness is free of being inhibited by habit or dull convention. It is the uniquely, deeply, searching and creative you. That’s different from reporting your experience. One way to exercise this: I used to tell students to carry three by five cards instead of keeping the more deliberate and systematic writer’s notebook. You can shuffle cards; they will ignite each other, clustering perceptions that you’ve forgotten. Free them from the notebook’s sequence of dates. Start the next poem not with an idea, but with words from shuffled cards that beckon your curiosity. A gathering poem might find itself, telling more than you would have known how to say. Workshop & Event Guide Fall 2014

Photo by Chris Paulis

In the “Funny Things” essay, why do you say that the intellect is limited in what it can know? What kinds of things lie outside the intellect? Oh yeah; I think I said the unaided intellect can’t know much. The problem is, our culture treats intellect, mind and brain as if they are synonymous. I see mind – try this metaphor? – as a corporate headquarters; it unifies its ‘company shops,’ such as imagination, mythic consciousness, rationality, racial memory, will, dream – along with brain function and intellect. In a technological age, we honor mostly the isolated intellect. It’s the isolation I mistrust. When intellect rules, and we agree carelessly to call it ‘the mind,’ humans get dehumanized; intellect tends to trivialize the other shops. Imagination, for example, comes to mean Continued on page 10

EVENTS

The Writer’s Center

open door readings - FALL 2014

Tim Denevi reads from Hyper: A Personal History of ADHD. He is joined by poet and Emerging Writer 2 p.m. Fellowship recipient winner Christine Kitano, author of Birds of Paradise.

September 7:30 p.m.

September

2 p.m.

Christine Kitano

Grace Cavalieri

Grace Cavalieri reads from two new books of poems, The Man Who Got Away and The Mandate of Heaven. She is joined by visiting poet Rachel Mennies, who reads from The Glad Hand of God Points Backward.

Ed Falco

September 2 p.m.

James Grady

Allison Leotta

Sue Ellen Thompson reads from They, her new collection of poems. She is joined by visiting poet John Gery, author of Have at You Now.

Rachel Mennies Sue Ellen Thompson

POETRY & PROSE OPEN MIC

October

Frederick Foote reads from Medic Against Bomb: A Doctor’s Poetry of War. He is joined by visiting author Ann Hagedorn, who reads from The Invisible Soldiers: How America Outsourced Our Security. 2 p.m.

Sign-up begins at 1:30 p.m. Readings begin at 2 p.m. OCTOBER 5 DECEMBER 7 Frederick Foote

Reading and Panel 7 p.m. Discussion as part of the F. Scott Fitzgerald Conference with authors who have written about the military experience, Ron Capps, Dario DiBattista, Jim Mathews, Katey Schultze and Kayla Williams.

John Gery

October

Poetry and prose reading 2 p.m. by authors published in the new issue of The Delmarva Review. Readers TBA.

Photo by Walter Baumann

September

The Art of Suspense, a discussion about suspense writing with moderator Bethanne Patrick and novelists A.X. Ahmad, Ed Falco, James Grady, and Allison Leotta.

3 p.m.

Tim Denevi

The Writer’s Center hosts a Fall for the Book reading with Leslie Nathan, author of Sibs, and Pat Spears, who will read from Dream Chaser.

View online at www.writer.org/guide

Photo by Jeanie Wulfkuhle

September

Photo by Chris Hartlove

EVENTS

We host more than 50 events annually, including free Sunday Open Door readings and theatre productions in our historic black box theatre. For more information, visit our website www.writer.org/events.

Ann Hagedorn

October

November

Howard Feinstein reads from Fire on the Bayou. He is joined by Adele Levine, author of Run Donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t Walk. 2 p.m.

2 p.m.

November 7:30 p.m.

Novelist Joram Piatigorsky reads from Jellyfish Have Eyes. He is joined by visiting poet and novelist Enid Shomer, author of The Twelve Rooms of the Nile.

Joram Piatigorsky JELLYFISH HAVE EYES

Catherine Bell

A Novel

Joram Piatigorsky

Howard Feinstein

Enid Shomer Christopher Ankney

November

16 Photo by Ramin Talaie

2 p.m.

Karen Thompson Walker, winner of the McLaughlinEsstman-Stearns First Novel Prize, will read from The Age of Miracles.

Reading by Undiscovered Voices Fellowship recipients Rose Fitzpatrick, Marija Stajic, Nicole Idar, and Susan Bucci Mockler.

2 p.m.

Adele Levine

Marija Stajic

November 2 p.m.

Karen Thompson Walker

Visiting poet Martha Collins reads from Day Unto Day. She is joined by Mary Evelyn Greene, author of When Rain Hurts.

Mary Evelyn Greene

December 2 p.m.

Reading and discussion with Washington Writersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Publishing House competition winners novelist Catherine Bell, author of Rush of Shadows, and poet Christopher Ankney. In addition to reading, Bell and Ankney will address questions of craft, genre, and challenges as a writer.

Jane Elkins reads World Class: Poems Inspired by the ESL Classroom. She is joined by Carolyn Clark, author of Mnemosyne: The Long Traverse, and Lalita Noronha, author of Her Skin Phyllo-thin.

Nicole Idar

December 12 p.m.

Susan Bucci Mockler

Meet workshop leaders and editors from area literary journals and small presses at our Holiday Book Fair

Hedda Gabler

by Henrik Ibsen

October 24 - November 23, 2014 Directed by Michael Avolio It premiered in 1891 in Germany to negative reviews, but has subsequently gained recognition as a classic of realism, nineteenth-century theatre, and world drama. This new adaptation is set in 1963 in Georgetown, D.C.

Jane Elkins

quotidiantheatre.org

Carolyn Clark

Workshop & Event Guide Fall 2014

EVENTS

LEESBURG EVENTS September 5: Building Your Fire: How to Structure Your Story EVENTS

Kathryn Johnson

Leesburg Town Hall

leesburg first fridays 7:30 p.m.

Leesburg Town Hall (Lower Level Meeting Room) 25 West Market Street Leesburg, Va. 20176 $4 TWC members & residents of Leesburg

Whether you’re writing a short story, novella, novel or memoir – creating a firm foundation for your story focuses the plot, characterization, perspective and style and ultimately reduces the amount of revision. Creative structuring also provides the author with a “safety net” that enables a speedier first draft, as well as a finished manuscript that’s professional and targeted to specific readers. The result: a better chance of publication. This seminar will give you practical tools for creating stronger, more marketable prose – whether you are planning your next story, trying to shake off a mid-book writer’s block, or working to revise material you’ve already written. Kathryn Johnson has published 43 novels with major U.S. and international publishers. She is an inspiring speaker for the Smithsonian, The Writers’ Center, at national writers’ conferences, and the founder of Write by You, a professional mentoring

$6 General admission More info at Writer.org

Jellema . . . continued from p. 9

either untruth or mere cleverness; myths are reduced to lies; there is little critical attention to movements toward thought control or a rising plutocracy; the humanities and the arts (historically including poetry) can be cut from school budgets and lose their place in the preservation of a rounded, aesthetically grounded, inquiring, free civilization. So, yes, there is a whole mind perceiving a world that lies beyond the intellect. And poetry is part of it. What impact does the spirituality you describe have on your own writing process and on the subject matter of your poems?

I’m very mistrustful of the present wave of monistic spiritualisms. My own belief about the spiritual is that it yearns to be embodied rather than wafted upwards in infinite vapors. I sympathize with the urge millions of people feel to escape the sadness of bodies, time, history, earth – but I absolutely reject it. Christianity – its essence, dutiful towards time and all things physical, penitent, trying to build a true and present and yet everlasting community – offers me a vision of the world in which God’s incarnation is the prototype for art – spirit (think divine breath) inhabiting paint and musical sounds and words. I learned much from many incarnationist poets: Hopkins, Muir, Eliot, Wilbur, Hudgins.

The Writer’s Center service for fiction authors. Her critically acclaimed novel, The Gentleman Poet: A Novel of Love, Danger, and Shakespeare’s The Tempest, was published by HarperCollins in 2010. Writing as Mary Hart Perry, she launched her trilogy of Victorian thrillers in 2013, based on the lives of Queen Victoria’s daughters.

October 3: Agent’s Advice to Aspiring Writers Shannon O’Neill In this session, particularly for those writers unfamiliar with the publishing world, literary agent Shannon O’Neill will share practical tips and advice for navigating the steps to finding an agent and getting published. Whether you’ve just finished your first manuscript or you’ve experienced this journey many times before, this session will allow you to gain insight from the perspective of a literary agent. Shannon O’Neill is an agent and Editorial Director at ICM / Saglyn Literary Agency, based in Washington D.C. A native of the Washington area, she has a Masters of Arts in Writing from Johns Hopkins University and graduated with honors from Dartmouth. Currently, she acquires works in current affairs, business, popular science, politics and narrative history as well as upmarket fiction.

Rod Jellema studied philosophy and literature at Calvin College and earned a doctorate in English Literature from the University of Edinburgh in Scotland. While teaching modern and contemporary poetry at the University of Maryland, he picked up writing it at age 40. He organized and directed Maryland’s creative writing program and taught elementary school poetry workshops for several years. His five books of poems culminated in Incarnality: The Collected Poems (2010). His work has received awards from organizations such as the National Endowment for the Arts, Towson University and Columbia University, and he has been a resident fellow at Yaddo several times.

View online at www.writer.org/guide

WORKSHOP GUIDELINES WORKSHOP GUIDELINES Learning to write is an ongoing process that requires time and practice. Our writing workshops are for everyone, from novices to seasoned writers looking to improve their skills, to published authors seeking refinement and feedback, to professionals with an eye on the competition. Group settings encourage the writing process by teaching writers to prioritize and to help each other using many skills at once. From our workshops, participants can expect: • Guidance and encouragement from a published, working writer; • Instruction on technical aspects such as structure, diction and form; • Kind, honest, constructive feedback directed at individual work; • Peer readers/editors who act as “spotters” for sections of your writing that need attention, and who become your community of working colleagues even after your workshop is completed; • Tips on how to keep writing and integrate this “habit of being” into your life; • Tactics for getting published; • Time to share work with other writers and read peers’ work, and • Help with addressing trouble areas and incorporating multiple, sometimes conflicting ideas into the revision.

BEGINNER LEVEL We strongly suggest that newcomers start with a beginner level workshop. They are structured to help you discover the fundamentals of creative writing, such as:

• Getting your ideas on the page; • Choosing a genre and the shape your material should take; • Learning the elements of poetry, playwriting, fiction, memoir, etc.; • Identifying your writing strengths and areas of opportunity and • Gaining beginning mastery of the basic tools of all writing, such as concise, accurate language, and learning how to tailor them to fit your style.

smaller groups with distinguished writers on a specific project or manuscript. Workshop leaders select participants from the pool of applicants; selection is competitive.

REGISTRATION Workshop registration is available online at www.writer.org, in person at The Writer’s Center, via mail, online or by phone at (301) 654-8664.

INTERMEDIATE LEVEL

refund policy

These workshops will build on skills you developed in the beginner level, and are designed for writers who have: • Critiqued some published works; • Taken a beginner-level workshop; • Achieved some grace in using the tools of language and form and • Have projects in progress that they want to develop further.

To receive a credit, you must notify TWC by e-mail (laura.spencer@ writer.org) within the drop period. • Full refunds are given when TWC cancels a workshop. Participants who have already enrolled and paid for their class will receive a full refund or credit. • Workshop participants who have enrolled in and paid for a workshop and choose to withdraw from it within the drop period (see below) will receive full credit that can be used within one year to pay for another workshop and/or a membership.

ADVANCED LEVEL Participants should have manuscripts that have been critiqued in workshops at the intermediate level and have been revised substantially. This level offers:

Find Your Niche

• Focus on the final revision and completion of a specific work; • Fast-paced setting with higher expectations of participation and • Deep insight and feedback.

MASTER LEVEL Master classes are designed for writers who have taken several advanced workshops and have reworked their manuscript into what they believe is its final form. Master classes are unique opportunities to work in

The Writer’s Center recognizes that all writers and styles are unique! Our staff can help you find the right course(s) for your level of experience, preferred genre and overall goals. Call us at (301) 654-8664.

Drop Period for Credit 5 or more sessions: 48 hours notice required before the second meeting 4 or fewer sessions: 48 hours notice required before the first meeting Workshop & Event Guide Fall 2014

FALL WORKSHOP SCHEDULE

The Writer’s Center

SCHEDULE

FICTION (PAGES 17-19)

LEADER

DATES

DAY

TIME

LEVEL

Whodunit? How to Write a Mystery

Alan Orloff

9/6

10 a.m.–12:30 p.m.

ALL

Writing Short Stories

John Morris

9/8–10/27

7–9:30 p.m.

ALL

From Novice to Novelist

John DeDakis

9/10–10/29

7–9:30 p.m.

ALL

The Taste of Memory: Food Writing

Nani Power

9/10–10/22

7–9 p.m.

Mystery and Suspense Writing

Con Lehane

9/10–10/15

7–9:30 p.m.

ALL

Fiction II: Story Workshop

Jennifer Buxton

9/11–11/6

7–9:30 p.m.

Fiction II - Writing Compelling Fiction

Alan Orloff

9/13–11/8

10 a.m.–12:30 p.m.

The Novel in You

Ann McLaughlin

9/13–11/1

10 a.m.–12:30 p.m.

B/I

The Extreme Novelist

Kathryn Johnson

9/15–11/3

7–9:30 p.m.

I/A

Fiction Writing Fiction Set in The Past

Ben Farmer

9/16–11/4

7–9:30 p.m.

ALL

Fiction I/II: Brand New Story

Ben Farmer

9/17–11/5

7–9:30 p.m.

ALL

Short Story I

Jim Beane

9/17–11/5

7–9 p.m.

Revision: The Art of Self-Editing

Con Lehane

9/18–10/9

7–9:30 p.m.

Elements of Fiction: Point of View Boot Camp Jennifer Buxton

9/20

10 a.m.–12:30 p.m.

Young-Adult and New-Adult Fiction

Kathryn Johnson

9/20

10 a.m.–12:30 p.m.

ALL

Story Writing*

Con Lehane

9/20–10/11

12–3 p.m.

B/I

Fiction I: Character is Plot

Nicole Miller

9/24–11/19

6–9 p.m.

B/I

Short Literary Fiction and Memoir

Lynn Stearns

9/30–11/18

10 a.m.–12:30 p.m.

6 Stories, 6 Weeks

Mark Cugini

10/2–11/6

7–10 p.m.

ALL

Fiction II

Susan Land

10/16–11/20

10:30 a.m.–1 p.m.

Elements of Fiction: Image Intensive

Jennifer Buxton

10/18

10 a.m.–12:30 a.m.

Sit, Stay, Write

Judith Tabler

10/18

10 a.m.–12:30 p.m.

ALL

Fiction II*

Aaron Hamburger

10/21–12/9

6:30–8:30 p.m.

Starting Fantasy Fiction

Brenda Clough

10/21–10/28

7:30–9:30 p.m.

Write and Publish Your Short Stories

Amy Abrams

10/25

10 a.m.–3 p.m.

ALL

The Muddle in the Middle

Kathryn Johnson

11/1

10 a.m.–12:30 p.m.

ALL

Children’s Book Publishing 101

Andra Abramson

11/1

1–3 p.m.

The Retold Tale

Sierra Prasada

11/1

2–5 p.m.

ALL

Developing the High-Concept Novel

Kathryn Johnson

11/5–11/19

7–9:30 p.m.

ALL

Elements of Fiction: Setting

Ben Farmer

11/8

10:30 a.m.–1 p.m.

ALL

Wouldn’t Touch It With A Ten-Foot Pole: How To Avoid Cliché

Lynn Schwartz

11/8

9:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m.

ALL

Historical Fiction: 21st-Century

Kathryn Johnson

11/15

10 a.m.–12:30 p.m.

ALL

Essential Guides to Creative Writing

Nicole Miller

12/3

6–9 p.m.

ALL

Writing Description and Setting: The Fabric of Fiction

Nicole Miller

12/6

10 a.m.–4 p.m.

ALL

Fictionalize Your Life In One Afternoon!* Nicole Idar

12/6

10 a.m.–1 p.m.

ALL

Beginning Fantasy Fiction*

12/11–12/18

7:30–9:30 p.m.

9/2–12/16

7–9:30 p.m.

Brenda Clough

Master Novel II: Preparing for Publication Amin Ahamd

View online at www.writer.org/guide

MIXED GENRE (PAGES 19-22)

LEADER

DATES

DAY

TIME

LEVEL

Elements of Fiction: Dialogue

Alan Orloff

9/6

2–4:30 p.m.

ALL

Dream, Draft, Develop: Follow Your Creative Compass

Sierra Prasada

9/6–9/7

S/Su

10 a.m.–3 p.m.

ALL

Write Like the News

Hank Wallace

9/13

10 a.m.–12 p.m.

ALL

Transitions

Mary Carpenter

9/16–10/21

10:30 a.m.–1 p.m.

ALL

How to Be a Funnier Writer

Mary McCarthy

9/17

6–8:30 p.m.

Playwriting: Exposition

Richard Washer

9/25

7:30–10 p.m.

Mythology for Writers II

Carolyn Clark

9/27–9/28

S/Su

10 a.m.–4 p.m.

Getting Started: Creative Writing

Nancy Naomi Carlson

9/27

12–5 p.m.

Flash Fiction

Lynn Stearns

9/30–11/18

1–2:30 p.m.

ALL

Advanced Fiction and Memoir

Barbara Esstman

10/1–11/19

7–9:30 p.m.

Write Out of Your Genre: Experimenting with New Forms

Aaron Hamburger

10/7–10/14

6:30–8:30 p.m.

ALL

Writing for Young Readers

Judith Tabler

10/7–11/11

7–9:30 p.m.

ALL

Tweens Rock the Page

Andra Abramson

10/9–11/13

6–7 p.m.

Mix It Up: Writing + Art

Mary Quattlebaum & Joan Waites

10/9–10/16

7–9:30 p.m.

ALL

See! Hear! Feel! Write!

Sierra Prasada

10/11

2–5 p.m.

ALL

Getting Started in Literary Translation: Your Questions Answered

Yvette Neiser Moreno

10/11

10 a.m.–12:30 p.m.

B/I

Revision Made Easy

Lynn Stearns

10/11

10 a.m.–2 p.m.

ALL

Nonfiction for Children: The Wow Factor Mary Quattlebaum

10/11

1–3:30 p.m.

ALL

Mysteries, Thrillers, and Suspense–Oh, my!

Kathryn Johnson

10/18

10 a.m.–12:30 p.m.

ALL

Your Master Metaphor*

Sierra Prasada

10/18

2–5 p.m.

ALL

Translation Studio

Yvette Neisser Moreno

10/22–11/19

7–9:30 p.m.

ALL

Writing From Life

Ellen Herbert

10/22–11/19

10:30 a.m.–1 p.m.

B/I

How to Break into Travel Writing with a Story that Sells

Christine Koubek

11/5–12/3

7–9:30 p.m.

B/I

Break Through Writer’s Block

Aaron Hamburger

11/6–11/13

6:30–8:30 p.m.

ALL

Getting Started: Creative Writing*

Patricia Gray

11/8–11/15

1:30–4 p.m.

B/I

Scenes You Can’t Live Without

Barbara Esstman and Khris Baxter

11/8

10 a.m.–4 p.m.

ALL

The Writing Staycation

Zahara Heckscher

11/10–11/14

M-F

10 a.m.–5 p.m.

ALL

Mythology for Writers III

Carolyn Clark

12/6–12/7

S/Su

10 a.m.–4 p.m.

B—beginner

I—intermediate

A—advanced

M—master

ALL—all levels

* Indicates workshops held at one of our satellite locations. Please see descriptions for more information. Workshop & Event Guide Fall 2014

SCHEDULE

FALL WORKSHOP SCHEDULE

The Writer’s Center

SCHEDULE

NONFICTION (PAGES 22-23)

LEADER

DATES

DAY

TIME

LEVEL

The Writer’s Toolbox

Sara Taber

9/9–11/11

7–9:30 p.m.

ALL

8 Essays/8 Memoirs/8 Weeks

Sara Taber

9/9–11/11

1–3:30 p.m.

ALL

Survival Tips for Parents: The Less-Stress College Essay

Sierra Prasada

9/9

7–9:30 p.m.

ALL

Write The Book

Nani Power

9/9–10/28

7–9 p.m.

ALL

My Life, One Story at a Time

Pat McNees

9/10–10/15

7:15–9:45 p.m.

ALL

Writing Memoir: Getting Started

Marilyn Smith

9/11–10/16

10 a.m.–12 p.m.

B/I

“Pay Attention, Be Amazed, Tell About Maxine Clair It”–Writing Stories of Personal Discovery

9/11–10/30

7–9:30 p.m.

ALL

Memoir Writing Workshop: 8 Weeks

Dave Singleton

9/16–11/4

7–9:30 p.m.

I/A

Personal Essay Workshop

Jenny Rough

9/19

10 a.m.–5 p.m.

B/I

Your Best Self on Paper: The College Application Essay

Sierra Prasada

9/20

2–5 p.m.

ALL

Creating Complex Characters*

Lynn Schwartz

9/20

9:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m.

ALL

How to Get Published

Amy Abrams

10/4

10 a.m.–3 p.m.

ALL

Literary Travel Writing

C. M. Mayo

10/11

10 a.m.–1 p.m.

ALL

Looking Back, Moving Forward: Writing The Tough Stuff

Jessica Handler

10/18

10 a.m.–2 p.m.

ALL

Life Stories Intensive*

Lynn Schwartz

10/25

9:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m.

ALL

A House Made of Memory: Constructing Memoir with Scene, Summary and Musing

Janice Gary

11/8

1–4 p.m.

ALL

Creative Nonfiction II

Dave Singleton

11/11–12/16

7–9:30 p.m.

POETRY (PAGES 23-25)

LEADER

DATES

DAY

TIME

LEVEL

Seeing Food, Work, War and Love: A Multicultural View of Poetry

Maritza Rivera

9/6–9/27

1–3 p.m.

ALL

Collaborating with the Dead: Creative Writing

David Keplinger

9/8–10/27

7–9 p.m.

The Poem Starts Here!

Marie Pavlicek-Wehrli

9/9–10/28

10:30 a.m.–1 p.m.

Poetry as Story: Writing the Narrative Poem*

Sue Ellen Thompson

9/13

1–4 p.m.

ALL

Pop Poetry: from Andy Warhol to Britney Spears

D. Gilson

9/17–10/15

6:30–9 p.m.

ALL

The Force of Poetry

Elizabeth Rees

9/18–11/13

7–9:30 p.m.

I/A

Poetry II

Nan Fry

9/23–10/28

10:30 a.m.–1 p.m.

Opening the Field: Introduction to Poetry

Anne Becker

10/2–11/20

7–9:30 p.m.

Why Write in Forms–and How?

Claudia Gary

10/2–10/23

1–3:30 p.m.

ALL

Making It Whole: Poetry Chapbook

Anne Becker

10/4–11/15

10 a.m.–1 p.m.

Using Music and Sound Elements in Poetry*

Claudia Gary

10/11

1–5 p.m.

ALL

View online at www.writer.org/guide

POETRY (PAGES 23-25)

LEADER

DATES

DAY

TIME

LEVEL

From Working Draft to Final Copy

Naomi Ayala

10/15–11/19

7–9 p.m.

A/M

Prosody: An Introduction

Sue Ellen Thompson

10/19

1–5 p.m.

ALL

The Poetry Game

Zahara Heckscher

10/23

7–9 p.m.

ALL

Seeing Food, Work, War and Love: A Multicultural View of Poetry

Maritza Rivera

11/8–11/29

1–3 p.m.

ALL

How to Get Your Poetry Published

Michele Wolf

11/1

3–6 p.m.

ALL

Poetry Primer

Ellen Cole

11/4–11/25

7:30–10:00 p.m.

B/I

Poetry I

D. Gilson

11/5–11/26

6:30–8:30 p.m.

B/I

Imagination in the Americas: Six Modern and Contemporary Poets

Nan Fry

11/8–12/13

10:30 a.m.–1 p.m.

I/A

Using Music and Sound in Poetry

Claudia Gary

11/8

1–5 p.m.

ALL

The Poetry Game: Peace Version

Zahara Heckscher

11/13

6–8 p.m.

ALL

Adventures in Syntax*

Sue Ellen Thompson

11/15

1–4 p.m.

ALL

Turning Points: The Role of the Volta in Poetry

Sue Ellen Thompson

12/7

1–4 p.m.

ALL

PROFESSIONAL WRITING (PAGES 25)

LEADER

DATES

DAY

TIME

LEVEL

Writing the Dreaded Query Letter

Alan Orloff

9/13

2–4:30 p.m.

ALL

Moving Beyond Picture Books

Andra Abramson

10/9–11/13

7:15–8:15 p.m.

B/I

The Self-Publication Experiment

Kathryn Johnson

12/6

10 a.m.–12:30 p.m.

I/A

STAGE AND SCREEN (PAGES 25-26)

LEADER

DATES

DAY

TIME

LEVEL

Screenwriting I

Monica Lee Bellais

9/9–9/30

6:30–9:30 p.m.

Playwriting: Character

Richard Washer

9/11

7:30–10 p.m.

Playwriting: Dialogue

Richard Washer

9/18

7:30–10 p.m.

The Business of Screenwriting

Khris Baxter

9/20

10 a.m.–4 p.m.

ALL

Screenwriting: Character Arc and Dialogue

Monica Lee Bellais

10/4

10 a.m.–4 p.m.

ALL

Playwriting II

Richard Washer

10/4–11/22

10 a.m.–12:30 p.m.

Building a Blockbuster: Screenwriting II

Monica Lee Bellais

10/7–10/28

6:30–9:30 p.m.

I/A

Food Writing: Senses and Stories

Claudia Kousoulas

10/12

10 a.m.–3 p.m.

B/I

Songwriting 101

Cathy Fink

10/13–11/24

6–7:30 p.m.

Songwriting Bootcamp

Cathy Fink

10/13–11/24

7:45–9:15 p.m.

I/A

The Art & Craft of Screenwriting*

Khris Baxter

10/18

10 a.m.–4 p.m.

ALL

Screenwriting II: Marketing Your Screenplay

Monica Lee Bellais

11/4–11/25

6:30–9:30 p.m.

I/A

Screenwriting II/III

Monica Lee Bellais

12/7–12/28

6:30–9:30 p.m.

I/A

B—beginner

I—intermediate

A—advanced

M—master

ALL—all levels

* Indicates workshops held at one of our satellite locations. Please see descriptions for more information. Workshop & Event Guide Fall 2014

SCHEDULE

FALL WORKSHOP SCHEDULE

The Writer’s Center

View sample online workshops @ www.onlinetwc.org/workshops

SCHEDULE

ONLINE

LEADER

DATES

LEVEL

The Elements of Fiction: Plot

T. Greenwood

9/5–9/26

B/I

Establishing Your Online Presence

Bernadette Geyer

9/8–9/29

N/A

How to Publish Every Day

Sierra Prasada

9/18–10/23

ALL

Creating Novel Characters

T. Greenwood

9/19–11/7

ALL

Fiction I: Intro to the Novel

T. Greenwood

10/3–11/21

B/I

Online Poetry Workshop I

Bernadette Geyer

10/6–10/27

N/A

Establishing Your Online Presence

Bernadette Geyer

10/6–10/27

ALL

Fiction II: Intermediate Novel

T. Greenwood

10/31–12/19

I/A

Write Like a Latina in Four Weeks

Daisy Hernandez

11/3–11/24

ALL

Online Poetry Workshop II

Bernadette Geyer

11/3–11/24

N/A

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• Critical Reads & Brainstorming Sessions • Publish-ready Analysis & Tips

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WORKSHOPS

& Even t Guid e

• Adult classic rock ensembles and jazz guitar ensemble • Student guitar ensembles • Experienced teachers • Fun and effective program • Classes held at The Writer’s Center and another convenient Bethesda location Guitar classes and ensembles now forming for Fall ’14!

For more information, check out: www.WriteByYou.com

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or email Kathryn@WriteByYou.com

301-461-8798 paul@washingtonguitarschool.com

View online at www.writer.org/guide

WORKSHOPS For more detailed class descriptions, please visit writer.org Note: TWC will be closed for Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day, and Christmas. Bring in a food item or recipe to discuss.

The Elements of Fiction: Plot T. Greenwood Whether you are a planner or a writer who flies by the seats of your pants when it comes to plot, your novel still needs structure. In this workshop, we will study the architecture of a novel and devise a plan for plotting your novel. 4 Fridays N/A Online B/I

9/5–9/26 $195

Whodunit? How to Write a Mystery Alan Orloff If you’ve always wanted to write a mystery novel but didn’t know where to start, this workshop is for you. We’ll discuss writing fundamentals as they apply to the mystery. We’ll examine characteristics of the many subgenres (thrillers, too!) and learn about mystery-specific conventions and pitfalls such as TSTL syndrome, macguffins, red herrings, killer twists, wacky sidekicks, and smooth clue-dropping, among others. Fun, educational, and… mysterious! 1 Saturday 10 a.m.–12:30 p.m. Bethesda ALL

9/6 $50

Writing Short Stories John Morris We will offer focused, constructive criticism of your short-story draft, with the goal of bringing your work to a new level of accomplishment. By discussing the craft of the short story as it applies to actual examples before us (your story drafts), we will provide useful, practical insights into the writing process. By the end of the workshop, all participants will receive in-depth critiques and suggestions for revision of drafts. 8 Mondays 7–9:30 p.m. Bethesda ALL

9/8–10/27 $360

From Novice to Novelist John DeDakis A step-by-step guide on how to write a novel – and how to sell it. This 8-week course is for struggling and/or aspiring writers. We’ll go from how to get the nub of an idea all the way through to getting your novel into the hands of expectant fans. You’ll learn organization, point of view, research, rewrites and marketing. By the end, you will have started your novel and you will be equipped with the skills to perfect it. 8 Wednesdays 7–9:30 p.m. Bethesda ALL

9/10–10/29 $360

The Taste of Memory: Food Writing*

* A collaboration with the Bethesda Farm Women’s Market. 1 Wednesday 7–9 p.m. Bethesda B

9/10–10/22 $85

Mystery and Suspense Writing Con Lehane This course will cover the essential aspects of good fiction writing – compelling openings, characters readers care about, conflict, action, plots that carry the story, stories that endure – with an emphasis on suspense and mystery, the elements of fiction that keep readers turning pages. At the end of the workshop, participants should have written a few mysterious or suspenseful passages and have a better sense of how to apply these concepts to their own writing. 6 Wednesdays 7–9:30 p.m. Bethesda ALL

9/10–10/15 $360

Fiction II: Story Workshop This workshop is designed to make you write a lot and offer you a lot of feedback. You will be surprised by how much you can produce when faced with short, regular deadlines. Weekly assignments will be reviewed speed-dating style – quickly, and by the whole group. You will also have a chance to workshop one longer piece that the group will discuss in depth. Readings, prompts, critiques, and encouragement provided. You provide the pages. Eight sessions; no class 9/25. 9/11–11/6 $360

Fiction II – Writing Compelling Fiction Alan Orloff If you’ve started a novel, but found you need some help – developing the plot, strengthening the characters, honing the prose, increasing the conflict, or a host of other things – this workshop will illuminate the way. We’ll discuss how everything fits together to create a solid foundation for compelling, page-turning fiction. Sessions will include instruction and writing exercises, with an emphasis on giving and receiving critiques of participants’ work. At the end of the workshop, students should have a much clearer picture of where their work is headed – and how to get there! No class 10/4. 8 Saturdays 10 a.m.–12:30 p.m. Bethesda I

8 Saturdays 10 a.m.–12:30 p.m. Bethesda B/I

9/13–11/1 $360

The Extreme Novelist Kathryn Johnson Can’t find the time/energy/inspiration to get your novel written? This popular course will help you complete a rough draft in just eight weeks. Students commit to an aggressive writing schedule and learn the tricks pros use to create a productive working environment and meet their deadlines despite distractions. 8 Mondays 7–9:30 p.m. Bethesda I/A

9/15–11/3 $360

Fiction Writing: Fiction Set in The Past Ben Farmer

Jennifer Buxton

8 Thursdays 7–9:30 p.m. Bethesda I

content, form and the telling detail. We will also discuss a novel by a distinguished contemporary novelist. You will end with a fuller sense of your writing abilities and a clearer direction for your work.

9/13–11/8 $360

Nani Power

The Novel in You

Our memories are intertwined with food! Food narrative explores the concept of story through the lens of food. In this workshop, you will explore memories and stories of food cleaved from your own background. We’ll discuss blogging, memoirs and short story writing. All will be explored and discussed.

If you are about to select a writing workshop, you probably have a story to tell. In this workshop you can shape that story into a novel with guidance from an experienced instructor and a group of fellow writers. We will discuss two or three manuscripts each class with emphasis on

Ann McLaughlin

Workshop & Event Guide Fall 2014

This course will combine readings with workshop to help students develop their fiction set in the past. We will discuss a variety of definitions for historical fiction, how to research effectively, the continued importance of character, and how to make the best use of our vanished settings. All participants will have two opportunities for workshop, and should expect to emerge with either a polished story, or an opening and outline for their novel. 8 Tuesdays 7–9:30 p.m. Bethesda ALL

9/16–11/4 $360

Fiction I/II: Brand New Story Ben Farmer Students will challenge themselves to begin and complete a new story. There will be short readings and several practice opportunities to inspire our work. Plotting, character development, setting, and dialogue will be among our points of emphasis. Each student will have two formal workshop opportunities, as well as several other occasions to share their work in class. Students can expect to leave with completed drafts. 8 Wednesdays 7–9:30 p.m. Bethesda ALL

9/17–11/5 $360

Short Story I Jim Beane Designed to familiarize the aspiring short story writer with ‘what it takes’ to produce a fully realized short story, this workshop focuses on how the fundamental elements of good fiction intertwine to create short stories. Part of each session will be devoted to exploring setting, plot, and characterization through roundtable discussions of classic short stories. Please come with an empty journal, a pen and an open mind. 8 Wednesdays 7–9 p.m. Bethesda B

9/17–11/5 $290

workshops

Fiction

WORKSHOPS

The Writer’s Center

Revision: The Art of Self-Editing

Fiction I: Character is Plot

Elements of Fiction: Image Intensive

Con Lehane

Nicole Miller

Jennifer Buxton

Finished the first draft of your novel or story? Now the real work begins. Revision isn’t only an exercise in proofreading or copy edit. No class 11/12.

F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote that “character is plot, plot is character,” putting a twist on Aristotle’s formula for drama, and placing “who” at the center of what happens in a story. But character can also be where, how, when and why, and this workshop will introduce the new writer to the elements of fiction, including voice, narrative, setting, consciousness and conflict, through a focus on character. Over the course of eight weeks, we will devote each session to a different aspect of fiction, constructing scenes, inventing scenarios, building characters, and experiencing their worlds during in-class exercises. No class 10/8.

We take in the world through our senses, and although most of us are trained to think analytically and abstractly, it is the cold red brick and the lighted match that we remember. This seminar will give you practice working from and with the concrete, to make your writing vivid and memorable.

4 Thursdays 7–9:30 p.m. Bethesda A

9/18–10/9 $270

Creating Novel Characters T. Greenwood When writing a novel, we must know our primary characters inside and out. We need to understand their desires, motivations, and frustrations, their histories and their futures. This workshop will focus on the development of authentic characters. We will examine character as both autonomous and residing within the context of the other novelistic elements, and we will discuss the challenge of creating and integrating these various elements into a cohesive and credible whole.

workshops

8 Fridays N/A Online ALL

9/19–11/7 $360

Elements of Fiction: Point of View Boot Camp Jennifer Buxton Should you be writing in third person or first? And how can you know? And what is third person limited omniscient, anyway? Point of view is a source of worry and confusion for many people, but with a little orientation, you can see how powerful a tool it is. This seminar will give you an overview of the options facing the fiction writer, along with a variety of exercises to help you broaden your practice. 1 Saturday 10 a.m.–12:30 p.m. Bethesda B

9/20 $50

Young-Adult and New-Adult Fiction Kathryn Johnson Authors will learn how to slant their fiction for two of the hottest fiction genres today – young-adult (teen) and new-adult (for and about 20-somethings.) This half-day class, for adult authors who are considering writing for readers 12 years old and up, will demonstrate why these books appeal not only to their intended audience but attract crossover readers of any age by the thousands. These books consistently hit best-seller lists. Find out why at this Saturday morning coffee session. 1 Saturday 10 a.m.–12:30 p.m. Bethesda ALL

9/20 $50

8 Wednesdays 6–9 p.m. Bethesda B/I

Short Literary Fiction and Memoir Lynn Stearns Learn to identify the heart of character driven work and how to make the various components of writing promote it. We will focus on a different component, such as voice, language, setting, plot, pacing, etc., each session, as well as respond to writing prompts, and critique work by participants. Bring 12 copies of a short story or memoir to the first session, and expect to leave the last one with polished work and some ideas about where to submit it. 8 Tuesdays 10 a.m.–12:30 p.m. Bethesda I

9/30–11/18 $360

6 Stories, 6 Weeks Mark Cugini Students will write, workshop and critique six new stories. In-class discussions will focus on the various elements of fiction, and writers will receive weekly prompts to “jumpstart” their writing. The goals are to complete new work, and to receive specific feedback for revisions. 6 Thursdays 7–10 p.m. Bethesda ALL

10/2–11/6 $315

Fiction I: Intro to the Novel

10/18 $50

Sit, Stay, Write Judith Tabler Writing about animals is not all fluff, fuzz, and feathers. It’s a competitive genre. Annie Dillard, John Grogan, James Herriot, Laura Hillenbrand, John Steinbeck, James Thurber are just some who are enchanted with the lives of animals. We will look at excerpts from leading works in the field and then we’ll discuss participants’ writing. We will be looking at some elements that make great animal essays and stories: research, objectivity, characterization, style, tone, and structure. 1 Saturday 10 a.m.–12:30 p.m. Bethesda ALL

10/18 $50

Fiction II Aaron Hamburger In this workshop course, students with some experience of fiction writing will submit work for peer review in an attempt to raise their game to the next level. Along the way, we’ll also take some time to analyze excerpts of published work and do targeted exercises to develop strategies that will enrich the nuance and complexity of our fiction writing. By the end of the term, students will have a firmer grasp of not only the essentials of fiction but also the small yet significant choices that make the difference between a good piece of fiction and a great one. 8 Tuesdays Capitol Hill

6:30–8:30 p.m. I

10/21–12/9 $290

Starting Fantasy Fiction

T. Greenwood If you have always wanted to write a novel but don’t know where to start, this workshop will help you understand the process. We will focus on everything from generating ideas to developing characters to establishing point of view. We will touch on many elements of fiction (dialogue, scene, etc.), but the emphasis will be on discovering what works best for you. 8 Fridays N/A Online B/I

Story Writing

9/24–11/19 $360

1 Saturday 10 a.m.–12:30 a.m. Bethesda B

10/3–11/21 $360

Brenda Clough The first session of this two-section class will be devoted to the basics of fiction and story construction. In the second session we’ll do a start-up exercise to help get you started on a possibly longer work. 2 Tuesdays 7:30–9:30 p.m. Bethesda B

10/21–10/28 $80

Write and Publish Your Short Stories Amy Abrams

Con Lehane

Fiction II

This course is designed to help you develop the basic writerly habit of paying careful attention to the world around you and recording what you see and hear in some way. Most importantly, the course is designed to help you find your unique voice as a story writer. You’ll be asked to write a lot – a notebook, exercises, and at least one substantial draft of a story.

Susan Land We will read and discuss short stories by both contemporary and long-gone writers, focusing on voice, plot and pacing. How does the author seduce the reader? How far can a reader be led? I will offer writing prompts as suggested by the readings. We will also workshop at least one story per student.

Most novelists master the art of fiction by writing short stories. In this seminar, learn to portray the arc of your protagonist, choose the best point of view, write authentic dialog, as well as enhance your story through a dynamic tone. We see that these components work together creating a cohesive whole. In this nuts-and-bolts class, you learn how to fuse fiction’s critical elements to create potent, publishable manuscripts.

4 Saturdays Capitol Hill

6 Thursdays 10:30 a.m.–1 p.m. Bethesda I

1 Saturday 10 a.m.–3 p.m. Bethesda ALL

12–3 p.m. B/I

9/20–10/11 $215

10/16–11/20 $270

View online at www.writer.org/guide

10/25 $90

WORKSHOPS Elements of Fiction: Setting

T. Greenwood

Ben Farmer

In this workshop, students will expand upon what they have learned in Fiction I about the key components of novel writing. The focus of this workshop will be on character development, scene building, narrative structure and the process of writing a first draft. Participants will be encouraged to submit a chapter of their work for peer review. Please purchase a copy of John Truby’s “Anatomy of Story” for this class.

Following a brief discussion, the workshop will consist of several short presentations of elegantly achieved settings, followed up with a brief writing and workshop opportunity for participants to put the day’s lessons immediately into practice.

8 Fridays N/A Online I/A

10/31–12/19 $360

The Muddle in the Middle Kathryn Johnson The middle of any novel is the place where most authors struggle and often falter. Learn how to blast through middle chapters, enriching your story and building toward a dramatic climax. You’ll never run out of ideas again, and you’ll keep your readers turning pages all the way to the end. 1 Saturday 10 a.m.–12:30 p.m. Bethesda ALL

11/1 $50

Children’s Book Publishing 101 Andra Abramson If you’ve written a children’s book manuscript and are wondering “What do I do now?”, this two-hour workshop is for you. Bring your questions and concerns and well known children’s book editor and published author Andra Serlin Abramson will fill in the details. No query is too basic for this beginning level publishing course designed to introduce new writers to the often confusing and frustrating world of children’s book publishing. 1 Saturday 1–3 p.m. Bethesda B

11/1 $40

The Retold Tale The greatest stories invite new tellings, whether on the page, on stage, or on film – why not yours? In this transporting afternoon workshop, you’ll rediscover beloved myths and fairytales and learn to recognize and make use of those elements that have made them immortal. Come prepared to read, write, and ask, “What if ?” You’ll go home knowing the arc of your story in progress and all the more prepared to take inspiration from the boundless well of the past. 11/1 $50

Developing the High-Concept Novel Kathryn Johnson Publishing has gone Hollywood. Today, book editors, just like film makers, look for novels that stand out as splashy, important, and likely to attract the maximum number of readers. Learn what high-concept means and how to use various fiction techniques to add a special “hook” and reader appeal to your work-in-progress. This is a 3-session course. Learn to work like the pros who produce a book, or more, each year to keep their readers coming back for more. 3 Wednesdays 7–9:30 p.m. Bethesda ALL

11/5–11/19 $135

11/8 $50

Wouldn’t Touch It With A Ten-Foot Pole: How To Avoid Cliché Lynn Schwartz Hackneyed? Trite? Tired? We all fear that the cliché will sneak into our plot, characters, and descriptions. It is a matter of approaching the page with a fresh view – mastering the discipline to put words together that evoke and provoke rather than relying on overused shorthand. Learn how to avoid the cliché and how to recognize when those familiar phrases are “worth their weight in gold.” 1 Saturday 9:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m. 11/8 Bethesda ALL $50

Historical Fiction: 21st-Century Kathryn Johnson The rebirth of historical fiction has opened up exciting opportunities for fiction writers. Is your story set in ancient Rome, during the American Civil War, or in more recent history? Write for young readers, teens, or adults – everyone loves historical adventures. Weave in a love story, paranormal elements, sea battles, fantasy or realism – you have unlimited options. Students will learn how to weave historical details into their stories and bring the past to life for their readers. Join us for coffee, pastries, and a dynamic discussion! 1 Saturday 10 a.m.–12:30 p.m. Bethesda ALL

Sierra Prasada

1 Saturday 2–5 p.m. Bethesda ALL

1 Saturday 10:30 a.m.–1 p.m. Bethesda ALL

11/15 $50

designed for intermediate students who want to take the time to texture and fully realize the worlds they are building in their short stories or novels. 1 Saturday 10 a.m.–4 p.m. Bethesda ALL

Master Novel II: Preparing for Publication Amin Ahamd Admission: All students must have at least 150 pages of a novel-in-progress. By permission of instructor: submit up to a 10 page writing sample to laura.spencer@writer.org by August 22nd. Whether you are a literary novelist or a genre writer, working on a novel can be an isolating, long-term process. Taught by a published novelist, the intensive Master Novel course is designed to support aspiring novelists as they complete a full novel, or revise existing work for publication. Master Novel II will expand on the workshop model developed in Master Novel I. In addition, we will focus on: • Marketplace education to help you develop insights into the publication process. Discuss and understand the rules of literary and genre fiction, learn to build your credentials as a writer, research the marketplace, pitch an agent, and understand the different paths to publication. Each student receives: • The chance to workshop your writing twice, up to 50 pages of work each time. Your instructor will provide detailed written feedback in addition to class feedback. • Four sessions are devoted to: ✦✦ Visiting published writers share with us their paths to publication.

Essential Guides to Creative Writing

✦✦ Locating your book in the marketplace. Developing and honing an effective pitch letter for agents.

Nicole Miller In the sea of books on becoming a writer and mastering one’s craft, which volumes form the life-raft? This seminar will offer critiques of a number of the classics, the value of these idiosyncratic approaches to reading and writing, and the extent to which “the cult of personality” still matters in finding a voice and courting a readership. 1 Wednesday 6–9 p.m. Bethesda ALL

✦✦ An overview of the nuts-and-bolts of the publication process: creating a writing resume, networking as a writer, the roles of agents and publishers. We will also discuss the publication options: traditional ‘big six’ publishing, independent publishers and academic presses, literary contests and the exploding world of self-publishing.

12/3 $50

Writing Description and Setting: The Fabric of Fiction Nicole Miller T.S. Eliot once wrote that “the great aim is accurate, precise and definite description. The first thing is to recognize how extraordinarily difficult this is . . . each man sees a little differently, and to get out clearly and exactly what he does see, he must have a terrific struggle with language.” This one-day seminar will focus on the difficulties and the pleasures of setting, mood, description, and the telling detail: the subtle elements which constitute the fabric of fiction. This seminar is

Workshop & Event Guide Fall 2014

12/6 $115

✦✦ Visiting literary agents share with us their insights into the marketplace. • A one-on-one mentoring meeting with your instructor. • A group of trusted readers who will support and help improve your work and expand your writing community. Please note: this is an extremely intensive class that requires commitment: come prepared to write a lot, read a lot, and engage deeply with a small group of motivated writers. No class 11/27. 15 Tuesdays 7–9:30 p.m. Bethesda Master

9/2–12/16 $900

workshops

Fiction II: Intermediate Novel

WORKSHOPS Fictionalize Your Life In One Afternoon! Nicole Idar Has something happened to you recently that’s so unforgettable you find yourself wanting to turn the experience into a short story? Then join us! In this intensive three-hour class, you’ll write an entire short story from scratch, using the raw material from your own real-life experience as a springboard for creating a brand new piece of fiction. You’ll be guided along the way with step-by-step instructions for crafting a workable first draft of a story. At the end of the class we’ll hold a reading for everyone who wants to participate, so we can all enjoy hearing a fictionalized version of your life story! 1 Saturday Capitol Hill

10 a.m.–1 p.m. ALL

12/6 $50

Beginning Fantasy Fiction Brenda Clough

workshops

The first session of this two-section class will be devoted to the basics of fiction and story construction. In the second session we’ll do an exercise to help get you started on a possibly longer work. 2 Thursdays 7:30–9:30 p.m. McLean B

12/11–12/18 $80

Mixed Genre

1 Saturday 10 a.m.–12 p.m. Bethesda ALL

9/13 $40

Transitions Mary Carpenter For writers who are beginning, those who want to move beyond a professional style, those who are stuck and anyone else, this workshop will focus on the process of writing: on how to free up personal experiences, discover voices and personas, choose the best words, etc. In each class, we will write on assigned subjects, listen to these pieces and comment on what we like and why. In addition, participants may bring in work written or rewritten at home for us to critique. The goal of the class is to create a greater awareness of what it takes to turn life into stories, and a familiarity with creating and working with writing groups. 6 Tuesdays 10:30 a.m.–1 p.m. Bethesda ALL

Elements of Fiction: Dialogue

9/16–10/21 $270

Having trouble getting your dialogue to sparkle? In this workshop, you will see that writing realisticsounding dialogue has little to do with how people actually speak. You’ll learn how to use dialogue to advance the plot and reveal character, and we’ll cover the effective use of tags, oblique dialogue, and subtext. In addition, we’ll discuss how to incorporate actions within conversations to make written scenes spring to life. Don’t let one of the most important building blocks of fiction fall flat! 9/6 $50

Dream, Draft, Develop: Follow Your Creative Compass

Mary McCarthy Readers love to smile, and especially to laugh. You don’t have to be a humor writer to incorporate humor into your writing; it can be used in most types of writing to create a lighter mood. We will look at different types of humor writing, from parody and satire to deadpan and farcical, and we’ll review highlights of the works of successful humor writers over time. In this workshop, you will learn to use various elements of humor writing and creative comic expression to make your work more engaging and enjoyable for readers. 1 Wednesday 6–8:30 p.m. Bethesda I

9/17 $50

Playwriting: Exposition Richard Washer

This weekend workshop (for fiction, nonfiction and dramatic writers) aims to demystify the creative process without dispelling the magic. Over two immersive days, you’ll come to appreciate what it means to move through a cycle of five universal stages – and how you can more effectively dream, draft, develop, refine, and share your best work. You’ll learn and practice specific techniques, including the What If question; dreaming in dialogue; drafting in layers; the developmental outline; and guided feedback. You’ll either begin a promising new project during the weekend or return home with the vision and tools to transform an ongoing one.

What does your audience need to know and when do they need to know it? You only have a couple of hours (often less) to tell a story onstage, so there isn’t much time for providing back stories. In this workshop we will consider various strategies for managing exposition and look at examples in their historical contexts to better understand how to handle this in our own writing.

1 Sat-Sun 10 a.m.–3 p.m. Bethesda ALL

9/6–9/7 $195

Write Like the News Hank Wallace Lead with the future – rather than with background. That’s the most important of eight journalism

1 Sat/Sun 10 a.m.–4 p.m. Bethesda I

9/27–9/28 $215

Getting Started: Creative Writing Nancy Naomi Carlson If you have always wanted to write but haven’t known how to begin, this is the workshop for you! We will explore short stories, poems, and prose poems that walk the thin line between flash fiction and poetry. In addition, we will meander through memoir. Exercises done in the workshop will “jump start” your writing, transforming a creative idea into actual words on a page. Goals: loosening up, generating new material, and enjoying the thrill of writing. 1 Saturday 12–5 p.m. Bethesda B

9/27 $100

Flash Fiction Lynn Stearns In this workshop, we will define the various forms of flash fiction, read good examples of flash fiction, respond to writing prompts, and write flash fiction for personal collections or for publication. By the end of our last session, everyone should have at least a few pieces of polished work, and a solid understanding of how to create more. Bring writing materials and an open mind to the first session. 9/30–11/18 $215

Advanced Fiction and Memoir Barbara Esstman For those with a book-length project they hope to sell or self-publish with pride. In addition to lessons on craft and technique given by the instructor, each writer will submit a 25 page sample for the others in the workshop to read and critique. (Don’t worry – no one gets hurt!) Get the suggestions you need to produce a well-written book. 8 Wednesdays 7–9:30 p.m. Bethesda A

10/1–11/19 $360

Write Out of Your Genre: Experimenting with New Forms Aaron Hamburger

Sierra Prasada

1 Thursday 7:30–10 p.m. Bethesda B

ranging from poetry to fantasy, science fiction, and journalism.

8 Tuesdays 1–2:30 p.m. Bethesda ALL

How to Be a Funnier Writer

Alan Orloff

1 Saturdays 2–4:30 p.m. Bethesda ALL

skills that will transform your queries, proposals and manuscripts. The others: write your readers’ language, be positive (to be both clear and upbeat), lay out logically, be consistent, be precise, be brief and choose strong verbs. Highlights: master crisis communication, correct errors the correct way, choose between absolute numbers and ratios and write around generic “he.” Emulate the striking news examples you’ll see in this workshop, and you’ll enhance your writing voice with lively, engaging news style.

The Writer’s Center

9/25 $50

This interactive, hands-on, two-session workshop will give students a chance to try out a new, unfamiliar genre for fun – no pressure! For example, fiction writers might take a chance on writing poetry. Poets might dabble in romance writing or creative non-fiction. Memoirists could try their hand at short stories. The idea is that by trying out a genre that’s not your own, you’ll discover writing strategies and new ways of looking at language that will shake up your style and inspire you.

Mythology for Writers II

2 Tuesdays 6:30–8:30 p.m. Bethesda ALL

Carolyn Clark

Writing for Young Readers

Learn more fundamentals of mythology and practice techniques for weaving mythological themes and allusions into your own writing product. Deepen your understanding of common threads in comparative mythology. Be prepared to share your work with others in order to better understand the varied uses of mythology in different genres

10/7–10/14 $80

Judith Tabler Kids still read? You bet. Young readers can be a terrific audience for your creative skills. They devour both nonfiction and fiction. We will look at classic and current literature in this genre, but most class time will be spent dis-

View online at www.writer.org/guide

WORKSHOPS

6 Tuesdays 7–9:30 p.m. Bethesda ALL

10/7–11/11 $270

Tweens Rock the Page Andra Abramson Aspiring 8- to 12-year-old writers will develop the skills to help get their stories out of their heads and onto paper. Designed to be fast-moving and collaborative, this hands-on workshop will use story prompts, brain-storming sessions, and even speed rounds to take away the inhibition many tweens feel about writing and allow them to craft the stories, anecdotes, poems and narratives that mean something to them. 6 Thursdays 6–7 p.m. Bethesda B

10/9–11/13 $115

Mix It Up: Writing + Art Mary Quattlebaum & Joan Waites Have you ever wanted to create art along with your writing – but felt you lacked skills or direction? Students begin each session with a personal-writing prompt, which then becomes the basis for a mixedmedia art piece. The co-leaders are an author and an artist who love the process of creative discovery and, through specific strategies, can help you to explore and shape your material. The work created may become part of an ongoing unique memoir or artistic journal or several individual pieces. Please bring scissors and $5 for art supplies. 2 Thursdays 7–9:30 p.m. Bethesda ALL

10/9–10/16 $100

See! Hear! Feel! Write! Sierra Prasada This 3-hour afternoon workshop aims to help you write your best by showing you how to feel your way onwards. Just as your favorite fiction and nonfiction works come alive to readers through their authors’ judicious use of sensory and emotional detail. Over the course of three hours, you’ll develop a foundation for doing so yourself, with short writing exercises, partner/small group work, and guided class discussion. You’ll go back to your writing desk with a fresh source of ideas; a richer sense of possibility; and an enhanced ability to bring the world onto your page. 1 Saturday 2–5 p.m. Bethesda ALL

10/11 $50

Getting Started in Literary Translation: Your Questions Answered Yvette Neiser Moreno This workshop will demystify the art and practice of literary translation. We will discuss the ABC’s of translating creative works (poetry, fiction, drama, nonfiction), including: What language skills do you need to translate? How do you select a work to translate? How do you get permission to publish your translation, and how do you find a publisher? In addition, we will examine sample texts to see

how translators deal with issues such as word choice, sentence structure, rhythm/sound, and cultural references. The workshop will be conducted entirely in English, and we’ll get the morning started with coffee and pastry! 1 Saturday 10 a.m.–12:30 p.m. Bethesda B/I

10/11 $50

Revision Made Easy Lynn Stearns In this workshop, participants will be given a checklist and learn how to test their short stories or memoirs to see what works, what doesn’t, and how to fix the problems. The focus will be on telling the story you want to tell, the way you want to tell it. Bring three hard copies of the same manuscript to edit as we go through exercises, and a brown bag lunch. 1 Saturday 10 a.m.–2 p.m. Bethesda ALL

10/11 $50

Nonfiction for Children: The Wow Factor Mary Quattlebaum Nonfiction for children is one of the fastest growing markets, with Common Core and STEM driving the need for quality print and online material for ages one to ten. Learn how to write compelling nonfiction by considering structure, topic/angle, narrative techniques, language, research, and standards. What books are strong models? What print, electronic, and online markets may be available? During this one-day class, participants will come up with or further refine their nonfiction concept and leave with a plan for finishing it. 1 Saturday 1–3:30 p.m. Bethesda ALL

10/11 $50

Mysteries, Thrillers, and Suspense – Oh, my! Kathryn Johnson Novels, novellas, and short stories that tug at the curiosity of readers and keep us on the edge of our seats are not only among the most popular fiction genres today – they are also just plain fun to write. Discover easy and effective ways to develop stories with mystery elements and suspense, even if you think you aren’t good at plotting. Students will take away a work sheet that individualizes the process for each writer, as well as additional tools and tips for creating your own gripping tale. 1 Saturday 10 a.m.–12:30 p.m. Bethesda ALL

10/18 $50

Translation Studio Yvette Neisser Moreno This workshop is designed for creative writers who want to explore the art of literary translation. We will examine different translations of sample texts, discuss various theories/approaches to translation, and do in-class exercises; but class time will focus primarily on “workshopping” participants’ translations. As such, students should come to class with an idea of one or more short texts they would like to translate from any language/genre into English. (Translations in progress are also welcome.) Discover how the creative process of translation can enhance your skills as a writer and how your writing skills can enhance your translations. No class 11/12. 4 Wednesday 7–9:30 p.m. Bethesda ALL

10/22–11/19 $195

Writing From Life Ellen Herbert This workshop is dedicated to culling the stories you need to tell from the complicated tangle of memory. Participants will be encouraged to use literary techniques such as recreated dialogue, compression of time, and authenticity to write short personal narratives, which will be shared with the class. Also we will read and discuss the “Modern Love” essay from Sunday’s New York Times. 5 Wednesdays 10:30 a.m.–1 p.m. Bethesda B/I

10/22–11/19 $225

Write Like a Latina in Four Weeks Daisy Hernandez We’ll delve into the work of contemporary Latina/o writers and the craft techniques they use to create personal essays, stories, and novels. Focusing on familia as landscape, the use of objects in scenes, el famoso, so-called magical realism, and the movement between languages, we will engage in writing prompts that help us apply these techniques to our own writing. The class writing assignments are suited for both new and experienced writers and for those writing fiction, personal essays, or memoir. All the readings are in English. 4 Mondays 6–8 p.m. Online ALL

11/3–11/24 $135

How to Break into Travel Writing with a Story that Sells Christine Koubek

Make one of the most versatile literary tools your own in three stimulating hours. Together with instructor Sierra Prasada and like-minded peers, you’ll consider cross-genre examples of masterful metaphors and what they reveal about generating sticky ideas and finding the unity of theme, imagery, and language that give your work in progress coherence and power. Your own master metaphor will enable you to push past self-doubt and other obstacles, and you’ll go home ready to read and write in a fresh new way.

For anyone interested in learning the basics of travel-writing and writers looking to sharpen their skills, this workshop will help you experiment with various forms of travel writing, from news items to round-ups, reviews, and personal essays. We’ll begin by examining work in major newspaper and magazine travel sections, as well as travel publications and websites – all with an eye on each outlet’s specialized formats. Workshop participants will then craft at least one piece based on his or her particular geographic niche or interest. We will workshop those assignments and you’ll draft a query letter that best sells your story. No class 11/26.

1 Saturday Capitol Hill

4 Wednesdays 7–9:30 p.m. Bethesda B/I

Your Master Metaphor Sierra Prasada

2–5 p.m. ALL

10/18 $50

Workshop & Event Guide Fall 2014

11/5–12/3 $195

workshops

cussing your writing. We will explore protagonists, plot, conflict, action, humor, dialogue, villains, secondary characters, good beginnings, strong middles, and great endings. Writers, and soon-tobe writers, of all levels are welcome. Come to the first class with a copy of a book written for young readers that you wish you’d written and tell us what makes it a great read.

WORKSHOPS Break Through Writer’s Block Aaron Hamburger This two-session course will focus on getting students to generate as much raw material as possible, both for students who’ve been stuck in the middle of project as well as for students who have had trouble finding the spark to get started. In our first session, we’ll break through a few of the blocks that may have been damming up your creativity, and then do some in-class writing exercises to get your pens flowing or laptop keys clicking. The goal is for everyone to generate several pages of material they can continue to work on after class is over, as well as to come up with tactics they can use if they get stuck again in the future. 2 Thursdays 6:30–8:30 p.m. Bethesda ALL

11/6–11/13 $80

Getting Started: Creative Writing Patricia Gray

workshops

Before holiday madness sets in, why not take a personal breather? In just two Saturday afternoons, you can explore various forms of writing. Using tried and true exercises, we’ll circumvent the analytic brain and give imagination a chance to thrive. You will receive tips on how to free up experiences and use them as inspiration for memoir, fiction, poems, creative essays or journal-writing. Hallmarks of the workshop include in-class assignments, opportunity to read your writing aloud (but only if you choose), and positive, helpful feedback that will point the way toward each individual’s writing talents. Please bring digital or print writing implements to the first workshop meeting. 2 Saturdays Capitol Hill

1:30–4 p.m. B/I

11/8–11/15 $100

Scenes You Can’t Live Without Barbara Esstman and Khris Baxter Learn how to write the kind of effective scenes that are essential for any successful film, novel, memoir or short story. Screenwriter Khris Baxter and fiction writer Barbara Esstman offer a one-day workshop designed to show you the different kinds of scenes, when to use each one and how to construct each variety for maximum effect. Join us and become a more focused and efficient writer. 1 Saturday 10 a.m.–4 p.m. Bethesda ALL

11/8 $115

The Writing Staycation Zahara Heckscher This is a non-residential writing retreat – an intensive, supportive, focused week of writing. Gain tons of time for working on your own writing – whether it is poetry, a novel or nonfiction work in your brain, or a manuscript that needs some final polish. Writers of all levels are welcome. The workshop will meet each day of the week, including Veteran’s Day. 1 Mon-Fri 10 a.m.–5 p.m. Bethesda ALL

11/10–11/14 $575

Mythology for Writers III Carolyn Clark Our third level Mythology for Writers workshop explores additional purposeful uses of mythology

in modern communication. Special attention will be given to understanding sources (primary and secondary) for the transmission of myth and developing a critical eye for sources on the internet. Very useful for writers of all genres interested in honing their own work using mythological subtexts. 1 Sat-Sun 10 a.m.–4 p.m. Bethesda A

12/6–12/7 $215

The Writer’s Toolbox Sara Taber Writing is “a careful act of construction,” William Zinsser notes. “You must know what the essential tools are and what job they are designed to do.” This is a workshop for those who wish to sharpen the tools in their writer’s toolbox to create fine literary nonfiction. We examine published essays and memoirs and practice aspects of the writer’s craft such as: concrete detail, use of the senses, figurative language, characterization, dialogue and scene, summary and musing. Time for the sharing of work and a free-write are included in the meetings. No class 9/23 or 10/28. 9/9–11/11 $360

8 Essays/8 Memoirs/8 Weeks Sara Taber Sandwiches, Truth, The day you wanted to kick your brother . . . Come receive stimulating prompts each week – or come with your own idea. A short essay or memoir will be assigned for reading each week. Workshop time will be spent writing, sharing work (long-term or impromptu,) and discussing craft. By the end of eight weeks, eight pieces on their way to completion! No class 9/23 or 10/28. 8 Tuesdays 1–3:30 p.m. Bethesda ALL

the end of the workshop, you will have an idea developed, a notebook outlined, and the first chapter written of your great novel. 8 Tuesdays 7–9 p.m. Bethesda ALL

9/9–10/28 $290

My Life, One Story at a Time Pat McNees The goal in this workshop is to capture your life experiences in short personal writing for those who will survive you. Knowing that you are writing not for publication but to set the record straight may liberate you, allowing you to frankly explore your life choices and experiences.

Nonfiction

8 Tuesdays 7–9:30 p.m. Bethesda ALL

The Writer’s Center

9/9–11/11 $360

Survival Tips for Parents: The Less-Stress College Essay Sierra Prasada You can’t write your child’s college essay for them, but there are still plenty of legitimate ways to offer guidance and support – to both your teen and yourself. Join instructor Sierra Prasada for a frank discussion of the burden presented by secondhand stress, concrete advice on how you can help, and a few short, liberating writing exercises that will help you to find and hold your center in the midst of challenging circumstances. Sierra received early admission to Stanford University and graduated Phi Beta Kappa. She has a master’s degree in journalism from Northwestern University.

6 Wednesdays 7:15–9:45 p.m. Bethesda ALL

9/10–10/15 $270

Writing Memoir: Getting Started Marilyn Smith This course is designed for students interested in capturing their memories through writing. Through interactive in-class exercises and supportive small-group discussions, this 6-week workshop explores an element of memoir writing each session. These include character development; setting and scene; the five senses; dialogue; storyline; and shared feedback. Students will complete two short memoirs: one about a character or a place; and one about an experience. 6 Thursdays 10 a.m.–12 p.m. Bethesda B/I

9/11–10/16 $215

“Pay Attention, Be Amazed, Tell About It” – Writing Stories of Personal Discovery Maxine Clair Follow the quote from Mary Oliver in the workshop title, and capture pivotal moments in your life – moments of challenge, expansion or spiritual discovery which remain sacred to you. As you learn to unearth material from memory where fact and fiction collide, we will address basic elements of craft – scene, exposition, figurative language, dialogue. Each week we will read works by successful writers. Four-to-eight page pieces by participants will be the focus of each workshop session with a full revision of at least one piece. 8 Thursdays 7–9:30 p.m. Bethesda ALL

9/11–10/30 $360

Memoir Writing Workshop: 8 Weeks Dave Singleton

In this workshop we germinate our ideas that will develop into a novel. We will uncover our characters, develop a concept and run with it.

What’s your story? What are the tales that you’ve been dying to tell but haven’t had the time or structure to put pen to paper? Get started and write about your life in this hands-on, practical course in which you’ll write six pieces in eight weeks. Whether you have family stories you’d like to record for posterity or important moments of your life you want to capture, you’ll learn new strategies every week to help you write effectively about your life. The class will focus on exercises that will help you unlock memories and put your thoughts into a meaningful and organized form. Take advantage of practical tools and get supportive feedback from teacher and classmates.

We will use innovative methods that will feed the tiny spark of creation, as well as practical methods for organizing and creating a book of 300 pages. At

8 Tuesdays 7–9:30 p.m. Bethesda I/A

1 Tuesday 7–9:30 p.m. Bethesda ALL

9/9 $50

Write The Book Nani Power

View online at www.writer.org/guide

9/16–11/4 $360

WORKSHOPS Looking Back, Moving Forward: Writing The Tough Stuff

Jenny Rough Break into publications with a personal essay. This is a workshop-based intensive where you will receive feedback on your piece and have in-class writing time to work on revisions. By the end of the day, you will have a better understanding of the personal essay process, tools to help you fine-tune your essay, and ideas about where to submit your story for publication. Please bring a complete draft of an 800-word essay. 1 Friday 10 a.m.–5 p.m. Bethesda B/I

9/19 $135

Your Best Self on Paper: The College Application Essay Sierra Prasada This 3-hour afternoon workshop will help juniors and seniors in high school draft and develop a personal essay that showcases their strengths as writers and young adults. Teens will have the opportunity to generate or refine an essay topic, put down a first layer of words, get constructive feedback from peers and the instructor, and identify next steps as they move forward with their college applications. 1 Saturday 2–5 p.m. Bethesda ALL

9/20 $50

Creating Complex Characters Lynn Schwartz What do your characters yearn for? Examine how a character’s wants and desires drive key elements of story, including narrative, dialogue, conflict and plot. Short exercises and readings will illustrate ways to identify and depict a character’s passion, which is essential to creating a compelling person. Come to strengthen what is memorable about the people who populate your tales, or come ready to create a new character whose story commands attention. This workshop is appropriate for those working on a novel, short story or memoir. 1 Saturday 9:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m. 9/20 Annapolis ALL $50

How to Get Published Amy Abrams Learn insider tips for pitching and selling your articles to magazines, newspapers and websites from Amy Abrams, a former publishing executive, now a professional freelancer, with bylines in prestigious publications including The Wall Street Journal, Art in America and Village Voice Media. You’ll learn how to create innovative ideas, match them to the right publications, and write winning proposals. Give yourself an edge by knowing what goes on behind-the-scenes. 1 Saturday 10 a.m.–3 p.m. Bethesda ALL

10/4 $90

Literary Travel Writing C. M. Mayo Take your travel writing to another level: the literary, which is to say, giving the reader the novelistic experience of actually traveling there with you. For both beginning and advanced writers, this workshop covers the techniques from fiction and poetry that you can apply to this specialized form of creative nonfiction for deliciously vivid effects. 1 Saturday 10 a.m.–1 p.m. Bethesda ALL

10/11 $50

Jessica Handler A well-written memoir addressing grief, loss, or trauma proves to the writer that he or she has moved forward enough to look back. But how does a writer’s “back” shape his or her “forward?” If we intend to write well about what’s changed us, looking back on positive and negative experiences involves more than just capturing slippery memory on the page. Looking back creates forward motion in the story. In this workshop, participants will discuss examples from classic literature, and generate their own new material from writing prompts generated by the instructor and group discussion. Participants will leave this workshop with new tools to write well about difficult subjects. 1 Saturday 10 a.m.–2 p.m. Bethesda ALL

10/18 $80

Poetry Seeing Food, Work, War and Love: A Multicultural View of Poetry Maritza Rivera Food, work, war and love are experiences that affect our lives, language, relationships and culture and help create our poetic voices. Using poetry by Li-Young Lee, Rita Dove, Yusef Komunyakaa, Martín Espada, Richard Blanco, Philip Levine, Grace Cavalieri, Lesléa Newman, Lucille Clifton and others, each class will focus on an aspect of life seen from different perspectives in order to inspire participants to write about and share their cultural roots. 4 Saturdays 1–3 p.m. Bethesda ALL

9/6–9/27 $135

4 Saturday 1–3 p.m. Bethesda ALL

11/8–11/29 $135

Collaborating with the Dead: Creative Writing

Life Stories Intensive Lynn Schwartz Whether you want to write a memoir, blog, college essay, letter to your granddaughter, or use your own life as the basis for fiction, life story writing requires that we tell where we come from and who we are. Learn to identify your story’s core and to engage the reader through fictional techniques. Participants will leave inspired to begin or improve a work-in-progress. 1 Saturday 9:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m. 10/25 Annapolis ALL $50

A House Made of Memory: Constructing Memoir with Scene, Summary and Musing Janice Gary

David Keplinger In this advanced workshop, back after popular demand, poet David Keplinger leads weekly discussions on the persona poem – poems written from an alternate point of view – and the ways such work can call up for writers an as yet unrealized subject matter and sense of wonder. Students will write seven pieces, each week bringing a poem to the table that will be workshopped by the group that evening. Cap on course: 11 students. 8 Mondays 7–9 p.m. Bethesda Master

9/8–10/27 $360

The Poem Starts Here! Marie Pavlicek-Wehrli

Transform personal experience into compelling literature by mastering the elements of scene, summary and musing. In this half-day session, you will discover how to move seamlessly between the lived life on the page and the reflected life, creating a memoir that is both memorable and insightful. Bring a piece you would like to work on or just a pen and paper and be ready to discover how to build a solid foundation for writing life story.

Honoring William Stafford’s dictum: “Writer’s block? Lower your standards!”, in this workshop we’ll put together a toolbox of exercises and strategies for jumping into the poem’s first draft without hesitancy or over-thinking. Revising these drafts toward finished poems to be shared in workshop will open up discussion on matters of craft and the often mysterious and unpredictable ways that language itself works to lead the making of the poem forward.

1 Sunday 1–4 p.m. Annapolis ALL

8 Tuesdays 10:30 a.m.–1 p.m. Bethesda I

11/8 $50

9/9–10/28 $360

Poetry as Story: Writing the Narrative Poem

Creative Nonfiction II Dave Singleton Get creative this fall with creative nonfiction! Creative nonfiction is writing about real events and telling a story. It’s a hybrid genre that pulls in elements of fiction (literary techniques), the writer’s perspective, and factual information. it allows you to be poetic and journalistic simultaneously.

Sue Ellen Thompson

You’ll get plenty of personal attention as you work on assignments such as profiles, topical columns, and short and long form personal essays. The class will read and discuss pieces by some of the greats. Writers will prepare five finished pieces for constructive critique from teacher and class.

There’s more to writing a good narrative poem than telling a story in lines rather than paragraphs. In this workshop we will examine the distinction between lyric and narrative poetry and look at some contemporary narrative poems to see what makes them succeed or flounder. We’ll draft a brief narrative in prose and then turn it into a poem, paying particular attention to the techniques that good poets use to lift their words above the level of simple, straightforward storytelling.

6 Tuesdays 7–9:30 p.m. Bethesda I

1 Saturday 1–4 p.m. Annapolis ALL

11/11–12/16 $270

Workshop & Event Guide Fall 2014

9/13 $50

workshops

Personal Essay Workshop

WORKSHOPS Pop Poetry: from Andy Warhol to Britney Spears

can create as poets. Bring to the first meeting a poem or something else you’ve written with which to introduce yourself. No class 10/16 & 10/23.

D. Gilson This workshop, Pop! Poetry: from Andy Warhol to Britney Spears, explores how poetry can interact with the world of pop culture. From music to movies, advertisements to tabloids, participants mine the fields of popular media to forge a new art, a poetry true to both their own experience and that of the world around them. Thematically, the course is divided into weeks devoted to cultural ownership, music, film, television, journalism, visual art, and Americana. These themes not only reinforce poetic forms and techniques, but also enable students to implement what they learn in their own writing. 5 Wednesdays 6:30–9 p.m. Bethesda ALL

9/17–10/15 $225

The Force of Poetry

6 Thursdays 7–9:30 p.m. Bethesda B

10/2–11/20 $270

Why Write in Forms – and How? Claudia Gary An author of award-winning and anthologized sonnets, villanelles, and free verse will show how form can unlock deeper meaning and enhance everything you write. We’ll read and discuss famous villanelles and sonnets, try our hand at writing one or more of each, and see how they can be improved by revision. We may also try other forms if there is time and interest. 4 Thursdays 1–3:30 p.m. Bethesda ALL

10/2–10/23 $195

workshops

Elizabeth Rees

Making It Whole: Poetry Chapbook

In this 8-week workshop, intermediate and advanced students will explore those moments when a poem catches its own voice – through stylistic choices and formal considerations. While workshopping participants’ new poems will be the heart of each class, there will also be time for a brief discussion of contemporary poems and an in-class writing prompt. Specific exercises will be given to free the imagination, and quiet the inner censor. By the end of the class, students will have produced seven original poems and one revision, and will have refined their poetic voice. Please bring 15 copies of a poem you love (not your own) to the first session, as well as 15 copies of one of your own. No class 9/25.

Anne Becker

8 Thursdays 7–9:30 p.m. Bethesda I/A

9/18–11/13 $360

Poetry II

7 Saturdays 10 a.m.–1 p.m. Bethesda A

10/4–11/15 $360

Online Poetry Workshop I

Nan Fry In this six-week workshop, participants will explore some of the key elements of poetry – imagery, metaphor, sound, rhythm, tone, and voice. We’ll investigate how these elements work together and will read and discuss some classic and contemporary poems to see what is effective and why. Through in-class exercises and at-home assignments, students will experiment with these components in their own work and can expect to create several drafts and perhaps a couple of finished poems. 6 Tuesdays 10:30 a.m.–1 p.m. Bethesda I

In this 7-week intensive workshop for students who are ready to put together a chapbook (must have 30 pages of strong poetry), we’ll explore how groups of poems can work together to create a focused and whole experience. During the first six weeks, students read model chapbooks and consider various strategies of organization, prepare their chapbook manuscripts, have them critiqued by the group and in turn critique the chapbooks of the other participants, revise their chapbooks and have the final draft critiqued. The 7th meeting consists of an hour-long private session with the instructor. No class 10/18. Please submit five poems by Sept. 15 to laura.spencer@writer.org.

9/23–10/28 $270

Opening the Field: Introduction to Poetry

Bernadette Geyer Don’t just sit around waiting for the muse. For four weeks, this workshop will provide inspiration for generating new poems. Lessons will be posted weekly, featuring example poems and links to additional reading. Participants will share and comment on each other’s work and will receive individual feedback from the workshop leader. 4 Mondays N/A Online ALL

10/6–10/27 $195

Using Music and Sound Elements in Poetry Claudia Gary

Anne Becker Explore the field of poetry from its most basic elements – words, silence, image, music, story, structure – to discover the subtle ways it transforms our lives. Starting with the question “what sensations does the poem bring up in you?” in each meeting we’ll read and discuss model poems, and experiment with various techniques and strategies. At the following meeting we’ll bring our own poems, which will be examined with the same respect and depth as the models. By the end of the workshop participants will have completed five poems and gained an understanding of what sensations they

A number of early words for “poem” and “poet” were interchangeable with words for “song” and “singer.” If a song elicits both emotion and thought, so can a poem that contains musical elements – rhyme, meter, and other devices that echo or emphasize the sound of a line. The instructor, who is both an internationally published poet and a composer of commissioned chamber music and songs, will present auditory examples in poetry and music, guide writing exercises, discuss participants’ poems, and more. 1 Saturday 1–5 p.m. McLean ALL

10/11 $80

The Writer’s Center From Working Draft to Final Copy Naomi Ayala Much as our writing style and the architecture of our poems are informed by what we read, so are our skills as line and copy editors informed by our efforts to help shape work outside of our own. It widens our field of vision and hones our editing skills. This advanced workshop opens with strategies for building revision into your writing practice and approaching working drafts to bring them to final form. No class 11/5. 6 Wednesdays 7–9 p.m. Bethesda A/M

10/15–11/19 $215

Prosody: An Introduction Sue Ellen Thompson Why do so many poems being written today sound ‘flat’ and prose-like? A familiarity with prosody – the study of the patterns of rhythm and sound in poetry – is essential if you want to make your poems sound more musical. In this class we will review the basics of meter and scansion and learn how to discover and develop rhythmic patterns that can then be used to underscore meaning and emotion, even in free verse poems. No need to bring a poem with you, but be prepared to use what you’ve learned and draft a metrical, unrhymed poem. 1 Sunday 1–5 p.m. Bethesda ALL

10/19 $80

The Poetry Game Zahara Heckscher The Poetry Game is an interactive game that makes it easy and fun to write a poem, whether you are an experienced poet seeking a new technique to generate poetry. . . or you haven’t written a poem in decades! The focus is on creativity; sharing is optional and we will not critique or judge the poems that are read. The game involves a wide variety of prompts, a supportive and encouraging environment, and an attitude of warmth, fun, and poetic camaraderie. 1 Thursday 7–9 p.m. Bethesda ALL

10/23 $40

How to Get Your Poetry Published Michele Wolf Whether you have yet to submit your first poem to a literary journal or are ready to offer a publisher a book-length manuscript, this intensive one-day workshop will give you advice on how to succeed, tailored to your work’s strengths. Get tips on placing poems in print and online journals, why anthologies are such an appealing platform, how to publish chapbooks and books, the pros and cons of contests, the etiquette of poetry submission, how to develop your poetry network, and how to keep your morale high while facing rejection in a highly competitive field. Magazine handouts will be provided. 1 Saturday 3–6 p.m. Bethesda ALL

11/1 $50

Online Poetry Workshop II Bernadette Geyer With the same structure as Online Poetry Workshop I, this workshop will provide different topics for generating new poems. Lessons will be posted weekly, featuring example poems and links to additional reading. Participants will share and comment on each

View online at www.writer.org/guide

WORKSHOPS

4 Mondays N/A Online ALL

11/3–11/24 $195

Poetry Primer Ellen Cole A workshop for beginning poets and those who wants to revisit the basics. How is poetry different from prose? We’ll discuss – rhythm, language, form, images, and meaning. The instructor will give writing prompts, and we’ll gently workshop poems. Bring a published poem you admire, and if you wish, a poem you’ve written, to the first class. 4 Tuesdays 7:30–10:00 p.m. Bethesda B/I

11/4–11/25 $135

Poetry I D. Gilson This Poetry I workshop will cover the basics of contemporary American poetics. We will scour literary journals to get a sense of what is being written now and how, and further, how we might write publishable poems. 4 Wednesdays 6:30–8:30 p.m. Bethesda B/I

11/5–11/26 $135

Imagination in the Americas: Six Modern and Contemporary Poets Nan Fry In this six-week workshop, we’ll investigate how Whitman pioneered one strand of modern American poetry. We’ll also read poems by five of his successors: Pablo Neruda, Allen Ginsburg, Nancy Willard, Ellen Bass, and Richard Blanco. Participants will examine a few of their strategies such as catalogues, litanies, chants, and odes, and experiment with some of these techniques through in-class exercises and at-home writing assignments. By the end of the workshop, participants can expect to have generated several poems of their own and to have a greater appreciation of Whitman’s impact on modern and contemporary poetry. 6 Saturdays 10:30 a.m.–1 p.m. Bethesda I/A

11/8–12/13 $270

Using Music and Sound in Poetry Claudia Gary A number of early words for “poem” and “poet” were interchangeable with words for “song” and “singer.” If a song elicits both emotion and thought, so can a poem that contains musical elements – rhyme, meter, and other devices that echo or emphasize the sound of a line. The instructor, who is both an internationally published poet and a composer of commissioned chamber music and songs, will present auditory examples in poetry and music, guide writing exercises, discuss participants’ poems, and more. 1 Saturday 1–5 p.m. Bethesda ALL

11/8 $80

The Poetry Game: Peace Version

generate poetry. . . or you haven’t written a poem in decades! The Peace Version involves weaving Yiddish and Arabic words into poems written in English. No prior knowledge of Arabic or Yiddish is required; you’ll learn various resonant words during the workshop. The focus is on creativity; sharing is optional and we will not critique or judge the poems that are read. The game involves a wide variety of prompts, a supportive and encouraging environment, and an attitude of warmth, fun, and poetic camaraderie. 1 Thursday 6–8 p.m. Bethesda ALL

11/13 $40

Adventures in Syntax How poets handle syntax – the arrangement of words in a sentence – is crucial to everything from establishing the voice of a poem to evoking a particular response from the reader. In this workshop, we will take a close look at how sentences are put together and how changing their structure can send a poem off in a new direction. We will also examine the relationship between the sentence and the line and how to control the tension between them. 11/15 $50

Turning Points: The Role of the Volta in Poetry Sue Ellen Thompson Although we associate the term “volta” with the traditional sonnet form, it has been used with great success by many contemporary poets. Marking a shift in the poem’s tone, subject, or logic, the volta has been compared to a change of key in music. In this workshop, we will explore how turning your attention in a new direction can open up a poem, allowing it to leap to another level of significance or meaning. 1 Sunday 1–4 p.m. Bethesda ALL

1 Saturday 2–4:30 p.m. Bethesda ALL

9/13 $50

How to Publish Every Day Sierra Prasada

Sue Ellen Thompson

1 Saturday 1–4 p.m. Annapolis ALL

tears – writing a dynamite novel. Don’t simply spend five minutes slapping together a weak query letter; you owe it to yourself to write a great one that will break through the slush-clutter at top literary agencies. In this workshop, you’ll learn how to entice your dream agent into reading your masterpiece by writing a tight query that really sings (while avoiding those pitfalls that will land your query in the trash). Bring four copies of a draft query and a red pen with lots of ink!

12/7 $50

Professional Writing Establishing Your Online Presence Bernadette Geyer Afraid to dive into the waters of social media for fear of getting all wet? This workshop provides an overview of the ways creative writers can use the internet and social media to their advantage when cultivating a market for their work (e.g., website, blog, Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, etc.). Materials will be distributed weekly for the first three weeks. In week four, students will post links to what they have set up over the course of the workshop so that they may receive feedback from fellow participants and the instructor. 4 Mondays N/A Online ALL

9/8–9/29 $195

4 Mondays N/A Online ALL

10/6–10/27 $195

Zahara Heckscher

Writing the Dreaded Query Letter

The Poetry Game is an interactive game that makes it easy and fun to write a poem, whether you are an experienced poet seeking a new technique to

You’ve spent months (or years) of your life – not to mention copious amounts of blood, sweat, and

Alan Orloff

Workshop & Event Guide Fall 2014

In this supportive online course you’ll begin or develop your blog, whether it’s a labor of love or a professional venture. The encouragement and constructive feedback of your instructor and peers will help you to choose a “beat” or theme; generate specific posts; find peace of mind and accountability by drawing up a schedule that works for you; make the best use of your inner editor; draw inspiration from multimedia; and build community by exploring opportunities to guest post and branch out into social media (Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook). Writing with publication in mind will transform your work and help you to build the confidence you need to succeed online. Note: This is a not a web design course. 6 Thursdays N/A Online ALL

9/18–10/23 $270

Moving Beyond24 Picture Books Andra Abramson If you only think of picture books when you think of writing for children, you are missing out on a world of writing opportunities. Publishers only publish a few picture books a year, but they are actively searching for authors able to craft well written and age appropriate nonfiction books, easy-to-read stories, rebus stories, crafts, and so much more. In this 6-week workshop, you will have the opportunity to explore different genres within the children’s book and magazine market, get inside advice and tips on how to prepare your stories for publication, and explore different avenues that might lead to publication. 6 Thursdays 7:15–8:15 p.m. Bethesda B/I

10/9–11/13 $115

The Self-Publication Experiment Kathryn Johnson There has been so much hype about the pros and cons of self-published books (also called, independently published) in recent years that both new and experienced authors find it confusing. Instructor Kathryn Johnson, although traditionally published for over 20 years, has also gone the small-press route and recently decided to self-publish a new fiction series in 2014 to help her answer these questions for her students as well as for herself. By December, two of the novels in the Affairs of State series will have been launched and the results will be in. During this Saturday session over coffee and pastries, Kathryn will share with students the results of her experiment as well as answer questions on the process and practicality of economically producing paper, digital, and audio books. 1 Saturday 10 a.m.–12:30 p.m. Bethesda I/A

12/6 $50

workshops

other’s work and will receive individual feedback from the workshop leader. Completion of Online Poetry Workshop I is NOT required for this course.

WORKSHOPS Stage and Screen

Screenwriting: Character Arc and Dialogue

Screenwriting I

Monica Lee Bellais

Monica Lee Bellais Intensive screenwriting workshop for all levels will focus on writing action based movies. Washington, D.C. is a unique place where people have incredible global experiences that translate into a blockbuster concept. Get that amazing political thriller, spy, espionage, humanitarian, military and/or war movie out of your mind and into a marketable screenplay. Students will learn the essential development skills needed to write an amazing movie that will grab the attention of Hollywood producers. 4 Tuesdays 6:30–9:30 p.m. Bethesda B

workshops

Characters set in motion a series of events and actions that become the engine of your play. In this workshop we will also look at strategies for exploring and developing characters in the early stages of writing your play and discuss ways to assess the potential of the characters to drive action in your story. In addition, in order to better understand the instrument we are writing for, we will also look at character through the eyes of actors and directors seeking to interpret and portray a character to see how this informs our process of creating developing characters. 9/11 $50

This workshop is intended for anyone looking to sharpen his or her playwriting skills in a workshop setting where we will review the basic elements of playwriting in the context of writing and reading plays. We will use exercises to jump-start the imagination, consider various approaches to playwriting and the writing process, and define a feedback method designed to facilitate continued discovery through writing. By workshop end, the goal is to empower writers with sufficient understanding of their process so as to be able to continue forward completing a first draft. 8 Saturday 10 a.m.–12:30 p.m. Bethesda I

10/4–11/22 $360

Building a Blockbuster: Screenwriting II Monica Lee Bellais

Playwriting: Dialogue Richard Washer Among the tools available to the playwright dialogue is the most obvious and possibly least understood element of craft. In this session we will identify some of the many uses of dialogue and discuss how the writer uses this tool to explore, discover and build a play. We will also discuss how actors and other theatre artists approach the play on the page and consider how this can inform us in the way that we approach using dialogue. Although my focus in this session will be on playwriting, writers of all genres are welcome. 9/18 $50

Intensive screenwriting workshop for all levels will focus on writing action based movies. Washington, D.C. is a unique place where people have incredible global experiences that translate into a blockbuster concept. Get that amazing political thriller, spy, espionage, humanitarian, military and/or war movie out of your mind and into a marketable screenplay. Students will learn the essential development skills needed to write an amazing movie that will grab the attention of Hollywood producers. 4 Tuesdays 6:30–9:30 p.m. Bethesda I/A

10/7–10/28 $215

Food Writing: Senses and Stories* Claudia Kousoulas

The Business of Screenwriting Khris Baxter Let’s say you’ve written the Great American Screenplay . . . Now what? This workshop will introduce the beginning through advanced screenwriter to strategies for promoting and marketing your screenplay, and advancing your career as a screenwriter. Topics covered: writing a compelling log line & synopsis, finding an agent or manager, working with an entertainment lawyer, social media & networking for screenwriters, pitching, and strategies for rising above the noise and getting noticed. 1 Saturday 10 a.m.–4 p.m. Bethesda ALL

10/4 $100

Richard Washer

1 Thursday 7:30–10 p.m. Bethesda B

1 Saturday 10 a.m.–4 p.m. Bethesda ALL

Playwriting II

9/9–9/30 $215

Playwriting: Character

1 Thursday 7:30–10 p.m. Bethesda B

The focus of this workshop will be on character arc. The character’s goals are a critical element in storytelling. Learn the craft of writing powerful dialogue without exposition. Discover the process vital to getting a screenplay though the Hollywood development pipeline. Students will learn to craft a screenplay that is entertaining, as well as, hook a reader by strong, interesting characters that actors want to play and audiences want to watch.

Food writing, like cooking, requires both creativity and precision. In quick exercises, a market visit, and hands-on eating and writing, we’ll use food as a framework to explore personal and universal stories. Students will be encouraged to be sense-aware and practice precise detail in writing vignettes and recipes. *A collaboration with the Bethesda Farm Women’s Market. 1 Sunday 10 a.m.–3 p.m. Bethesda B/I

10/12 $100

Songwriting 101 Cathy Fink Good songwriting combines skill, practice, tools and of course, courting the muse. We will dissect the elements of “perfect” songs, learn techniques

9/20 $100

The Writer’s Center for opening the creative channels and skills to write songs. The curriculum includes building a songwriter’s vocabulary, writing devices, warm up and practice techniques, self-editing and using others as editors. We won’t forget the music & melody! No Class 11/17. 6 Mondays 6–7:30 p.m. Bethesda B

10/13–11/24 $195

Songwriting Bootcamp Cathy Fink You write songs and you want to write better songs. At the intersection of art & play, you will experience ways to think out of the box, cut through writer’s block, edit, listen, and create an ongoing writing practice that continues to upgrade your songwriting skills. On the first day of class, bring in a song to share-preferably one that you feel could be better with additional work. No class 11/17. 6 Mondays 7:45–9:15 p.m. Bethesda I/A

10/13–11/24 $195

The Art & Craft of Screenwriting Khris Baxter This comprehensive workshop will introduce the beginning or intermediate screenwriter to the tools and skills needed to begin writing a featurelength screenplay: shaping the story, structure, plot, character development, writing the dramatic scene, and dialogue. In addition, we’ll discuss aspects of the “Business of Screenwriting.” Participants should arrive with a short synopsis (no more than a page) for a screenplay idea they’d like to develop. 1 Saturday Glen Echo

10 a.m.–4 p.m. ALL

10/18 $100

Screenwriting II: Marketing Your Screenplay Monica Lee Bellais Intensive screenwriting dialogue workshop for all levels will focus on what is hot in today’s marketplace and how to grab the attention of a producer as well as getting talented interested in your project. It doesn’t matter which genre you’re interested in writing the same rules apply. The script has to be strong, hook the reader, and it must be able to withstand the pitch. Students will gain an understanding from story development, to writing a screenplay to the one-sheet and pitch of how to land the interest of feature film producers. 4 Tuesdays 6:30–9:30 p.m. Bethesda I/A

11/4–11/25 $215

Screenwriting II/III Monica Lee Bellais The focus will be on character arc through dialogue. The character’s goals are critical in storytelling. Learn the craft of writing powerful dialogue without exposition. Discover the process vital to getting a screenplay though the Hollywood development pipeline. Students will learn the craft of a screenplay that is entertaining, as well as, hook a reader by strong, interesting characters that actors want to play and audiences want to watch. 4 Tuesdays 6:30–9:30 p.m. Bethesda I/A

View online at www.writer.org/guide

12/7–12/28 $215

BOOK TALK Nothing Left to Wish For

Callaloo: A Jazz Folktale

Andrew G. Schneider

Marjuan Canady

The Light in Your Pocket: Illuminate Your Life in 140-Characters or Less

ISBN: 9781311368904

ISBN: 9780615951584

Judy M. Ford

Esme, a swashbuckling sky pirate, sets out across the Endless Desert on a voyage full of bitter heartbreak, reconciliation, and unexpected self-discovery after she befriends Prince Sasha and his genie, Sting. Available in all ebook formats. AndrewGSchneider.com

Callaloo: A Jazz Folktale follows Winston, a young inner city boy who goes to Brooklyn, NY to get ingredients for his Aunt’s callaloo dinner when he is magically transported to the Caribbean island of Tobago. On the island, he encounters the mythical folkloric characters that roam the island. Winston’s fears and fantasies fuse together as the reality of his situation becomes dire. He must find his way out of this haunting paradise or risk being lost forever. For children of all ages. CallalooTheBook.com

OK Now What? A Caregiver’s Guide to What Matters Sue Collins, RN and Nancy Taylor Robson ISBN: 978-1939632012

This work of short fiction culminates a period in my life following the death of my father, the loss of my mother, the end of my marriage, the death of my two best friends going back to my early childhood, my struggle with alcoholism, manic depression and an endless feeling of being alone. As I completed these coming of age stories, an advisor suggested the title Manhood: Myth and Mystery was very fitting to convey the mysteries of growing up and the myths we concoct to explain it. These stories represent the struggles of trying to understand the world around me, what was happening to my father, what was happening to me, survival, my life and the expectations that come with it. It is the Myth and Mystery of one man's story and every man's journey.

Manhood: Myth and Mystery Michael Purcell ISBN: 978-3-659-50237-8

Manhood is a personal collection of short stories chronicling my father’s alcoholic backsliding when I was fifteen (Daddy Drunk) to a futuristic story of love and death involving old and stubborn lovers (Incunabulum). Manhood is a private journey that all men face. Michael Purcell

Manhood: Myth and Mystery

Michael Purcell

I obtained my MFA in Creative Writing at The American University in Washington, DC in December of 2010. Trained originally as an architect I find that my creative writing skills inform my technical writing as well. I have written seven novels and published three. Acappella Blue (2002) by Raymond Michaels Honor's Veil (2012) Masquerade (2014)

Purcell

978-3-659-50237-8

The Second Key

Lucid Waking

Cheryl Holdefer

David B Churchill

ISBN: 978-0615975603

ISBN: 978-0-9753095-0-6

Just as Rachel Matthews rebuilds her life following her husband’s tragic death, she finds a safe deposit key unlocking a secret that changes everything. Holdefer’s latest novel reminds us that hidden truths are everywhere; what we do with the discovery defines who we really are and how we will live our lives. (Five stars from Red City Reviews) CherylHoldefer.com

While social media allows us to communicate and move through our lives with lightening speed, life coach Judy M. Ford uses it to encourage each of us to pause, slow down and balance our movements with the power and light of our being. In this collection of ‘illuminations,’ inspirational and motivational quotes are presented to take the reader on an inner journey of discovery – that, in fact, the light in your pocket…is you! SunriseConsultingCo.com Jellyfish Have Eyes

MANHOOD

According to Ram Dass, “We are all walking each other home.” OK Now What? A Caregiver’s Guide to What Matters by Sue Collins, RN and Nancy Taylor Robson, author of three other books, accompanies readers on that journey with practical advice, stories, tips, sources and more. “Highly recommended.” Stephen and Ondrea Levine, authors of Becoming Kuan Yin: The Evolution of Compassion. OkNowWhat.com

ISBN: 978-1492754046

Historic first collection of non-academic, non-M.F.A. poetry in the “Poetry is Mindfulness” movement. Includes the essay, “An Introduction to Poetry.” Especially recommended for aspiring or established poets searching for ways to make their work relevant in today’s fast-paced world. Not available as an e-book. Available on Amazon.com or on order from your local bookseller. Workshop & Event Guide Fall 2014

Joram Piatigorsky

Jellyfish Have Eyes is a novel by award-winning scientific researcher Joram Piatigorsky who has trained a generation of scientists in eye research. Piatigorsky’s scientific knowledge and story-telling imagination delves into the conflicts and ensuing difficulties of a creative basic scientist in a society insisting on goal-oriented medical research. This character-driven novel has unexpected twists revealing the importance of chance and societal pressures in shaping destiny. Jellyfish Have Eyes is written for a diverse audience concerned with creativity, moral responsibility, and those simply wanting a good and thoughtful read. Will Shakespeare and the Ships of Solomon Christopher Grey (Mark Havenner) ISBN-13: 978-0983964193

In the fall of 1947, Will Shakespeare saw the world collapse around him. Shakespeare, a secret soldier for the Knights Templar, barely escapes

BOOK TALK the slaughter of his entire knighthood at the hands of a rogue militant arm of the Vatican in a small Montreal church. With orders to escort Templar business associate Dorothy Wilkinson back to her home in Bermuda, Will must locate and rescue the most important secret treasure in human history before it is devoured by a hurricane in the watery caves beneath her father’s property. The spiraling quest sends Will and Dorothy into uncovering dark secrets that make up the origins of the knighthood as they confront the traps and puzzles that masterfully protect the world’s most coveted treasure. Apple Days: A Rosh Hashanah Story Allison Soffer ISBN - 978-1-4677-1203-3

Apple Days tells the story of Katy and her mother who look forward to making applesauce each year - a beloved tradition. When their plans change unexpectedly, Katy’s friends, adults and children alike, take the matter into their own hands, teaching Katy about the power of the community that surrounds her. “Upbeat and deeply empathic prose.” - Publisher’s Weekly “An extremely moving tale.” - Kirkus Review www.allisonsoffer.com Mnemosyne: The Long Traverse Carolyn Clark ISBN 978-1-62229-514-2

The collection represents a “long traverse,” from the poet’s youth to the present, covering a span of 30 years and first invoking Mnemosyne, Memory, the mother of the Muses. Lyrical and observant, these poems bring together strands of myth, natural world, family, friendship, collective and personal memory to create a new and illuminating weave. Dark reflections alternate with poignant and hopeful poems (“Nature

The Writer’s Center

is always offering a new weave for the wavering soul/ Some fresh foothold for the onward climb”). An evocative traverse of the young, the old, the ancient.

and prominent persons. Sixth edition updated 37 pages from the 2003 fifth edition (first edition was 1995).

Curtain Calls, a Collection of Short Stories

Saving Ted Williams: Tales of Mystery, Intrigue, and Redemption

Barbara Mathias-Riegel

by Richard C. Jaffeson, AICP

ISBN: 978-1490320267

ISBN 978-1-4134-8950-7

The twelve stories in Curtain Calls explore love, loss, aloneness and selfdiscovery as told from the view of the very young to the young at heart. Awardwinning writer, Barbara Mathias-Riegel, reveals complicated family dynamics in her heart-tugging tales, written with redeeming touches of humor and empathy. www.barbaramathiasriegel.com Innocent: Confessions of a Welfare Mother Barbara Morrison ISBN: 978-1-934074-65-7

In this award-winning memoir, Morrison describes her plunge into poverty when she was abandoned by her husband and disowned by her family. Only 24, the single mother turned to welfare to survive. Part coming-of-age story and part immersion in a foreign culture, this book puts a human face on poverty. www.bmorrison.com Silver Spring Success: The 300 Year History of Silver Spring, Maryland Richard C. Jaffeson, AICP ISBN 978-1-4010-9298-6

Learn about the progressive 300 year history of Silver Spring, Maryland, from colonial land grants to discovery of the spring, and suburban growth to more recent urban development. Forty chapters describe significant events View online at www.writer.org/guide

After Ted Williams’ passing in July 2002, this American sports icon was subjected to cryonics glaciation and decapitation arguable not in accordance with his 1996 legal testament. In parody format consisting of sixteen script stories, this book with a touch of humor addresses the occurrence of his unrequested and unresolved disposition. My Recollections of Maximilian Marie de la Fère Edited and introduced by C.M. Mayo

A free PDF download ebook from Dancing Chiva, this previously very rare English language eyewitness memoir of 1860s Mexico has been published by permission of the Bancroft Library, UC Berkeley. DancingChiva.com Miraculous Air: Journey of a Thousand Miles through Baja California, the Other Mexico C.M. Mayo ISBN: 978-1571313041

Of Miraculous Air, Library Journal wrote, “With elegant prose and an artist’s eye for detail, C.M. Mayo may just have written one of the best books ever about Baja California. Highly recommended.” In paperback from Milkweed Editions and now in Kindle. CMMayo.com

WORKSHOP LEADERS

Andra Serlin Abramson has been a children’s book editor for more than 15 years, working at publishing houses including HarperCollins Children’s Books, Dial Books for Young Readers, and Running Press Kids. She has edited books for all ages, including board books, picture books, middle grade novels, and a New York Times Best Selling Young Adult novel. She is also the author of more than two dozen books for young readers, including the “Kids Meet” series published by Applesauce Press. Amin Ahamd recently moved to the D.C. area after many years in Boston. He has studied fiction at Grub Street, The New School, and New York University. His short stories have been published in Narrative, Harvard Review, The Missouri Review, and New England Review. He is particularly interested in genre fiction. His first novel, The Caretaker, was published in 2013, followed by Bollywood Taxi a year later. NAOMI AYALA is the author of three books of poetry – Wild Animals on the Moon, This Side of Early, and Calling Home: Praise Songs and Incantations. She is the translator of Luis Alberto Ambroggio’s book The Wind’s Archeology/La arqueología del viento, winner of the 2013 International Latino Book Award for Best Nonfiction Book Translation. Khris Baxter is a screenwriter, producer, and the president of Boundary Stone Films. Baxter teaches screenwriting at The LowResidency MFA at Queens University in Charlotte, NC, and at American University. He is a member of the Virginia Film Office where he is a judge for the annual Virginia Screenwriting Competition. Jim Beane is a short story writer whose stories have appeared in a number of literary journals and the anthology DC Noir. He has received a 2014 Pushcart Prize nomination and several fellowships at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. His collection Maris

Stella and other stories is seeking publication and he is hard at work on his next collection and his first novel. Anne Becker, author of The Transmutation Notebooks: Poems in the Voices of Charles and Emma Darwin, and The Good Body (chapbook), has presented programs at Johns Hopkins, University of Connecticut, Folger Library, Smithsonian’s Natural History Museum. Poet laureate emerita of Takoma Park, she is now poet-inresidence at Pyramid Atlantic Arts Center. Monica Lee Bellais is the screenwriter/ producer of Ocotillo, developed with Michael Uslan, the Executive Producer of The Dark Knight and the entire Batman franchise. She is the co-producer/co-writer of Yellow Footprints with Nick Dash. Monica has worked in production at James Cameron’s Lightstorm Entertainment, DreamWorks, Warner Bros. Records, Smithsonian Networks, Discovery Communications, Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), and TeleProductions International (TPI). She holds a BIS in Journalism and Mass Communications from New Mexico State University. Jennifer Buxton has an MFA in fiction from the University of Virginia. Her fiction has appeared in Epoch, Puerto del Sol, and Blue Penny Quarterly, among other places. She has published nonfiction in periodicals such as Seventeen and Scholastic magazines. Her freelance work includes food writing, training materials, and marketing copy. She has taught reading and writing in a variety of venues, including the University of Virginia, the Young Writers Workshop, and at regional high schools. Nancy Naomi Carlson is a winner of grants from the NEA, the Maryland Arts Council, and the Arts & Humanities Council of Montgomery County. Author of three prizewinning titles, as well as the critically acclaimed Stone Lyre: Poems of René Char, she is an associate editor for Tupelo Press. Mary Carpenter leads writing workshops in the Washington DC area. She has written books for young adults about Temple Grandin, and dolphins lost in Hurricane Katrina. Her essays have been published in The Washington Post and literary journals, and she reported on medicine for TIME and other publications. Maxine Clair has taught creative writing for over 20 years, principally at The George Washington University. Her books include the poetry collection, Coping With Gravity, the story collection, Rattlebone, and the novel, October Suite. Her memoir, Imagine This is Workshop & Event Guide Fall 2014

forthcoming in November, 2014. She lives in Washington, DC. Carolyn Clark, Ph.D. is the author of numerous articles and most recently a poetry chapbook Mnemosyne: The Long Traverse (Finishing Line Press, 2013). She studied at Cornell, Brown and JHU prior to teaching world languages and writing. Brenda W. Clough has been publishing SF and Fantasy since 1984. She writes novels, short stories, and nonfiction, and was a finalist for both the Hugo and the Nebula awards. Ellen Aronofsky Cole is a poet, actress, and teaching artist. Publications include her chapbook, Prognosis, and poems in Pulse: Voices from the Heart of Medicine, District Lines, Little Patuxent Review, TheWashington Post, Potomac Review, Innisfree Poetry Journal, Paper Kite Press’s anthology, Bogg: A Journal of Contemporary Writing. Mark Cugini, M.F.A., received a master’s of fine arts from American University. He is the authof of the chapbook I’m Just Happy To Be Here (Ink Press 2014). In 2011, he was a recipient of a Scholarship Grant to the Juniper Summer Writing Institute at University of Massachusetts Amherst. He is a founding editor of Big Lucks, a regular contributor to HTMLGiant, and a curator of the Three Tents Reading Series in Washington, D.C. John DeDakis is a former editor on CNN’s “The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer.” DeDakis is the author of three mystery-suspense novels. During his 45-year career in journalism (25 at CNN), DeDakis has been a White House Correspondent and interviewed such luminaries as Alfred Hitchcock and Ronald Reagan. Website: www.johndedakis.com Barbara Esstman, MFA and NEA fellow, is the author of The Other Anna and Night Ride Home, published by Harcourt Brace, HarperCollins and in numerous foreign editions. Both were adapted for film by Hallmark. Her short stories have been nominated for the Pushcart and Redbook Fiction Award, among other distinctions. Ben Farmer has a history degree from Kenyon College, and an MFA in Fiction from George Mason. He has worked as a teacher, as a booking agent for musicians, and has edited more than 20 novels already in print. His first novel, Evangeline, was published in 2010 by Overlook Press. Cathy Fink is a prolific songwriter with 2 GRAMMY Awards, 14 GRAMMY nominations and 50 awards from the Washington Area

LEADERS

Amy Abrams is an author, journalist, literary journal editor and former publishing executive with over 200 published stories – fiction and non-fiction – contributing to The Wall Street Journal, Art in America, and Village Voice Media. She has appeared on TV and radio programs including NPR, as well as lectured to university and museum audiences across America. New book releases include a novel, The Cage and The Key, and Schenck in the 21st Century, which won the US Literary Award for Fine Art. HHer www.AmyAbramsWrite.com

WORKSHOP LEADERS Music Association. She has won the John Lennon Songwriting Contest and International Songwriting Contest. She writes songs in many styles for listeners of all ages. www.cathymarcy.com Nan Fry is the author of two books of Poetry: Relearning the Dark and Say What I am Called. Her work has appeared in numerous journals, including Spillway and the Delmarva Review. She taught at the Corcoran College of Art + Design for over 20 years and has received an EdPress Award for Excellence in educational journalism. Janice Gary is the author of Short Leash: A Memoir of Dog Walking and Deliverance, winner of two Silver 2014 Nautilus Awards and a 2014 Eric Hoffer Prize for Memoir. Her essays and articles have appeared in numerous national publications.

LEADERS

Claudia Gary is a 2014 finalist for the Howard Nemerov Sonnet Award and 2013 semifinalist for the Anthony Hecht Poetry [book] Prize. She is author of Humor Me (David Robert Books, 2006) and several chapbooks. A former poetry editor of Edge City Review, she has given workshops and conference panels on poetry and music for the West Chester University (Pa.) Poetry Conference, National League of American Pen Women, and other organizations. Her poems have appeared in anthologies such as “Forgetting Home” (2013) as well as journals including American Arts Quarterly, Loch Raven Review, and Poet Lore. Bernadette Geyer is the author of The Scabbard of Her Throat and What Remains, and has served on editorial boards for litmags and publishers. Geyer’s poems have appeared in Oxford American, Poet Lore, Verse Daily, and elsewhere. She freelances as a writer, editor, and social media consultant in Berlin, Germany. D. Gilson is the author of Crush (Punctum Books, 2014), with Will Stockton; Brit Lit (Sibling Rivalry, 2013); and Catch & Release (2012), and winner of the Robin Becker Prize from Seven Kitchens Press. His work has appeared or is forthcoming in Poetry, The Indiana Review, and The Rumpus. Find D. at dgilson.com. Patricia Gray is an award-winning writer with experience in poetry, short stories, articles, etc. She formerly directed the Poetry and Literature Center at the Library of Congress, twice attended Bread Loaf Writer’s Conference, published Rupture: poems from Red

Hen Press, and has an MFA in creative writing from the University of Virginia. T. Greenwood is the author of eight novels and the recipient of multiple awards, including a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship. In addition to teaching online for The Writer’s Center, she teaches at Grossmont College and San Diego Writer’s, Ink in San Diego where she lives with her family. Aaron Hamburger is the author of The View from Stalin’s Head (winner of the Rome Prize in Literature) and Faith for Beginners: a Novel, both from Random House. He has written for the New York Times, The Washington Post, Tin House, Details, Poets & Writers and several literary journals. Jessica Handler is the author of Braving the Fire: A Guide to Writing About Grief, and Invisible Sisters: A Memoir. Her nonfiction has appeared widely, including on NPR, in Tin House, Drunken Boat, Full Grown People, Brevity, Newsweek, The Washington Post, and More Magazine. www.jessicahandler. com Zahara Heckscher co-wrote the book How to Live Your Dream of Volunteering Overseas. Her articles have appeared in books and the online travel magazine www. TransitionsAbroad.com. A cancer survivor/ thriver, Heckscher teaches professional writing at University of Maryland at College Park, and is the co-creator of the Poetry Game. ZaharaHeckscher.com Ellen Herbert’s fiction has won over ten awards including a Virginia Fiction Fellowship and a PEN Fiction. Her short story collection, Falling Women and Other Stories, was published by Shelfstealers Press. She won the Flint Hills Review Nonfiction Prize. Her writing has appeared in The Washington Post, First for Women, and literary magazines. Daisy Hernandez is the author of the memoir A Cup of Water Under My Bed (Beacon Press, 2014) and she’s the Kenan Visiting Writer at UNC-Chapel Hill. A former Ms. magazine columnist, she is the coeditor of Colonize This! Young Women of Color on Today’s Feminism and former editor of ColorLines, a newsmagazine on race and politics. Her writing has been featured on NPR’s All Things Considered, as well as, in the Christian Science Monitor, the New York Times, and In These Times. She has an MFA from the University of Miami and an MA in journalism and Latin American studies from New York University.

The Writer’s Center Nicole Idar received her MFA from George Mason University. Her work has appeared in the New Ohio Review, World Literature Today, Rattapallax, and Bethesdamagazine.com. She was the Undiscovered Voices Scholar at the Writer’s Center in 2012-2013 and blogs at nicoleidar.blogspot.com. Kathryn Johnson’s 40+ novels (nominated for the prestigious Agatha Christy Award, winner of the Heart of Excellence and Bookseller’s Best Awards), include Victorian thrillers (writing as Mary Hart Perry) and a new romantic-suspense series, Affairs of State. Her writer’s mentoring service (www.WriteByYou.com) aids individual authors in reaching their publication goals. David Keplinger directs the MFA Program in Creative Writing at American University. He is the author of four collections, most recently The Most Natural Thing (New Issues, 2013). Winner of the Colorado Book Award, the T.S. Eliot Prize, a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, and the 2014 Cavafy Prize from Poetry International, his creative work has appeared or are forthcoming in Poetry, The Paris Review, The American Poetry Review, Agni, Ploughshares, Crazyhorse, as well as other journals. Christine Koubek, M.F.A., is an awardwinning travel writer, essayist, and author. Her work has appeared in The Washington Post, Ladies’ Home Journal, Coastal Living, Washingtonian, Bethesda, Budget Travel and several other digital and print publications. In addition, she is a regular contributor for TripAdvisor subsidiaries CruiseCritic.com and FamilyVacationCritic.com. Claudia Kousoulas is a freelance food and feature writer whose work has appeared in local and national publications. She is the author of Cast Iron Cooking and a board member of the Culinary Historians of Washington, D.C. She spoke at Blogher Food 2013 on Telling Community Stories and History Through Food. Susan Land’s fiction has won many awards, including three Maryland State Arts Council grants, a Writers at Work Prize, and a Stegner Fellowship. She has an MA from the Johns Hopkins Writing Seminars and her fiction has appeared in many journals, including Missouri Review, Literary Review, Niche Lit Mag, Potomac Review, Roanoke Review, Bethesda Magazine and Bellevue Review. Con Lehane has published three crime novels featuring “the morally rumpled

View online at www.writer.org/guide

WORKSHOP LEADERS of the DC-Area Literary Translators Network. Her translations from Spanish include two books of poetry, as well as short stories. Her poems, essays, and reviews have appeared in such publications as Foreign Policy in Focus, Literal, and Virginia Quarterly Review.

C.M. Mayo is the author of several books including Metaphysical Odyssey into the Mexican Revolution and Miraculous Air: Journey of 1000 through Baja California, chapters of which won awards including Lowell Thomas Awards. Her novel, The Last Prince of the Mexican Empire, was a Library Journal Best Book, 2009.

John Morris has taught at the Writer’s Center since 1995. He has published fiction, poetry, and essays in more than 80 literary magazines, including The Southern Review, Missouri Review, Subtropics, and Five Points. His work has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and reprinted in Twentieth Century Literary Criticism and Anatomy of a Short Story.

Mary McCarthy is currently Senior Editor at SpliceToday.com, and her 20-year writing career includes The Washington Post, Philadelphia Inquirer, Baltimore Sun, regional magazines (two as Editor) and several newspaper humor columns. She founded the humor blog PajamasandCoffee.com in 2008. She published her debut novel The Scarlet Letter Society in June 2014.

Alan Orloff’s first novel, Diamonds for the Dead, was an Agatha Award Finalist. He also wrote Killer Routine and Deadly Campaign for Midnight Ink. Writing as Zak Allen, he’s published The Taste, First Time Killer, and Ride-Along. He belongs to Mystery Writers of America and ITW. www.alanorloff.com

Ann L. McLaughlin graduated from Radcliffe College and earned her PhD in Literature and Philosophy at American University. She has published eight novels and is working on the ninth. One of her novels has been translated into three languages and was serialized in the Reader’s Digest. She has taught at TWC for 25 years and is on the board. If you are new to TWC, welcome. It is a wonderful place to work and to learn about writing. Pat McNees is a writer and editor who helps people and organizations tell their life story. A former editor in book publishing, she is also past board member of the Association of Journalists & Authors, past president of the Association of Personal Historians, and scribe-manager for the Washington Biography Group, See bio at http://www.writersandeditors.com/bio.htm Nicole Elizabeth Miller, Ph.D.’s stories have appeared twice in The May Anthology of Short Stories, edited by Jill Paton Walsh and Sebastian Faulks. After completing an M.Phil in English Literature at Oxford, she worked at The New Yorker and The Oxford English Dictionary, where she continues to serve as a scholarly reader for the department of etymology. In 2012, she was also awarded a Ph.D. in Victorian Literature from University College, London. She currently edits faculty manuscripts for Harvard’s English Department. Yvette Neisser Moreno is an awardwinning poet and the founder/coordinator

Marie Pavlicek-Wehrli’s poems have appeared in various journals and anthologies, including Border Crossing, About Place, Anon, Blast Furnace, Ekphrasis, Poet Lore, Beloit Poetry Journal, and others. She’s been a Fellow at the VCCA and Ragdale and is a recipient of a Maryland State Arts Council Individual Artist’s Grant in Poetry. www.mariepavlicek.com Nani Power is the author three novels (New York Times Notable Books of the Year) and two food memoirs: Feed The Hungry (Simon and Schuster, 2008) and Ginger and Ganesh (Counterpoint, 2010). Her stories and articles have been published in numerous literary magazines including The Paris Review and The Wall Street Journal.

in Johns Hopkins University’s graduate program. She works as a “poet-in-the-Schools” for the MD State Arts Council. Her work has appeared in Partisan Review, Kenyon Review, Agni, North American Review. She has four award-winning chapbooks, and Codhill Press will publish her first full collection in the fall of 2014. Maritza Rivera is a Puerto Rican poet and Army veteran who lives in Rockville, MD. She is the author of About You, A Mother’s War, Baker’s Dozen, and Twenty-One: Blackjack Poems. She hosts the annual Mariposa Poetry Retreat in Waynesboro, Pa and the annual Mariposa Reunion Reading at The Writer’s Center. Maritza participates and teaches in the Warrior Poetry Project at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. She received the 2013 Montgomery County Executive’s Volunteer Award for Excellence in the Arts and Humanities. Jenny Rough is a lawyer-turned-writer. Her articles, essays, and profiles have appeared in publications ranging from Salon, More, and Yoga Journal to The Washington Post, Writer’s Digest, and AARP, where she is also the letters editor for AARP Bulletin. Visit her on the web at www.jennyrough.com. Lynn Schwartz is a story development editor and ghostwriter. Her plays have been performed in NYC, including Lincoln Center. She founded the Temple Bar Literary Reading Series in NYC, has received two Individual Artist Awards in Fiction from the Maryland State Arts Council, and teaches fiction at St. John’s College.

Mary Quattlebaum is the author of 20 award-winning children’s books and of poetry and fiction in literary magazines. She also writes nonfiction for children and adults and teaches at Vermont Colleges’s MFA program in Writing for Children and Young Adults. website: www.maryquattlebaum.com

Dave Singleton is the author of two nonfiction books The Mandates and Behind Every Great Woman. His honors include the Media Industry Award for Outstanding Exclusive Coverage, GLAAD Award for Outstanding Multimedia Journalism, and a NLGJA Excellence in Online Journalism. His work has appeared in several print and online publications including the New York Times, The Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, PBS’s Next Avenue, AARP Media, Washingtonian, and Harper’s Bazaar. He is a regular columnist for Caring.com, Yahoo, and Match. He holds degrees from the University of Virginia and the New York University, and freelances as both a writer and lecturer for major universities, conferences, and events. Visit his website www.davesingleton.com and follow him on Twitter @DCDaveSingleton.

Elizabeth Rees, M.A., has taught at the U.S. Naval Academy, Howard University and

Marilyn Smith has taught a wide variety of course/workshops/seminars since 1969, cur-

Workshop & Event Guide Fall 2014

Sierra Prasada is the author of The Creative Compass: Writing Your Way from Inspiration to Publication (with Dan Millman) and Creative Lives: Portraits of Lebanese Artists. Sierra Prasada is a freelance journalist, editor, and developing theater artist. She’s currently adapting the bestselling novel The Journeys of Socrates into a screenplay. http://www.sierraprasada.com

LEADERS

bartender-narrator Brian McNulty.” His latest effort features New York City librarian Raymond Ambler (a friend of the aforementioned McNulty) and will appear in January 2016. He holds a Master of Fine Arts degree from Columbia University School of the Arts.

WORKSHOP LEADERS rently with a focus on writing memoir. She is the author of two published memoirs, The Yin-Yang Life of a Baby Boomer and Tales from our Hearts and Other Body Parts: A Women’s Health Anthology. Smith holds a Ph.D. in Educational Policy and a M.A. in Reading Education. She has taken numerous classes at the Writer’s Center, and her approach to teaching is highly interactive, creative, and engaging. Lynn Stearns is an associate fiction editor for the Potomac Review and sometimes guest editor for other literary magazines. Her flash fiction, short stories, essays, and poems have been in several literary magazines and anthologies, and she insists that revising can be painless. Sara Mansfield Taber is the author of award-winning Born Under an Assumed Name: The Memoir of a Cold War Spy’s Daughter, Bread of Three Rivers: The Story of a French Loaf, and Dusk on the Campo: A Journey in Patagonia, as well as The Washington Post and public radio pieces. Judith Tabler writes for magazines such as Dog Fancy, Bark, Kennel Review, AKC

Gazette, Middleburg Life. She holds an MFA in creative writing and for many years been a writing instructor at a local university. She has published books on dog breeds and is currently working on a horse book. Sue Ellen Thompson’s fifth book of poems, They, has just been published. An instructor at The Writer’s Center since 2007, she has previously taught at Middlebury College, Binghamton University, the University of Delaware, and Central CT State University. She received the 2010 Maryland Author Award from the Maryland Library Association. Joan Waites is the award-winning illustrator of more than 45 books for children and a mixed-media artist featured in national magazines. She has taught at the Corcoran Museum School of Art and Design and now teaches a variety of arts classes at her studio. Website: www.joanwaites.com Hank Wallace, a Columbia Law School graduate, was a government reporter for New Jersey’s Middletown Courier and Red

The Writer’s Center Bank Daily Register, and the assistant director of law-school publishing for Matthew Bender. He wrote the FCC’s plain-language newsletter and newswriting tips for the Radio Television Digital News Association. More: wsln.com.

Richard Washer, M.F.A., playwright and director was a founding member of Charter Theater and currently works with First Draft as a playwright, dramaturge and director. His plays have been produced at various venues including Hamner Theater, Charter Theater. New Works Theater and the National Conservatory of Dramatic Arts.

Michele Wolf is the author of Immersion, Conversations During Sleep (Anhinga Prize for Poetry), and the chapbook The Keeper of the Light. Her poems have appeared in Poetry, The Hudson Review, North American Review and numerous other journals and anthologies. She is a contributing editor for Poet Lore. Her website is http:// michelewolf.com.

LEADERS

Freeman . . . continued from p. 5

facility renovation initiative. Board Treasurer Les Hatley’s financial acumen, guidance, and consistency are to be credited for the soundness of TWC’s current financial condition. It must be noted that Les also introduced us to renowned architect, Mark McInturff, who drafted our renovation plans and advocated for their implementation to top county officials. Incidentally, Les and Mark – respectively The Showmen’s lead guitarist and drummer in the 1960’s – played before adoring audiences at our Walsh Street home’s previous incarnation as a youth center. Watch our website for a Showmen reunion concert announcement benefitting the renovation! The herculean efforts of Board Secretary Pat Harris and her col-

league Sharon Craig at Lerch, Early, and Brewer also deserve honorable mention. Our new lease was made possible only as a result of their skillful guidance, drafting, and execution. We are also grateful to Montgomery County’s First Couple, Ike and Catherine Leggett, for their political and cultural leadership and support when we needed it most. Thank you, thank you! I look forward to my continuing responsibilities as your Chair Emeritus, particularly guiding Phases II and III of the Walsh Street renovation (our Next Chapter!). Thank you for the honor of serving this unique organization– the premier literary center in the mid-Atlantic and crown jewel of the Bethesda arts scene!

“One of the best writing books published!” Poets and Writers Magazine

An entertaining, moving read, packed with prompts, inspiration and guidance from an awardwinning college writing instructor Laura Oliver, mentor and author of fiction and essays. Available at Barnes and Noble and Amazon.

View online at www.writer.org/guide

www.thestorywithin.com

THANKS TO OUR DONORS For all gifts made between July 1, 2013 - June 23, 2014 Langston Hughes Circle - $2,500+ Ann McLaughlin Omega Foundation Inc Joram P. Piatigorsky and Lona Piatigorsky William Reynolds and Nancy M. Lincoln

California Community Foundation Mark Cymrot John Freeman and Sally Mott Freeman John and Barbara Ann Hill Maryland State Arts Council

Arts and Humanities Council of Montgomery County Christian Mixter and Linna Barnes The Community Foundation for the National Capital Region

Zora Neale Hurston Circle - $1,000+

Anton Chekhov Circle - $500+

Kenneth Ackerman

Pat M. Davis

Anonymous

Judith L. Jones

Bydale Foundation

Virginia M. Grandison

Bruce and Laurie Berger

Koubek Family Rainbow Fish Fund

Margot Backas

Sandor Slager and Patricia Harris

Karen Gray

Kathryn S. Kolar

Timothy Crawford

Philip D. Harvey

Desiree Magney

Brooks Cressman

Teresa B. Murphy

Felix Jakob

James Mathews

Emily Dickinson Circle - $250+ Scott F. McCarthy

Glen Finland John J. Gaudet Melinda Halpert Erika Horton Laurel Huber Amy and Peter Pastan Phyllis A. Langton Steven A. Lerman Dan Logan Perry Maiden

Kaya Adams Mary Jo Anderson Michelle Berberet Robert Blair Susan Coll Lisa Crye Elizabeth Drachman Ralph Dweck Kathleen Emmet

David McKinney William and Louisa Newlin Raymond Palmer Jonathan Stillerman Daniel D. Townsend Craig Tregillus Brent and Jung Weil Robert Wise

Endowment Gifts For investment in The Writer’s Center’s future Omega Foundation

PDP Foundation

Tau Foundation

Designated Gifts For capital and restricted projects at The Writer’s Center Gail Gorlitzz

Lori Katz

Gardner McFall

Mark Rubin

Barbara B. Torrey

Samantha Guerry

Ted Lardner

Ann McLaughlin

Ann Satterthwaite

Julia M. Vickers

Kay Hannesson

Jenifer Lawrence

Annilee Oppenheimer

Mady Segal

Marcia Wagner

Les Hatley

Kerry Malawista

Richard Seldin

Naomi Weiss

John and Barbara Ann Hill

Elizabeth Maloney

Joram P. Piatigorsky and Lona Piatigorsky

Laurie Sewall

Mier and Cathy Wolf

Catherine Mansell

Haeworth Robertson

Laura Spencer

Jora M Young

Charles Jensen

James Mathews

Phyllis Rozman

Christopher Sten

Workshop & Event Guide Fall 2014

THANKS TO OUR DONORS

The Writer’s Center

Founder’s Circle - $100+ Anonymous Elizabeth Abell Linda Adcock Jill C. Alt Phyllis Anderson B. K. Atrostic Lynn W. Bailets Catherine C. Beckley Mel Belin Elizabeth S. Bennett Emily Best Judith Bowles Ellen R. Braaf Rebecca Browning Jackson Bryer Dana Cann Nancy N. Carlson Paul W. Carlson Robert A. Carpenter William Carrington Cecilia Cassidy Randy Cepuch Jennifer Cockburn Leslie Cohen James and Naomi Collins Missy V. Craig Sharon Craig Keri Culver Deborah Darr Joe Dellinger Siobhan Dugan Deborah Dwyer Robert Eccles Solveig Eggerz Elaine English Linda Fannin Ed Finn Cheryl Fisher Bonnie Fogel Fred Foote Lauren Francis-Sharma Donald A. Franck Candida M. Fraze Sunil K. Freeman Martin Galvin Majda Gama America Genta Fons Gerald Giesecke Maria E. Gimenez Robert L. Giron Michael Hamilton and E. Laura Golberg Jorge Goldstein Sherry Goldstein-Askwith Peter Gray Iris Green Theodore Groll Sushma Gupta Janet Hahn and Ken Simon

Carol M. Purcell Regina Harrison Patricia Brown Diana Parsell Ann Haman Michael Purcell Arne and Sara Paulson Paulette Harvey Anthony Brown Harold P. Hanson Marie Pavlicek-Wehrli Ralph and Coralie Bryant Ann Quinn Deborah Hefferon Brigid Haragan Carol F. Peck Karen Reichert Dewey R. Heising Laura Brylawski-Miller Les Hatley Debra W. Pettit Jeff Richards Jennifer Haupt Levi Hilling Tom Burke Gary Pittenger Charles Hedetniemi Elisavietta Ritchie Maureen Hinkle Malve S. Burns Riggin Waugh and Ellen Herbert Gretchen Roberts-Shorter Thomas L. Holzman Michael Bustin Meredith Pond Jay and Linda Herson Sandra Robinson Suzanne Hood Jo A. Buxton Andrew F. Popper Jamie Holland Nancy Robson Jad Hopper John Byrne Kathy B. Ramsperger Tim and Sharle Hussion Joan Rudel Daniel Horner Ellen Callahan Robin Rausch Paul Hyman Kathryn K. Rushing Millicent Hughes Carolyn Carroll Darrel and Marilyn Regier Lorna Irvine Amanda Russell Miriam S. Israel Grace Cavalieri Helen Reid Philip and Ruth Jason William Schofield Llenda Jackson-Leslie Joseph Cerquone Emily Rich Holly Johnson Phyllis Schottenstein Christopher James Ira Chaleff Robert Richardson Warren Jones Joyce Schwartz Rod Jellema Patricia E. Chapla David Roach Dick Jorgensen Kathryn Scott Michael Johnson David Churchill Gayle Roehm Lynn Kanter Stasha Seaton Susan S. Jonsberg Alexandra Coburn Carol Rosen Arthur Karlin and Beth Jessica Seigel Djuana Joseph Anne Conover Barbara P. Rosing Brophy Richard Seldin Santi Karamchetty William Cook Phyllis Rozman Kevin Kennedy Debra Shafer Caroline H. Keith Kathleen A. Cooke Anthony Rylands Karen Kirkbride Mary Agnes Silberstein Sarah Kellogg Ann (Bertie) Cottin Alan Schechter Agi Kiss Gordon Silcox Susan Kennington Henry Crawford Mady Segal Peter Kissel Rosanne Singer Elaine Kessler Sylvia Csiffary Ramsey Shehadeh Ann Kline James E. Smith Beth Kevles Siobhan Davenport Barbara Silverstein Barbara Kline Mary J. Smith Michael Kirkland Andrew Dayton Larry and Louise Smith Susan Korytkowski Cheryl Somers Aubin amy Kostant Mary Ann Deak George Spicer Rhys and Sue Kuklewicz Denise Stablein Kathleen Krause Joanne Delaplaine Michael and Lynn Susan Land Sharon Stanley Mollee C. Kruger Rachel Dellon Springer Raima Larter Bettie Stegall Susan Lane David Diskin David O. Stewart Robert Leddy Stanley Stern Jeffrey LaPointe Kenneth Doggett Eric Stone Alan H. and Priscilla Kathy S. Strom Linda LaPrade Therese Doucet Peter Sullivan Levine Linda S. Sullivan Elaine Laube Anne Dougherty Karla Taylor Amanda Lockhart Eva Sullivan Jonathan and Judith Levin Christine Dove Gerald B. Thompson Tarpley M. Long Carrington Tarr Louis Levy Linda Dreeben Paul Thorn John Lubetkin Andrea Tisi Earl Lindveit Dianne Driessen Jane T. Udelson The John and Ann Ayana Touval Talbot C. Mack Jeannette P. Dubrow Ann Varnon Montgomery Fund Norma S. Tucker Susie Marruci Toby Eckert Naomi Weiss John Malin Wanda Van Goor Karen Mazze Jonathan Eig Aaron Williams Nancy Malin Julia M. Vickers Michael McCarey Barbara Esstman Mier and Cathy Wolf Frank and Elizabeth Elizabeth Vrenios James McGee Michael S. Febrey Judith Wood Malone Davi Walders Caroline V. Meirs Jay Fellows Stacy Woodruff Fernando Manibog Reed Waller Margaret Meleney Lynne Fitzhugh James Yagley Steven and Janice Marcom Sharain Ward Margaret Miller Daniel Frank Sally Zakariya Catherine Mathews Richard C. Washer Bonny H. Miller Nan Fry Rabiatu Akinlolu Greg and Lois McBride Walter Weiss Elizabeth Miranda Thomas and Ann Gannon Luis A. Ambroggio Judith McCombs Sharlie West Joan M. Mitric Tracee Garner Charlotte Anker Claire McGoff Thomas Wetterer Larry Moffi Claire Gesalman Nancy P. Arbuthnot Rekha Mehra James F. Whalen Henry Morgenthau Robert Gibson Pinar Arcan David Metz Kathleen Wheaton Faye Moskowitz Neal and Mary Margaret Barri J. Armitage Kristie Miller David White Gillen Madeleine Newkirk Paige Baldwin Velda Moog Sonja Williams Tom Glenn Jason Newman Cathy Bamji Stewart Moss Mary E. Willy Christopher Glick Patricia Bartlett Les Nicholson Cantwell Muckenfuss and David and Jane Winer Lois J. Godel Angela Lancaster Debra Basilis Howard E. O’Leary Anita Winters John Grady P.C. Nair Barbara Belmont Mary K. O’Melveny Stanton Wormley Robert Granader Phillip G. Nelson Stephanie Berry Janique Parrott Katherine Young Paul E. Grayson Jean Nordhaus Kate Blackwell Vinnie Perrone Jacqueline R. Zakrewsky Andrew Greene Terrance O’Connor Sarah Blake Frances F. Porter Boris Zemtzov Betty Hafner James Papian Dillard Boland Ted Pulliam and Judith Zimmerman Edward Pulliam Christine L. Haggard Carolyn Miller Parr Franca Brilliant

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REFUND POLICY

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If TWC cancels a workshop, participants who have already signed up and made payment will receive a full refund, or they can use their payment as a credit toward another workshop and/or a membership. Workshop participants who have enrolled in and paid for a workshop and choose to withdraw from it within the drop period (see page 11) will receive full credit (but not a cash refund) that can be used within one year to pay for another workshop and/or a membership. Workshop participants who have enrolled in and paid for a workshop and choose to withdraw from it after the drop period has ended will forfeit their full payment and will not receive any credit to be used to pay for another workshop and/or a membership. Exceptions may be made in the case of serious illness or other extenuating circumstances, such as relocation out of the area; in such cases, a formal request in the form of a letter or an e-mail must be submitted to the Executive Director. No refunds or credits will be given for individual classes missed. To receive a credit, you must notify TWC by e-mail (laura.spencer@writer.org) within the drop period. Please confirm receipt of the message if you do not hear back from TWC within two business days.

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