Mining Our Obsessions: A Poetry Workshop with Lauren Davis -- Full

---

Dates: Mondays, June 7th - July 12th
Time: 11:00am to 12:30pm
Cost: $125
Limited to: 5 participants
​Where: Online
Full

“A real diehard, indestructible, irresolvable obsession in a poet is nothing less than a blessing. The poet
with an obsession never has to search for subject matter.” – Tony Hoagland, Poet

​Allow your obsessions to work for you. Join Davis for a weekly poetry workshop focused on mining your addictions, whether it be an idea, person, place, or thing. In the first workshop, participants will choose one of their obsessions to indulge, and Davis will provide writing prompts to create new work. Participants will then send one new poem (written about their chosen obsession, of course) to the group each subsequent week for feedback. By the end of the workshop, participants will have a small body of work that speaks to what haunts and fascinates them the most.

Note: You will need access to Microsoft Word.

Lauren Davis is the author of Home Beneath the Church (Fernwood Press, forthcoming), and the chapbooks Each Wild Thing’s Consent (Poetry Wolf Press) and The Missing Ones (Winter texts). She holds an MFA from the Bennington College Writing Seminars. She is a former Editor in Residence at The Puritan’s Town Crier and has been awarded a residency at Hypatia-in-the-Woods. Her work has appeared in over fifty literary publications and anthologies including Prairie Schooner, Spillway, Poet Lore, Ibbetson Street, Ninth Letter and elsewhere.

14 Daily Exercises That Make Your Writing Sing with Peter Mountford

---

Date: Sunday, August 22nd
Time: 11:00 to 4:00 (with an hour lunch break)
Cost: $150
Limited to: 15 participants
​Where: Online

In this class you'll learn simple techniques that'll make your writing pop on the page. Publishers often say that within a paragraph they can tell if someone is actually a writer or not, and what they're talking about is an array of simple stylistic questions: verb choice, dynamic syntax, sentence length variety, and more. In this class you'll practice enlivening your writing with surprisingly fun exercises, and learn simple tools for diagnosing and repairing drab prose. 

Peter Mountford is the author of the novels A Young Man's Guide to Late Capitalism (2012 Washington State Book Award in fiction), and The Dismal Science (a NYT editor's choice). His work has appeared in The New York Times (the Modern Love column), The Paris Review, The Atlantic magazine, The Sun, Granta, Writer’s Digest, and elsewhere. Currently a creative writing professor at Sierra Nevada College's MFA program, Peter is a writing coach and developmental editor with clients around the world.

Jumpstart Your Essay with Samantha Ladwig

---

Date: Saturday, August 28th
Time: 10:00am to 11:30am
Cost: $50
Limited to: 12 participants
​Where: Online

Have you been sitting on an essay idea but haven’t yet fleshed it out? This one-day generative workshop is for anyone looking to sift through that idea in order to gain a deeper understanding of the essay they’re itching to tell. During our time together, you’ll write on a series of prompts that will jumpstart your first draft.

Samantha Ladwig is a writer, book reviewer, and the owner of Imprint Bookstore. Her work has been published by Literary Hub, Bustle, New York Magazine, Real Simple, Vice, Bust Magazine, and others. She is a former reader for The Masters Review. ​​Prior to owning a bookstore, Samantha was a film cataloger at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Find her at www.samanthaladwig.com.

Writing for Children: Picture Books to Middle Grade Novels with Patrick Jennings

---

Dates: Tuesdays, September 28th - October 12th
Time: 10:00am to 12:00pm
Cost: $150
Limited to: 8 participants
​Where: Online

Do you have a story guaranteed to delight young readers? This 3-week workshop will help you bring it to vivid life. We'll also discuss forms of children's literature, audience, and working with agents, editors, illustrators, and art directors.

Patrick Jennings is the author of 25 books for young readers - published by Scholastic, Random House, HarperCollins, et al - including Guinea Dog, We Can't All Be Rattlesnakes, and Odd, Weird & Little. He is the recipient of the Washington State Book Award, Booklist Editor's Choice Award, Smithsonian Magazine Notable Book for Children, New York Public Library Best Book, and was a PEN Center USA Literary Award finalist as well as a PNW Booksellers Association Award nominee. Jennings has been a presenter at schools and libraries all over the US and abroad for over twenty years.

Infusing Fiction Into Your Memoir with Jennifer Haupt

---

Date: Saturday, October 2nd
Time: 11:00am to 3:30pm (with an hour lunch/writing break)
Cost: $150
Limited to: 7 participants
​Where: Online

Are you struggling with telling your personal story in a dramatic and entertaining way—or fully understanding what that book-worthy story truly is? Infusing fiction into memoir provides the freedom to explore many possibilities for storytelling based on real-life events. We’ll discuss strategies for combining fiction and memoir in ways that are meaningful to the theme of the book, expand the plot, and deepen characters. We’ll also complete and share scene-building exercises, and discuss structural elements for this exciting hybrid.

This workshop includes a 30-minute one-to-one consultation.

Jennifer Haupt is the author of the novel In the Shadow of 10,000 Hills (April 2018) and editor of ALONE TOGETHER: Stories of Love, Grief, and Comfort in the Time of COVID-19 (Sept. 2020). She has also ghost-written memoir, and her essays and articles have been published in O, The Oprah Magazine, Psychology Today, The Rumpus, Spirituality & Health, The Sun, and elsewhere. She teaches at Hugo House in Seattle, and writing conferences and workshops around the country.

Works in Progress: Novel and Short Fiction with Samantha Ladwig

---

Dates: Wednesdays, October 6th - 27th
Time: 12:00pm to 2:00pm
Cost: $150
Limited to: 5 participants
​Where: Online

Share your work in progress in a safe, small, and collaborative environment. This 4-week workshop is open to beginning novelists who are looking to better understand their story as well as the craft of novel writing.

Each week, writers will email the group a single excerpt of no more than 1,000 words. Everyone will read their work aloud while the rest of the group reads and/or listens along. Writers are encouraged to let the group know if they'd like feedback on a specific element of the story (tone, theme, plot, character, etc.) before they start reading. Afterwards, we'll take a couple of minutes to gather our thoughts on the piece, write down any questions/comments, and then we'll spend time offering helpful feedback that will inspire the writer and guide them forward.

Samantha Ladwig is a writer, book reviewer, and the owner of Imprint Bookstore. Her work has been published by Literary Hub, Bustle, New York Magazine, Real Simple, Vice, Bust Magazine, and others. She is a former reader for The Masters Review. ​​Prior to owning a bookstore, Samantha was a film cataloger at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Find her at www.samanthaladwig.com.

​Volta: A Poetry Workshop with Kathryn Hunt and Spencer Reece

---

Dates: Saturday and Sunday, October 9th and 10th
Time: 10:00am to 4:00pm on Saturday, 12:00pm to 4:00pm on Sunday
Cost: $350
Limited to: 10 participants
​Where: Online

Volta means turn around, tumble, waltz. In a sonnet, it’s the turn of thought or direction that channels surprise and originality. Our two-day workshop will focus on ways to roll and roam with your own poetry and allow it to take you in new directions. We'll consider the work of contemporary poets from the U.S. and abroad and explore ways you might employ risk and invention in your work, moving your poem forward and inward at the same time. We’ll provide writing prompts and, during the course of the weekend, each participant will receive feedback from the instructors on a draft. We’ll also send you a small packet of poems to read before we meet. You’ll finish the weekend with four drafts of new poems. The class is open to all lovers of poetry — beginners and experienced writers alike. Please come with a notebook or laptop and an open mind.
 
Spencer Reece’s debut collection of poetry The Clerk’s Tale was chosen by Louise Glück for the Bakeless Poetry Prize. His second collection The Road to Emmaus was a longlist nominee for the National Book Award and a finalist for the Griffin Prize from Canada. Reece’s poems explore faith, family, love, and loss and are filled with what Glück calls “shimmering intelligence. . . [and] unobtrusive wit;” “half cocktail party, half passion play.” His honors include fellowships and grants from the Guggenheim Foundation and an Amy Lowell Poetry Travelling Scholarship. His memoir, The Secret Gospel of Mark: A Poet’s Memoir, from Seven Stories Press, will be published in 2021. A book of watercolors All the Beauty Still Left: A Poet’s Book of Hours from Turtle Point Press and a chapbook, Letters from Spain, will also arrive on the bookshelves this year. He lives in Jackson Heights, New York.

Kathryn Hunt makes her home on the coast of the Salish Sea. Her poems have appeared in The Sun, Radar, Orion, Missouri Review, Carolina Quarterly, and Narrative. She is the author of Long Way Through Ruin from Blue Begonia Press. Seed-wheel, her second collection, will be published by Lost Horse Press in 2021. She is the recipient of residencies and awards from Ucross, Willapa AIR, Artists Trust, and Joya AIR (Spain). She’s worked as a waitress, shipscaler, short-order cook, bookseller, printer, food bank coordinator, filmmaker, and freelance writer. kathrynhunt.net

Finish Your Book and Sell It with Peter Mountford

---

Date: Sunday, October 24th
Time: 11:00 to 4:00 (with an hour lunch break)
Cost: $150
Limited to: 15 participants
​Where: Online

Every year, thousands of first-time authors are paid in advance for their debut books. In this one-day intensive we’ll focus on the complex work of preparing your book for submission, including sourcing the best literary agents, building a platform, and the fine art of query letter writing. Students will come away with sample queries and handouts on publishing resources.

Peter Mountford is the author of the novels A Young Man's Guide to Late Capitalism (2012 Washington State Book Award in fiction), and The Dismal Science (a NYT editor's choice). His work has appeared in The New York Times (the Modern Love column), The Paris Review, The Atlantic magazine, The Sun, Granta, Writer’s Digest, and elsewhere. Currently a creative writing professor at Sierra Nevada College's MFA program, Peter is a writing coach and developmental editor with clients around the world.

Submitting Your Essay: Crafting an Effective Pitch with Samantha Ladwig

---

Date: Saturday, October 30th
Time: 10:00 to 2:00 (with an hour writing/lunch break)
Cost: $150
Limited to: 8 participants
​Where: Online

Do you have a personal essay but aren’t sure where or how to submit it? This one-day workshop is for any writer looking to pitch their completed or in-progress work to publications such as Literary Hub, Bustle, Catapult, Longreads, Washington Post, Real Simple, and other online and print magazines. 

During our time together, we will: 

• Discuss best pitching practices by reviewing examples of pitches.
• Analyze the piece you’d like to pitch in order to find the right publication for your work.
• Write and review your own pitch in a supportive setting.

From this class, you can expect to gain an understanding of what editors are looking for, how to explore your own newly formed ideas, and most importantly, how to formulate a clear and concise pitch. 

​Samantha Ladwig is a writer, book reviewer, and the owner of Imprint Bookstore. Her work has been published by Literary Hub, Bustle, New York Magazine, Real Simple, Vice, Bust Magazine, and others. She is a former reader for The Masters Review. ​​Prior to owning a bookstore, Samantha was a film cataloger at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Find her at www.samanthaladwig.com.