Selected Previous Workshops

"Self-Interrogation: From Question to Revelation
in Personal Nonfiction"
a workshop to benefit Richard Hugo House
part of Write-o-Rama!
Saturday, June 5, 2010
50-minute workshop, offered at 11 am and 4 pm
Ask yourself tough questions about everything from the quotidian to the profound and find powerful answers. We'll
probe the depths of pride and shame, mining for gems that
you can later polish into finished works of personal nonfiction (essay or memoir). We’ll spend most of our time together writing.
Richard Hugo House
1634 11th Avenue
Seattle, Washington 98122

"Finding Your Readers in the 21st Century"
A Conference for Writers at Richard Hugo House
At Hugo House's first writers' conference, the focus was on exploring the changing literary landscape and the options available to writers for getting their work out in the world and into the hands of readers. I taught two workshops and participated in a panel discussion. Thanks to all who made the conference so energizing!

Richard Hugo House
1634 11th Avenue
Seattle, Washington 98122

"Rejection: Get Over It"
a panel with Peter Mountford and Bruce Taylor
Saturday, May 22, 3:30 to 4:45 pm
Misery loves company. Peter Mountford brought an impressive box full of rejection letters, Bruce Taylor brought some inspiring stories, and we all shared what we've learned from rejection.

"Goal Setting and Time Management in 90 Minutes
or Less"
Sunday, May 23, 10:00 to 11:15 am
New Year's resolutions and to-do lists won't help you meet your writing goals—but careful goal-setting and even more careful management of your time will. Whether you devote two hours a week or ten hours a day to your writing, this workshop will help you invest that time more wisely, and help you come closer to your ideal writing life.
Participant Cynthia Hartwig, of Sharp Hartwig, said of the workshop: "It's refreshing to see a presenter who keeps the class on track and has all the information figured out and organized, while making it engaging."
See the course handout (two pages) here.
See the two-page "SMART goals" worksheet here.

"How to Write a Killer Query Letter"
Sunday, May 23, 11:30 am to 12:45 pm
Whether you are approaching a possible agent, a magazine editor or the organizer of a chapbook contest, your query letter is your first impression. Come find out how to put your best face forward and give those letter-readers precisely what they expect, no more or less. Tip sheets and examples of successful query letters included. Appropriate for anyone seeking an agent or editor, or hoping to pitch a freelance piece or win poetry chapbook contest.
See the handout (a two-page list of resources) here.

"Telling True Stories"
A workshop presented by
Nova Southeastern University's
Master's in Writing Program
Thursday, March 25, 2010
5:00 to 6:00 pm
Farquhar College of Arts and Sciences
Nova Southeastern University
3301 College Ave., Fort Lauderdale, FL 33314
Students in the Master's in Writing Program at NSU (and a couple of faculty members) attended a free one-hour workshop on the basics of writing narrative nonfiction. And they wrote some wonderful scenes!

Grant Writing for Creative Writers
Hedgebrook Workshops for Writers Program
216 First Avenue South
Grand Central Building third floor conference room
Pioneer Square
Seattle, Washington
6:30 to 8:30 pm
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
In this two-hour, pen-to-paper workshop, you will learn the basics of applying for the grant of your dreams! Please bring the application information for a grant (or similar writers' support program) that you would like to apply for. We'll review some guidelines to keep in mind as you prepare your application, answer all your questions, and complete several writing exercises to get you started. Tips sheets and examples of successful grant applications included.

"Deep Description"
a workshop to benefit Richard Hugo House
part of Write-o-Rama!
Saturday, June 6, 2009
one-hour workshop, offered twice, early in the day
Put your reader there, in the place-moment-environment that your essay-story-poem evokes through your powers of description. Examples from literary masters and everyday household objects will hone our powers of description, which we will unleash on the page!
Richard Hugo House
1634 11th Avenue
Seattle, Washington 98122
Thanks to the thirty-seven writers who attended my workshop and helped raise over ten thousand dollars for Hugo House!

Powerful Schools Workshop:
“Fifteen Ways to Tell the Story”
Two-hour workshop
Richard Hugo House
Capitol Hill, Seattle
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
5:00 to 7:00 pm
In this fast-paced session, we'll zoom through fifteen writing exercises, searching for the best way to get those words on the page. If there’s a story (factual or otherwise) you’ve been itching to tell, this is your chance to anchor those words to the page. Multimedia writing prompts – questions, answers, lines of poetry, images, even scents – will help us open the dusty drawers of memory and empty them out. Each participant will leave with a the elements of a new story draft and a toolbox full of writing exercises for your writing group or your classroom. This session is geared toward middle-school and high school teachers.
Many thanks to the forty teacher-writers who participated, to Arni Adler for organizing this workshop, and to Richard Hugo House for sponsoring it.

Telling True Stories:
A Nonfiction Writing Workshop
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
7:00 to 9:00 pm
King County Library, Mercer Island Branch
4400 88th Ave. SE
Mercer Island, Washington 98040
In this free workshop, open to everyone, we'll spend most of our time writing, inspired by some of the suggestions and examples offered by the contributors to Telling True Stories.

"What a Character!"
Workshop at Write on the Sound,
Edmonds Writing Conference
Sunday, October 5, 2008
9:15 am to 10:45 am
Frances Anderson Center
700 Main Street
Edmonds, Washington 98020
This workshop was open only to participants in the "Write on the Sound" conference -- perhaps the most affordable writers' conference in the Puget Sound region. See more information about the conference here.

Nonfiction Writing Across Borders:
A Free Workshop at the Seattle Public Library
Saturday, September 20, 2008
2:00 to 4:00 pm
Seattle Public Library, University Branch
5009 Roosevelt Way NE
Seattle, Washington 98105
One of the best things about books is that they open up whole worlds, even if readers never leave their living rooms or local libraries. But with new worlds come new borders. In this nonfiction writing workshop, we’ll write and talk about the joys and complications of literary border crossings: writing about cross-cultural communication in a complicated world. Through both writing exercises and discussion, we’ll explore how words and ideas change meaning as they cross borders, and what this means as we try to write "the truth."
Many thanks to Paige Chernow of the Seattle Public Library for organizing this workshop.

"Merging the Mundane with the Metaphysical"
a workshop to benefit Richard Hugo House
part of Write-o-Rama!
Saturday, June 7, 2008
one-hour workshop, offered twice
Richard Hugo House
1634 11th Avenue
Seattle, Washington 98122
Freewrite a first draft in 50 minutes or less! The subtitle to this workshop could be, "life is what happens while we’re busy making other plans.” We’ll brainstorm a list of settings and conflicts, then set about crafting a draft. No experience or special tools required.
This workshop was part of a day-long benefit for Richard Hugo House.

Journal Writing:
A Free Workshop at the Seattle Public Library
Saturday, April 5, 2008
1:00 to 3:00 pm
Seattle Public Library, University Branch
5009 Roosevelt Way N.E.
Seattle, Washington 98105
In this two-hour workshop, we will discuss how to begin and maintain a journal-writing practice, then work through a series of writing prompts to get the ink flowing. We'll conclude with a list of ideas for how to move your writing from private page to public world.
Read the journal-writing resource list I distributed here.

"50 Ways to Tell the Story"
a seven-hour writing marathon
to benefit Richard Hugo House
part of Write-o-Rama!
Saturday, December 1, 2007
10:00 am to 5:00 pm
Richard Hugo House
1634 11th Avenue
Seattle, Washington 98122

"Where Are We From / De Donde Somos "
An English/Spanish Writing Workshop
with the Rozella Poets and Writers Group
Saturday, October 13, 2007
4:00 to 6:00 pm
Café Rozella
9434 Delridge Way SW
Seattle, Washington 98106
Thanks to Laura Gonzalez, Ricardo Guarnero, Leticia Martinez, and David Preston for a lovely event, where thirty poets -- from first-timers to the former Seattle Poet Populist -- created and read work in English, Spanish, and Spanglish.

"It's Not About You" Workshop at Write on the Sound, Edmonds Writing Conference
Saturday, October 6, 2007
4:00 pm
Frances Anderson Center
700 Main Street
Edmonds, Washington 98020
Comments from participants:
"Wow! Packed with useful stuff, amazing depth of subject."
"I will use this stuff the moment I next sit down at my computer."
"I learned so much; she gave me great tools."