Breakthrough Writers Workshop
Saturdays,
April 27 – May 25

Conventional wisdom has it that if writers struggle, it's because their craft is deficient. But what if the answer sometimes lies elsewhere? Writing is a bewildering and anxiety-inducing activity, but from an early age, most of us have internalized various expectations about how it's "supposed" to work. Most of us diverge from these expectations to various degrees – often leading us to think there's something wrong with us.

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I want you to become supremely comfortable with your own writing mind. Our first session will help you celebrate your own process – and those of the other participants.

How do you establish a practice that lets you go deeper into your voice, your process, and your creative projects? 

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We'll examine what you've been learning about yourself as a writer, as well as various strategies you can use to develop a writing practice consistent with your creative needs.

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We'll also delve into strategies for cutting to the core of a story idea, focusing in on what really excites us about a project, and rebuilding any foundations that may be cracked.

For many of us, the most difficult part of the writing process is the middle. How do you keep going? Why is the process so much more frustrating and circuitous for some of us than for others? Perhaps most importantly, is it possible that our very inefficiency can be a strength?

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I believe it can. Struggling with the writing process changes us as people – and it can give the work depths of meaning that it wouldn't have otherwise. Transformation, I argue, is central to the writing process.

Revision – seeing again – can be a particularly difficult part of the writing process. Toward that end, we're going to take a look at one another's writing.

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This critique workshop is inspired by the guidelines of Pixar's Brain Trust. "A good note," writes Ed Catmull in Creativity, Inc., "says what is wrong, what is missing, what isn't clear, what makes no sense. It is offered in a timely manner – not too late to solve the problem. It doesn't make demands – it doesn't even have to include a proposed fix. But if it does, that fix is offered only to illustrate a potential solution – not to prescribe an answer."

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Excellent feedback is an art that looks deeply at the strengths of the work at hand and preserves the autonomy of the writer as they seek to strengthen what's already there. Let's practice that together.

Our final gathering is a celebration. We will discuss what we've learned about how we write, what we write, and what we've learned about ourselves as writers.

Writers will have the opportunity to read excerpts from stories they're proud of writing, and we will offer encouragement and discuss ways to support each other going forward.

For a bonus meeting this June, I am excited to host a Q & A session with neurodivergent publicist Cristina Deptula, founder of the literary publicity agency Authors Large and Small!