Writing As Refuge – workshop overview

A workshop for all writers, all levels

OVERVIEW OF THE DAYLONG WORKSHOP

I. Writing as Process — First half of the day focuses on writing as process paced with some discussion and writing to hone awareness of the deeply personal nature each of us brings to it.

1. Jumping in, feet, head, and hands first – a fun little exercise to prime the pump (Hint: we’ll be using memory, real and false.)

2. Brief Introductions – Hello, my name is . . . what I hope to achieve . . . .

3. Process from the inside out: Brief chat on blocks & obstacles (acute & chronic) to writing process, real & perceived (or imagined). I’ll share a bit on my work to break through (using meditation, art therapy) and point to Tolstoy, Hemingway, Woolf, Styron, and other luminaries who all had it. Can you name writing’s Public Enemy No. 1?

4. From the outside in: We’ll read a couple of short pieces, one on the magic & mystique of writing (how it lets our hidden self/material float to the surface); and a second short essay that exemplifies how the deeply personal telegraphs or unpacks the universal.

5. A Letter to the Editor – You will write something so unbridled, so telling, so revealing, and maybe even hair-raising and breathtaking that only you will decide whether or not you want to share it. Instructions to come in class.

6. The Writer’s 7-Step Prescription to cultivate your “autonomic writing system” – This is a bare bones overview (with personal writing exercises) of the actual physical and mental journey writers encounter in getting to place of confidence, trust, and elation in their process. Briefly, it draws from Elizabeht Kubler-Ross’s stages of dying, Zen meditation, and my personal experience of overcoming resistance to writing. (A helpful acronym: DABDA+EN – to be decoded.)

7. Your Passion as Prose: First a silent period of writing about the passion that drives or inspires you to write (vs. any other art form) followed by a brief group discussion (Talk Your Story). Participants have the option of saving their piece to share in private with me, the instructor, in the private sessions upcoming.

8. Piece of Your Heart (or Prose as Passion): I now guide you to write a focused piece based on our previous discussion and exercise. (Brief discussion of “lede,” importance of, and why is it “lede,” not “lead.”) Note, this is not a random “writing prompt.” It is specifically focused on you and your material. Personal anecdote to come: The Most Splendid Duck.

9. LUNCH BREAK – I like to keep the connection with you all by eating together and just informally chatting. But anyone is free to go off alone and return for next half.

10. Private Sessions – While the group continues to work on specific writing, I will take each participant one on one to talk about his/her writing, content and process.

Focus on content, style

11. The six key elements of good writing – presentation of each followed by writing, applying to the piece you’re working on.

A. Includes the Seventh Element – breaking rules, when, how, why. (Hint: Who is the reader?) I’ll read a short piece – with all the elements and we’ll continue writing until the final hour.

B. Includes brief discussion of Truths, Half-Truths, and Truths-and-a-Half in writing. When, if ever, is bending, re-focusing, refracting, embroidering truth permissible in creative non-fiction?

C. Includes discussion of plot & theme, how they apply whether you write fiction or non-fiction, how there is never-ending debate on the number of plots that all literature falls under. Some say one universal plot. Others say there are 3, 7, 20, or 36 possible different plots (or for our purposes, themes). I’ll tell you about all of them. Can you name the two elements that keep readers reading a story?

12. The last 45 minutes of the workshop is dedicated to integrating writing as process & content.

Handouts with workshop overview and reading list to be given out.