Workshops
FREE Saturday Writes
Looking for a welcoming space to write with others? As we head into fall, you’re invited to brew a cup of tea and write with Wild Fern Writers. In our Zoom studio, we offer prompts to fire your imagination, and opportunities to read aloud and receive only affirming feedback, following the Amherst Writers and Artists’ method. This two-hour generative workshop is for writers of all levels of confidence and expertise. To celebrate that “back to school” feeling, these two workshops are offered free of charge.
Saturday Writes
Single workshop or 3-workshop series
Ready to commit to a regular writing practice in a supportive circle of writers? In our Zoom studio, we provide creative prompts to fire your imagination, and opportunities to read aloud and receive only affirming feedback, following the Amherst Writers and Artists’ method. This two-hour generative workshop is for writers of all levels of confidence and expertise. Register for individual workshops or get the series at a discounted rate!
$25.00 per workshop
$65.00 for the 3-workshop series (save $10)
Saturdays: October 12, 19 and 26, 2024, 10:00 am – 12:00 pm Pacific Time
Cultivating Your Poetic Voice
Single workshop or 2- workshop Series
Longing to write poetry or prose that sparkles? This workshop offers a variety of poems as prompts for our writing, allowing a line or theme to inspire our muses. No prior poetry experience needed, only a desire to be playful. We will read example poems, draft our own writing, read aloud, and offer each other affirming feedback. Register for individual workshops or get the two-workshop series at a discounted rate.
$25.00 per workshop
Saturday, November 9, 2024, 10:00 am – 12:00 pm Pacific Time
Saturday, November 16, 2024, 10:00 am – 12:00 pm Pacific Time
$45.00 for 2-workshop series (save $5)
Saturdays: November 9 and 16, 10:00 am – 12:00 pm Pacific Time
Exploring Memory
Single workshop
Barbara Kingsolver said, “Memory is a complicated thing, a relative to truth, but not its twin.” In this workshop, we will write in response to prompts that invite us to rediscover moments from our lives through memory (or imagination), read our work aloud, and offer only affirming feedback, following the Amherst Writers and Artists’ guidelines.
$25.00
Saturday, November 23, 2024, 10 am to 12:00 pm Pacific Time.
If you are able to support reduced or waived workshop fees for other writers, your donation in any amount is welcome here.
Are Wild Fern Writers workshops for me?
These workshops are for you if :
- You are ready to write your truth.
- You want to write deeply into the heart of things.
- You are ready to strengthen your writing muscles.
- You crave a community of writers to inspire and support your writing.
- You need structure to get writing, but once you get started, there’s no stopping you.
- You are poised to move out of your comfort zone and make some writing magic!
What to expect at a Wild Fern Writers workshop?
- Our workshops are designed to offer inspiration, motivation, and camaraderie in a community of writers.
- In a virtual (Zoom) writing studio, we gather in an intimate group of writers guided by an experienced facilitator.
- We introduce ourselves and get centered with a brief guided mindfulness exercise.
- We review the Amherst Writers & Artists’ guiding values and practices. The Amherst Writers & Artists’ method follows two practices that distinguish it from other methods you might be familiar with.
- First, we treat all writing as art, created narrative, or literature. Even if it is written in the first person, we never assume the writing is autobiographical. While this may feel artificial at first, it allows us as writers and listeners to experience the distance between who we are and how we tell our stories.
- Second, AWA workshops ask us to listen in a different way than we usually do in our lives. We don’t listen to help the writer or fix the writing. We are asked to leave behind our own experiences and expectations and enter into the universe that the writer has created. We listen for and notice the craft choices a writer has made.
- We freewrite in response to creative prompts for five, ten or more minutes, followed by an opportunity to read aloud what we’ve written, with or without feedback from other writers. Writers are welcome to write in any genre and reading is always optional.
- Unlike traditional workshop critiques, when we offer feedback, we focus on what is working well, what is strong, and what is memorable in the writing. We believe newly drafted writing isn’t ready for a full critique, and that affirming feedback helps writers build on their strengths.
- Workshops often close with the reading of a poem.