Showing posts with label Pima Writers' Workshop. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pima Writers' Workshop. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 21, 2014
Pima Writers' Workshop
Just a week before the Pima Writers' Workshop in Tucson. I'm looking forward to it. For encouragement, inspiration, skills development, and a wonderful learning experience, it is tops.
Tuesday, July 2, 2013
Pima Writers' Workshop
Pima Writers' Workshop 2013
encouraged me, inspired me, and increased my writing skills and understanding.
I hope my few notes have given you a
hint of how great a learning experience this wonderful workshop can be. Often
what I gained can't be crystallized into a few words. And what you gain would
be different from what I gain; we each bring different experiences and skills
with us and respond uniquely.
You'll just have to experience it
yourself.
Sometimes my words simply can not
capture the insights given by the emotional impact of the presenter's life.
Time with Nancy Mairs will change your life. www.nancymairs.com
Robert Gover, Tanya Chernov
(www.tanyachernov.com), and Debra Gwartney (www.debragwartney.com) also
enriched the this year's workshop with their experiences.
A lot of writers like to talk to good
agents because they are about as hard to find as a deer on the third day of
deer season. This year Gordon Warnock, a founding partner of Foreword Literary,
stood in the light. (forewordliterary.com)
Mark it on your calendar. It is
always the Memorial Day weekend in May. Thursday night is the reception; Friday
through Sunday, the lectures, readings, and exercises. It is a remarkable
opportunity to have a short one-on-one with an author about up to twenty pages
of your work. Be advised to have that work done and ready to send by the start
of May.
As May approaches keep looking for
information at www.pima.edu; if you do not find it, email Pima Writers'
Workshop Director, Meg Files.
(mfiles@pima.edu)
Wednesday, June 12, 2013
Kate Braverman
KATE BRAVERMAN
One of Kate Braverman's presentations
was 'Writing with Criminal Intent'. Some of the things that stand out from that
for me are:
1. Find out what you can do and do
it until you drop.
2. Writing is a sequence of
illusions.
3. Write for the ten most
intelligent people you know.
4.
There is no one sunset; be specific.
5.
Make good use of time travel words.
6.
Landscapes are the fetal cells of writing.
7. Write with attitude.
8.
The reader needs authority and consistency.
9.
Use the reverse play -- the opposite of expectation.
10. Rhythm and cadence; read it
aloud.
In the afternoon she also presented a
writing exercise. Pima Writers' Workshop has so many good choices that I missed
it, but a published friend told me that it made the whole conference for him.
Saturday, June 8, 2013
What I did on my summer vacation.
Every year on the Memorial Day weekend Pima Writers' Workshop draws me for my summer vacation. While I haven't attended all years I attend most years and want to attend all years.
Over the next few posts I'll try to relate some of the things that I learned there this year. For me repetition, repetition, repetition is needed before I learn anything. The catch 22 here is that I get bored rapidly with repetition. That's why the workshop is so valuable for me; it presents in a myriad of ways basic lessons and skills that are needed by every writer. It helps me develop the skills that I need as a writer.
And it takes time for me to make what I learn part of me. Knowing something doesn't mean that I will do it. It also doesn't mean that I fully understand it. Only time, effort, and failure yield results.
Over the next few posts I'll try to relate some of the things that I learned there this year. For me repetition, repetition, repetition is needed before I learn anything. The catch 22 here is that I get bored rapidly with repetition. That's why the workshop is so valuable for me; it presents in a myriad of ways basic lessons and skills that are needed by every writer. It helps me develop the skills that I need as a writer.
And it takes time for me to make what I learn part of me. Knowing something doesn't mean that I will do it. It also doesn't mean that I fully understand it. Only time, effort, and failure yield results.
Wednesday, June 5, 2013
Pima Writers' Workshop
Just back from Pima Writers' Workshop. Another great workshop giving me a lot of ideas and tools to help with my writing. Every year on Memorial Day weekend, Thursday night through Sunday afternoon, the workshop happens. It is a great mix of lectures, writing exercises, and readings. It is a wonderful chance to meet the authors, poets, and agents. You can also find writing groups interested in new members.
It is a great place to find understanding, help, and inspiration for your writing.
It is a great place to find understanding, help, and inspiration for your writing.
Saturday, May 11, 2013
Pima Writers' Workshop
PIMA WRITERS' WORKSHOP
Starting the evening of May 23, 2013 and running through the afternoon of May 26, 2013, Pima Writers' Workshop is a not to be missed event. It is in Tucson, Arizona at the Pima County Community College West Campus. For more information contact Meg Files at mfiles@pima.edu
Starting the evening of May 23, 2013 and running through the afternoon of May 26, 2013, Pima Writers' Workshop is a not to be missed event. It is in Tucson, Arizona at the Pima County Community College West Campus. For more information contact Meg Files at mfiles@pima.edu
Friday, June 17, 2011
Pima Writers' Workshop
Pima Writers’ Workshop
At the end of May every year in Tucson, Meg Files puts on a great workshop at Pima County Community College. The first time I went there in trepidation as the week before Tucson hadn’t broken a hundred, on the down side. The days had been one hundred and ten. But for the conference the weather had broken--only one hundred and four during the day and ninety for a low. But for writers, the hottest thing in Tucson is not the weather, it is the conference -- on fire with ideas, techniques, enthusiasm, and writers looking to improve their craft. It is a workshop that I would not miss.
Being from Wisconsin, letting the Arizona heat thoroughly bake the winter from my bones rates high on my list of reasons to go to Tucson. But a workshop at a “community” college left me skeptical. My hesitancy came from two directions. First, what did a “community” college have to offer? Certainly a University would offer more, I thought. Second, wouldn’t the attendees be just a bunch of young local students? I might not fit in well.
I was wrong on both counts. The Pima Writers Workshop’s excellence shines. It is first class. I doubt if there is a better three day program anywhere. The conference draws a lot of youth who add an excitement and vitality to the sessions. But it also draws a full range of other writers covering all ages, interests, and skills. This group sizzles with motivation and boils with enthusiasm.
There is no one more enthusiastic than Meg Files as she brings her recipe for a successful workshop to life. I divine her recipe to be:
Ingredients
(use only the best and freshest)
There is no doubt that Meg Files knows how to cook. Her books include: Meridian 144 (a novel), Home is the Hunter and Other Stories, Turning Your Personal Experiences into Compelling Stories, The Love Hunter and other Poems, and Galapagos Triptych: Three Ways of Seeing the Galapagos Islands. She teaches creative writing and chairs the English and Journalism Department at Pima Community College.
You need to know that to schedule a manuscript consultation, you must register, submit one manuscript, and pay the fee (around $100 for non-credit) by the first week in May. If you are not having a manuscript reviewed, you can register at the reception. The manuscript consultations are done by most of the session leaders. They try and match you up with your manuscript reader preference. This manuscript consultation is a great opportunity and motivation. Not only do they make notations on your work but they talk with you one on one about it.
One year Bob Mayer ( http://www.bobmayer.org/ ) reviewed my short story. He writes under Robert Doherty (Area 51, Atlantis, and Psychic Warrior series plus Bodyguard of Lies) and under Bob Mayer for his non-fiction books. He is a best selling author with millions of books in print. I was so over awed that I couldn’t even think of an intelligent question to ask.
Another year Frank X. Gaspar reviewed my work. I’m still working on his suggestions to slow down, take time to develop the scene, paint your images. Frank is a poet, novelist, and professor whose works include: Leaving Pico ( a novel), A Field Guide to Heaven (a collection of poems), and Night of a Thousand Blossoms (a collection of poems). For more on Frank see: http://www.frankgaspar.com/ .
Journalist turned novelist, Masha Hamilton, urged me to get into the people and the whys of their actions. The Camel Bookmobile, Staircase of a Thousand Steps, and The Distance Between Us are three of her novels. More can be found at: http://www.mashahamilton.com/ .
This year Jo-Ann Mapson ( http://www.joannmapson.com/ ), author of Solomon’s Oak, looked at one of my short stories. She is very strong on layering and on crafting stories to catch the emotions of the reader.
Leaving the lonely solitary work of writing and getting out to a writers conference where you can meet and talk to other writers, hear their difficulties, inspirations, and solutions, can energize your writing. This one will set it on fire.
Pima Writers’ Workshop at the end of May is hot, a white hot crucible of ideas and inspiration. Don’t miss it. Don’t forget the suntan lotion. This year the weather was perfect -- sunny, dry, and mostly in the eighties.
MORE INFORMATION
Pima Community College
West Campus
2202 W. Anklam Rd.
Tucson, AZ 85709-0200
www.pima.edu
telephone 520/206-4500
At the end of May every year in Tucson, Meg Files puts on a great workshop at Pima County Community College. The first time I went there in trepidation as the week before Tucson hadn’t broken a hundred, on the down side. The days had been one hundred and ten. But for the conference the weather had broken--only one hundred and four during the day and ninety for a low. But for writers, the hottest thing in Tucson is not the weather, it is the conference -- on fire with ideas, techniques, enthusiasm, and writers looking to improve their craft. It is a workshop that I would not miss.
Being from Wisconsin, letting the Arizona heat thoroughly bake the winter from my bones rates high on my list of reasons to go to Tucson. But a workshop at a “community” college left me skeptical. My hesitancy came from two directions. First, what did a “community” college have to offer? Certainly a University would offer more, I thought. Second, wouldn’t the attendees be just a bunch of young local students? I might not fit in well.
I was wrong on both counts. The Pima Writers Workshop’s excellence shines. It is first class. I doubt if there is a better three day program anywhere. The conference draws a lot of youth who add an excitement and vitality to the sessions. But it also draws a full range of other writers covering all ages, interests, and skills. This group sizzles with motivation and boils with enthusiasm.
There is no one more enthusiastic than Meg Files as she brings her recipe for a successful workshop to life. I divine her recipe to be:
Ingredients
(use only the best and freshest)
1. A dozen award winning authors of novels, short stories, children’s books, memoirs,
plays, and non-fiction
2. A couple of agents looking for talent
3. Two or three outstanding poets
Mix together in a reception for participants. Separate into lectures, readings, writing
exercises, question and answer periods, and individual manuscript consultations. Add choice for the participants. Let everything meld over three days in the cool auditoriums and meeting rooms of Pima Community College’s West Campus in Tucson.
plays, and non-fiction
2. A couple of agents looking for talent
3. Two or three outstanding poets
Mix together in a reception for participants. Separate into lectures, readings, writing
exercises, question and answer periods, and individual manuscript consultations. Add choice for the participants. Let everything meld over three days in the cool auditoriums and meeting rooms of Pima Community College’s West Campus in Tucson.
There is no doubt that Meg Files knows how to cook. Her books include: Meridian 144 (a novel), Home is the Hunter and Other Stories, Turning Your Personal Experiences into Compelling Stories, The Love Hunter and other Poems, and Galapagos Triptych: Three Ways of Seeing the Galapagos Islands. She teaches creative writing and chairs the English and Journalism Department at Pima Community College.
You need to know that to schedule a manuscript consultation, you must register, submit one manuscript, and pay the fee (around $100 for non-credit) by the first week in May. If you are not having a manuscript reviewed, you can register at the reception. The manuscript consultations are done by most of the session leaders. They try and match you up with your manuscript reader preference. This manuscript consultation is a great opportunity and motivation. Not only do they make notations on your work but they talk with you one on one about it.
One year Bob Mayer ( http://www.bobmayer.org/ ) reviewed my short story. He writes under Robert Doherty (Area 51, Atlantis, and Psychic Warrior series plus Bodyguard of Lies) and under Bob Mayer for his non-fiction books. He is a best selling author with millions of books in print. I was so over awed that I couldn’t even think of an intelligent question to ask.
Another year Frank X. Gaspar reviewed my work. I’m still working on his suggestions to slow down, take time to develop the scene, paint your images. Frank is a poet, novelist, and professor whose works include: Leaving Pico ( a novel), A Field Guide to Heaven (a collection of poems), and Night of a Thousand Blossoms (a collection of poems). For more on Frank see: http://www.frankgaspar.com/ .
Journalist turned novelist, Masha Hamilton, urged me to get into the people and the whys of their actions. The Camel Bookmobile, Staircase of a Thousand Steps, and The Distance Between Us are three of her novels. More can be found at: http://www.mashahamilton.com/ .
This year Jo-Ann Mapson ( http://www.joannmapson.com/ ), author of Solomon’s Oak, looked at one of my short stories. She is very strong on layering and on crafting stories to catch the emotions of the reader.
Leaving the lonely solitary work of writing and getting out to a writers conference where you can meet and talk to other writers, hear their difficulties, inspirations, and solutions, can energize your writing. This one will set it on fire.
Pima Writers’ Workshop at the end of May is hot, a white hot crucible of ideas and inspiration. Don’t miss it. Don’t forget the suntan lotion. This year the weather was perfect -- sunny, dry, and mostly in the eighties.
MORE INFORMATION
Pima Community College
West Campus
2202 W. Anklam Rd.
Tucson, AZ 85709-0200
www.pima.edu
telephone 520/206-4500
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