Why Attend a Writing Workshop?

Because it’s terribly stimulating to get away from the usual multi-tasking frenzy.

Because getting instruction from a new source can be illuminating.

Because making friends from other states and countries transforms us. 

A writing workshop, or conference, can jump start, change and strengthen writing habits. The best part might be experiencing yourself anew as a serious writer.   

As an emerging writer, I attended several writing workshops—every time getting highly stimulated by the charged atmosphere and the excitement of being with writers talking about writing. The ones I recall are Writers at Work at Westminster College in Salt Lake City (where I met Dawn Marano who would become my editor), Book Passage Travel Writers’ and Photographers Conference in Corte Madera, California (where I met many writers who are still good friends and Don George, then the editor of Wanderlust on Salon.com, who would later publish my first travel essay), and the New York State Summer Writers’ Institute at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs (where I met the essayist Phillip Lopate, who taught me so much and who later wrote a blurb for my book). You get the idea. Life changing. 

Search the web, talk to other writers, and give yourself a gift that can expand your mind.

And consider joining one of my workshops.

I have room for a few more writers in

      

             The Heart of Memoir Writing Workshop 

                  Abruzzo, Italy on May 27—June 2. 

We stay in the lovely medieval town of Santo Stefano di Sessanio in an unspoiled and seldom traveled region of Italy. We hold class in the morning, spend afternoons in the countryside learning about Abruzzo’s ancient culture and evenings enjoying the distinctive Abruzzese cuisine and local Montepulciano d’ Abruzzo, “a deeply colored red with spice notes.” Go to Italy, In Other Words for details, endorsements, enrollment information, lots of photos of the town, the hotel, and of previous workshops.

Ciao Readers!