WRITING WORKSHOP: January and February!

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Join me for the next eight weeks in this new, private writing workshop, guided by Buddhist principles and my many years of experience as a writer and writing teacher.

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$150, limited to twenty participants. January and February!

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We will create a relaxed and free writing space where you can explore, have fun, loosen the grip of inner editors, take risks, work on existing projects, and have a conversation about your writing in a safe, contained environment.

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Each week, I will provide two or three writing prompts to help get the words flowing. You can use them as you wish. They may be photographs, lists of words, tried-and-true exercises, or suggestions for a formatted poem.

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All levels of writing experience are welcome.

Submissions can be made anonymously too, if you like.

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Here, you will have a safe container of community to share and celebrate your writing.

Feedback from others in the group will therefore be at your request. You will ask for what you need in terms of critique, if any.

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And I will provide weekly tools and lessons in how to offer and receive feedback on your writing that make it a painless and enjoyable and celebratory activity.

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Writing prompts will be posted on the Sunday evening of each week (January 3, 10, 17, 24). Submissions will be due on the Friday of each week: January 8, 15, 22, and 29. (And continuing weekly through February too).

You may contribute more than one submission.

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You will be able to post your submission in the private Facebook group I have created, “Shave Your Head,” which can be accessed only by people in the class.

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If you wish to post an anonymous submission, you can send it to me anonymously via a form on my writing group website page, and I will post it to the Facebook group for you.

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If you are not on Facebook, no worries: I will post everything here, too, on this hidden web page. You will even be able to make your submissions here on the contact form below.  

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Anyone can remain anonymous at any time: perhaps there will be things you really, really need to write, but to which you don’t want to sign your name quite yet. That’s perfectly fine. There's some freedom to be found there!

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Safety. Ease. Fun. Learning. Finding your voice. Remembering. Even, “sticking it to the man,” as my son might put it. Saying what you see.

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Four weeks. $150, payable via PayPal or Venmo. DM, email, or text me to sign up.

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About me:

BA in English, MFA in fiction writing.

Published author of fiction, poetry, and prose. Ongoing blog. Recent article in The New York Times about working with COVID patients. See my website for examples and CV.

Four years’ experience teaching essay and fiction writing to freshmen and juniors at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

One year at Amherst College summer program for high school students in creative writing.

Seven years’ experience teaching writing and literature at elementary and high school levels.

Student of Peter Elbow, John Edgar Wideman, James Tate, others. Graduate student prize for the best essay on the teaching of writing.

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Why “Shave Your Head”?

Shaving my head was something I had never done before 2019. I was afraid to, I saw no reason to do so. There came a certain point, outside of my Zen practice, when I thought: what the hell. What is there to lose?

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So January 2021 is brand new. Tomorrow!

In your writing, what is there to lose? In your writing, how can you be both a risk-taker, and a giver? Nothing to lose.