Summer Workshop Program Announced!

books by friendsSUMMER ONLINE WORKSHOP PROGRAM

Mix and Match: Take 1, 2, or all 3 workshops!

Tuition and Registration Information

*All classes use a combination of weekly email lectures and assignments, 24/7 email access as well as a private FB page for participants to interact with each other, and a once a week group conference call that allows us to “meet” in real time. (Conference call time will be adjusted to the schedules of those in class)

 

“Nancy has a way with words, certainly, but she also has a way with people that allows her classes to take on a spirit that exceeds instruction or even guidance. Her consistent support and empathy is tempered with gentle nudges to step out of our comfort zones and approach our work, not with abandon, but with careful attention and encouragement.”

~Mara Eve Robbins, winner of the Real Simple essay contest

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JUNE: FINISH THAT MANUSCRIPT

An Online Workshop on Re-visioning, Taking Risks, Taking Yourself Seriously, and Falling Back in Love with Your Vision.

Are you still sitting on that same manuscript? Are you stuck in the writing phase or in the revision process? Or have you “finished” but not gotten the response you wanted out in the world? Are you not sure what comes next? Most of us are better at starting manuscripts than we are at finishing them. But it’s only when we can conceive, create, and bring our projects to fruition that we begin to master the longer form known as a book. Each book we write brings us closer to understanding how to write a book. What phase of the finishing process are you in? And…are you ready to finish?

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JULY: SELF PROMOTION FOR THE SQUEAMISH

Launching Yourself and Your Work Into the World

You wrote the book…so you’re done, right? Wrong. Whether you are self-publishing, traditional publishing, or still undecided, today’s market requires that writers build and sustain their own readership. But how? Who are your readers? Who needs your book? And how do you find them? This workshop can help you uncover blocks to self-promotion, give you practical skills to approaching the market as a professional, and help you understand and take the necessary steps to not just writing a book but building a long term audience for your work.

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AUGUST: WRITING FLASH FICTION

Flash forms have arrived as a backlash to genre boundaries and flash fiction is leading the pack, redefining how we tell stories. By embracing the compressed form, all writers–from poets to novelists–are cultivating a new set of skills and creating an entirely new kind of story. In this workshop we will generate original flash pieces, examine what makes successful flash fiction, and try to differentiate flash from its cousin, the prose poem. This workshop is open to writers with all levels of experience in the form.

Registration and Tuition Information

Finish That Manuscript: Free Workshop Preview Tuesday, June 25th

Summer Project #1: Finish That Manuscript

Each book we write brings us closer to understanding how to write a book. What phase of the finishing process are you in? And…what’s it costing you to not finish?

Three Types of “Finishing”

1. Crossing the Finish Line. In this phase, you’re creating, allowing, and writing yourself to the finish line of that first draft, where you can write The End and give yourself that well deserved glass of port.

In this phase you need the support, motivation, and commitment to get to the end. A first draft is like a lump of clay—it doesn’t have to be perfect, but it does need to be complete before you can start shaping it into the grand vessel it will become.

2. Alligator Wrestling. In this phase you’ve finished a first draft and now you’re in the revision—re-visioning—process. Re-vision. Seeing again. Sometimes it’s hard to see your manuscript with fresh eyes—like looking for your sunglasses when they’re on your head. Yet the true writing magic usually happens in revisions.

In this phase you need new ways of seeing your manuscript differently, both in pieces and as a whole, as well as identifying your strengths and weaknesses as a writer and inviting the potent potential of unexpected possibilities into your work.

3. Becoming a Player. In this phase you and your manuscript prepare to enter the public arena, and the “finishing” has just as much to do with you as a professional. This is the point where we usually long for an agent to swoop in and do all the uncomfortable work of promoting ourselves, but the catch here is that if we want to be taken seriously, we have to start playing seriously.

In this phase you need help with promotional and professional materials including bios, queries, how and why to excerpt, and learning how to avoid the mistakes of looking like an amateur—regardless of your publishing goals.

*Tuesday, June 25th at 7 pm MST, join me for a 30-min FREE WORKSHOP PREVIEW.

Contact me for registration information at nancystohlman@gmail.com

 

Summer Project #1: Finish That Manuscript! An Online Workshop with Nancy Stohlman

the end

Are you still sitting on that same manuscript? Are you stuck in the writing phase or in the revision process? Most of us are better at starting manuscripts than we are at finishing them. But it’s only when we can conceive, create, and bring our projects to fruition that we begin to master the longer form known as a book.

In this 4-week virtual workshop I’ll give you the deadlines you might need, help you structure your writing time into your life, help you transition more easily between creation and revision, and help you become your own best editor. Whether you are planning to submit or self publish, you’ll learn writing tips, editorial and publication advice, how to excerpt and query, and even when to let a manuscript go. And most importantly, you’ll finally rescue your work from the desk drawer and give yourself the satisfaction of completion.

The workshop format will include weekly online instruction, telephone check-ins, and professional line edits (limited). Both fiction and nonfiction manuscripts are welcome.

Are you ready?

  • Four week session begins Monday, July 1.
  • $149 workshop tuition ($75 due upon registration)
  • Bring a friend discount—10% off if you sign up with a friend
  • Available seats: 15

To apply, send the first page of your manuscript as well as a bio/statement of intent to

nancystohlman@gmail.com

Deadline June 30.

**Join me for a 30-min free informational phone session at 7 pm MST on Tuesday, June 25. Contact me for details or for registration information at nancystohlman@gmail.com

Nancy Stohlman is the author of two novels, Searching for Suzi (Monkey Puzzle Press, 2009), and The Monster Opera (forthcoming Bartleby Snopes Press, 2013), and the editor of four anthologies, including Live From Palestine and Fast Forward: The Mix Tape, which was a finalist for a 2011 Colorado Book Award.  In 2004 she founded To Get The Words Right Manuscript Editing, in 2007 she co-founded Fast Forward Press, and over the last 10 years she has helped hundreds of writers bring their manuscripts to completion and move confidently into the public arena. She lives and teaches writing in Denver, writes a semi-weekly blog, Ask A Flash Fiction Editor, and is the proud author of many, many manuscripts in drawers. Read more at www.nancystohlman.com