My online classes can start anytime and anywhere, but I’m teaching a few in-person classes this spring (2020). Here’s where you can find me:
Chicago Writers Association Conference
Chicago Writers Association’s Let’s Just Write! An Uncommon Writers Conference, Chicago, IL, March 21-22, 2020
This conference is in its third year and is already a two-time winner of Writer Magazine’s survey of best conferences in the USA. It takes place at the Warwick Allerton Hotel in downtown Chicago and features a great lineup.
I’ll be teaching a session on What Writers Can Learn from Sports Psychology and another one on Tension on Every Page.
Link: https://www.chicagowrites.org/conference
Writer’s Institute
UW Madison’s Writer’s Institute, Madison, WI, March 26-29
Writer’s Institute has become a powerhouse of a conference, featuring big-name keynote speakers and an impressive and large lineup of instructors. You can attend dozens of sessions, get manuscript critiques, pitch to agents, take master classes and more. Definitely worth checking out.
I’ll be teaching a session on How to Pants, one on How to Handle Exposition, as well as a master class on Writing from the Inside Out
Link: https://uwwritersinstitute.wisc.edu
Saturday Seminars in Madison
Essentials of Writing: Story Structure
Neighborhood House Community Center, Madison, WI, May 16, 2020
Course description: It’s one of the most exploited of all writer insecurities, especially among novelists: does your story have the right structure? We’ll examine the psychological underpinnings of the dramatic arc, and we’ll examine and evaluate several paradigms for story structure. You’ll come away from this course with a better idea of which “plot points” are truly essential and which are optional. Open to writers of all levels and genres.
Link: https://continuingstudies.wisc.edu/classes/essentials-of-writing-story-structure/
Essentials of Writing: Point of View
Neighborhood House Community Center, Madison, WI, June 6, 2020
Course Description: First, second, third; limited, omniscient, unreliable; deep, shallow; present tense, past tense—we’ll unpack the many choices available to writers when it comes to point of view (POV) and the strengths and weaknesses of each. Your narrator is the medium through which readers access your story, so the choice is very important. We’ll help you make that choice. Open to writers of all levels.
Link: https://continuingstudies.wisc.edu/classes/essentials-of-writing-pov/
Write by the Lake
Write by the Lake Writer’s Workshop and Retreat, Madison, WI, June 15-20, 2020
Write by the Lake is a week-long retreat that goes in depth. You sign up for a 5-day course with one instructor and meet for three hours each morning. There are other miscellaneous offerings in the afternoons, and some idyllic writing spots on the shore of Lake Mendota.
I’ll be teaching a course on Engineering a Successful Story Structure, which will give you a solid understanding of story structure and some tools to examine your story holistically.
