WRITING GROUPS

A writer is anyone who puts pen to paper, regardless of past experience. You can explore your voice, get inspiration and develop your own writing practice in a safe, nurturing circle using the Amherst Writers and Artists (AWA) method. Groups meet in person for a 6-week series of workshops. Each group is limited to 8-10 writers.

You will work from prompts and then be invited to read what you’ve written. In the reading and the listening, in the sharing of the voices you find and affirm what is working and give and receive feedback that supports the newly created piece.

While writing is not therapy it can be extremely therapeutic. An AWA group provides you with a quiet space to go within. There is no right or wrong way to respond to the prompt in this group. There is only the individual writer’s way – your unique voice, your way in a circle that supports and affirms what you have to say.

These five affirmations (from Writing Alone & With Others by Pat Schneider, Oxford University Press) are essential to the AWA workshop method.

AFFIRMATIONS:
1. Everyone has a strong, unique voice.
2. Everyone is born with creative genius.
3. Writing as an art form belongs to all people, regardless of economic class or educational level.
4. The teaching of craft can be done without damage to a writer’s original voice or artistic self-esteem.
5. A writer is someone who writes.

I am an AWA Affiliate, certified to lead workshops in the AWA method as described in Writing Alone & With Others by Pat Schneider, Oxford University Press.

Contact me for more information. For anyone interested in hosting a group, tuition will be discounted.