Free Humor Writing Workshop, Small Press Publishing Seminar and Available Scholarships
Write or Die Weekly #19
Free Workshop
On May 11th, join Alex Baia, humor writer and editor of Slackjaw, for a free workshop, You Can Be Funny Now: How To Start Writing Humor! Whether you're new to writing humor or you have been dabbling at it for a while, this workshop is for you. Details here
*Scholarships are available for Write or Die workshops. Click here for more details.
Workshop Recently Added
A Writer Walks Into a Bar: The Nuts and Bolts of Writing Humor with Kristen Arnett
Date: Sunday, May 19
Time: 1:00 PM - 3:00 PM EST
Is this workshop recorded? Yes
What makes people laugh? How many ways can you tell a joke and still glean something interesting from the premise? This workshop is a fresh look at everything you need to know about unpacking - and subsequently repackaging - the way comedy sits inside of fiction and non-fiction.
Upcoming Workshops
Saturday, April 13 from 1:00 PM - 4:00 PM (EST)
Small Press Publishing with a Debut Seminar with Emily Jon Tobias
Looking for a publisher to call home for your manuscript? Emily Jon Tobias will share her successes and failures along the journey to find a home for her debut story collection, MONARCH. You will learn about writing query letters (agents vs. presses), tracking submissions, the research process, fees, red flags, green flags, how to best navigate technology with productive, simple tools, and, perhaps most importantly, how to handle the emotional pressure of rejection after rejection.
*This workshop will be recorded if you can’t attend live!
Sunday, April 14 from 2:00 PM- 4:00 PM (EST)
Land Big Bylines by Writing for Columns with
In this workshop, Courtney will explain the crux of popular columns for top publications. You'll do a brainstorming exercise for each, and there will be an opportunity to workshop your ideas and ask questions. You'll receive a list of potential columns and editor contact information for each. By the end, you'll have a game plan for landing your best bylines yet!
*This workshop will be recorded if you can’t attend live!
April 20th & April 27th from 12:00 PM - 3:00 PM EST
Chasing the Chantable: A Two Week Intensive on Sonic Impact in Syntax with Ben Jahn
In this half-class/half-workshop, we'll study the sentence as a site of sound aesthetics and practice techniques to increase our syntax's sonic impact.
This class is for folks who hear “kill your darlings,” and think: but they’re all darlings! For people who see the sentence as its own aesthetic terrain, with tension and energy and momentum within and between each syllabic synapse. We’ll read and discuss the work of writers who do this—who write with and make us read with a tuned ear. Then we’ll practice the techniques in a workshop format.
April 27th from 1:00 PM - 4:00 PM EST
Come Celebrate With Me: A Poetry Intensive with Arriel Vinson
Using Lucille Clifton’s “won’t you celebrate with me ” as a guide, this workshop will examine writing joy and celebration.
You’ll first look deeply at and discuss this poem, then read and discuss other celebratory poems/songs by BIPOC writers. Students will dig into how each celebratory work was created despite the dangers or harm each speaker faced, and how many factors of the world determine how we approach joy.
*This workshop will be recorded if you can’t attend live!
April 28 from 1:00 PM - 4:00 PM (EST)
Exploring Sexuality & Motherhood in Writing with
In this 3 hour workshop, you will experiment with new techniques to explore sex and motherhood in your own writing. Writers will generate new questions about the intersections between motherhood/parenthood and sexuality, develop new terrain for exploration in their work, and gain new craft techniques for embodied, sensory writing.