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The Writer Workshop Weekly News #21! View this email online
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| | February 17, 2020
Issue #21 |
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Hello Writers!
I'm back from my travels and it's back to work at The Writer Workshop...
This week, in addition to the weekly workshops on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday, plus prompt writing events on Tuesday and Sunday, The Writer Workshop offers its Round Table Q&A on Thursday at 7 pm.
The Round Table Q&A is an opportunity for you to get your questions answered. From craft to publishing, from the agent query process to developing a query for magazine editors...anything you want to know about the world of fiction, nonfiction, traditional publishing, or indie/self-publishing, I can help. Come by, have a cup of coffee, and we'll talk.
Just a reminder: Join us on Meetup for all the latest offerings and to RSVP for workshops and classes.
As always, please reply to this message and introduce yourself and let me know what I can help you with.
Enjoy the journey!
Gregory
Gregory A. Kompes (MFA, MS Ed.)
Founder of The Writer Workshop |
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Events: February 17-23, 2020
Monday, 2/17: 7 pm Writer Workshop ($5) Tuesday, 2/18: 7 pm Fiction through Prompts ($10) Wednesday, 2/19: 1 pm Writer Workshop ($5) Wednesday, 2/19: 7 pm LGBTQ+ Writer Workshop ($5) Thursday, 2/20: 7 pm Writer Round Table Q&A ($10) Friday, 2/21: CLOSED Saturday, 2/22: 12 pm Writer Workshop ($5) Sunday, 2/23: 2 pm Fiction through Prompts ($10)
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| | We Write from Experience
by Gregory A. Kompes
I have always considered myself to be a "student of life." Back in my early twenties, this was because I'd chosen to drop out of college to be a musician. For a decade I traveled a lot of the world playing music.
Later, after I discovered music didn't pay enough to actually live, I had day jobs in PR, finance, and banking.
That launched me back into school (because the day jobs paid for it!) And, I began my pursuit of a writing career. Since that first degree, I've gone on to get two others, including an MFA in Creative Writing.
Possibly more importantly, I've continued to travel the world and have lots of experiences in the process. Just recently, I hugged a sloth in Honduras and wandered the Lamanai Maya ruins and climbed the tallest Maya temple ever discovered.
There's an old adage that we should write what we know. I'm happy to challenge that notion. With a bit of research we can learn about anything. And, with a bit of effort, we can certainly put ourselves into the shoes of a character who does things we would never do.
But, still, we hear: write what you know.
I don't think this applies to only writing about out personal experiences. Instead, we need to find the emotional connections our characters experience and those we derive from our own emotional experiences.
And, yet, there's still something important to be said about having as many personal experiences as we possibly can. We should see and hear and taste and touch and experience as much of the world as we possibly can. We should visit locations far and wide and then write them into our books and stories.
Make it a goal to have experiences that are worth writing about. Because, while you can learn a lot about sloths from the Internet, there's nothing like spending time hugging one, touching their thick, slightly oily fur, looking into their dark eyes and being warmed by their odd, smiling face, while being pricked by their long claws as they slowly and gently push them into you for balance and stability. |
| | | | | February Book Club Selection
Zen in the Art of Writing
by Ray Bradbury
"Every morning I jump out of bed and step on a land mine. The land mine is me. After the explosion, I spend the rest of the day putting the pieces back together. Now, it's your turn. Jump!" Zest. Gusto. Curiosity. These are the qualities every writer must have, as well as a spirit of adventure. In this exuberant book, the incomparable Ray Bradbury shares the wisdom, experience, and excitement of a lifetime of writing. Here are practical tips on the art of writing from a master of the craft-everything from finding original ideas to developing your own voice and style-as well as the inside story of Bradbury's own remarkable career as a prolific author of novels, stories, poems, films, and plays. Zen In The Art Of Writing is more than just a how-to manual for the would-be writer: it is a celebration of the act of writing itself that will delight, impassion, and inspire the writer in you. In it, Bradbury encourages us to follow the unique path of our instincts and enthusiasms to the place where our inner genius dwells, and he shows that success as a writer depends on how well you know one subject: your own life.
Get your copy today at The Writer Workshop or Amazon |
| | Fiction Through Prompts
The popular Fiction through Prompts. Each session includes writing to a “high end” prompt, reading our work, receiving a bit of feedback, and a short lecture on a literary device.
This weekly event allows you to step outside your box, to disrupt your usual thought process by writing to a prompt without advance thought. You hear the prompt, and then write for about 20 minutes. Participants then read their work and receive a bit of light feedback. It's an informative and sometimes transformation process.
Tuesday, February 18 at 7 pm ($10)
and Sunday, February 23 at 2 pm |
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