From Travel Blog to Travel Essay                                             
w/travel writer and novelist,  Barbara Sjoholm,                                                                                                 Tuesdays, 4:00-5:00p.m. Feb 21-Mar 20th, 5 weeks, $75.

     You’ve been keeping journals of your travels or posting to a blog about your trip. Is there more to explore in a longer and deeper narrative about your journey and your encounters with other cultures? Bring your colorful bits and pieces of description and insight to this class and we’ll work on quilting them together into essays. We’ll look at using photographs, research, and objects to enhance the narratives, and we will pay special attention to methods of revision that bring distant places and people to life.

     Barbara Sjoholm is the author of The Palace of the Snow Queen: Winter Travels in Lapland, The Pirate Queen, and other works of creative nonfiction and fiction. Her travel essays have been published in Smithsonian, Slate, andThe New York Times.

Works-In-Progress w/Anna Quinn
Mar 14th - Apr 25th, 2:00-3:30  7 weeks, $105                                                 

Good writing evokes sensation in the reader. Not the fact that it is raining, but the feeling of being rained upon.     E.L. Doctorow

     Whether you are on the first sentence or the last sentence of a novel, a short
story, memoir, or magazine article, this workshop will take your writing to the next level and keep your momentum going.  Maybe you wonder if your pace is effective or if your flashbacks work. Should you switch to third person? Is your imagery vivid enough? Perhaps you even wonder if you are wasting your time. Each week you will bring a 300-1000 word piece to share with the group. You will receive honest, yet kind, feedback. As writers, we spend much of our time alone. Participating in an in-person community that cheers us on, shares our frustrations and joys and understands both the drudgery and thrill of writing can make all the difference in our writing skill development and confidence.

 Creative Writing Exercises w/Anna Quinn

Jun 14th - July 26th (no class Jul 5th) 12:00- 1:00p.m., 6 weeks. $60. Drop in - $10 per session

    Writing exercises have long been a part of elevating the art of writing for new and established writers. Just as every singer, dancer, and visual artist, must constantly practice, so too must the writer. Come lose yourself in the magic of writing and tap into the energy that keeps your writing alive.

    Sometimes we need to replenish our storehouse of images. As Julia Cameron says, “We need to take the time to romance and woo our creative consciousness. Even the smallest amount of creative word play will have an immediate and beneficial impact on your writing.”

    In this workshop you’ll experience a variety of exercises each geared toward strengthening a specific element of writing: sensory description, voice,  dialogue, setting, characterization, plot, point of view and tone.  At the same time you’ll have great fun loosening up your imagination and perhaps you'll find places in your mind you may have not known about.

This workshop is intended to keep young writers playing with words both in and beyond the classroom. In the eight weeks together students will explore genres of their choice. Each session will begin with a warm-up to relax and excite our imaginations. From here our time will be spent engaged in writing exercises, fine-tuning works-in-progress, learning beneficial ways to express feedback and discussing what authors inspire us. At the end of each session, writers will be encouraged to read a piece of writing to the group. For those more shy or comfortable with the written word just where it is, on paper, no pressure.

Mainly, the weeks ahead will be for personal discovery in a comfortable space where the word and page meet. As Shel Silverstein put it, “If you are a dreamer come in.”

Phil Montenegro is a poet and short-fiction writer who has tutored Elementary to College aged students in writing. Although, Phil isn't certain when his love for writing started, he knows what pushed him to keep going. In High School, during a particularly long New England Winter, his mom initiated a night revolved around writing. Every Tuesday after dinner, setting aside any interruptions, Phil and his family shared a piece they had written. This would inevitably lead to conversation, discussion and further encouragement. Montenegro's love for the written word led him to start and run monthly poetry readings in college. He has published in Ayris Literary Magazine, Valley NewsNewspaper and is the recipient of the New Hampshire Institute of Art's Capstone Thesis Paper Award

Memoir Shape and Structure I                                         Instructor: Anna Quinn                                                                                Dates: Every other Friday for 6 weeks:                                                        March 16, March 30, April 13th, April 27th, May 11th,  May 25th.                          Time:2:304:00p.m.                                                                                                         Cost:$90.                                                                                                                            

Description of workshop:

“The only journey is the one within.”~Rilke

This workshop is open to writers of all levels who have a memoir project underway or have a collection of anecdotes, musings and stories they desire to transform into memoir.Through the process of facilitated discussions, exercises and feedback regarding their own work, writers will:

~begin and develop their memoir by identifying key events and turning points to

  create a narrative arc. 

~ identify details and imagery to evoke emotion rather than insist upon it.

~identify what to include and what doesn’t belong.

~Identify and effectively weave together the voice of the writer's younger self

with the  adult, reflective voice.

Memoir; Shape and Structure 2 with Anna Quinn
The workshop meets every other Saturday from 11:30-1:30 and is limited to nine participants.
Meeting dates:                                                               Apr 21st, May 5th, May 26th, Jun 9, Jun 23rd,                     5 weeks, $100

          “The only journey is the one within.”~Rilke

     This workshop is a continuation of Memoir Shape and Structure I. We will continue to study and develop the structural elements from Memoir I while moving into deeper layers of your memoir. Using scenes from your own work we will help you:

 ~ identify key events and turning points to further develop your narrative arc. 

~ identify details and imagery to evoke emotion rather than insist upon it.

~ identify what to include and what doesn’t belong.

 ~identify and effectively weave together the voice of your younger self with your adult, reflective voice.

Note: Though it is not required that a participant complete Memoir I prior to Memoir II, it is critical the participant have a loosely developed time-line of significant events and an overall sense of theme and purpose.  Memoir I will be offered again in our spring series.

Poetry-In-Progress w/PeterQuinn                                                              Meeting dates:                                                                                              Mar 10, Mar 24th, Apr 7th, Apr 21st, May 5th,                                                   May 26th, Jun 9th, Jun 23rd,                                                                   8 weeks, 2:00 - 3:30 p.m., $120

“Poetry is the rhythmical creation of beauty in words.” Poe

All poetry works at one level, when it inspires and triggers meaning for the poet. The poet then has a choice whether or not they want their poetry to work for others. Usually the answer is yes. The next step is to share it with others, gather their observations, make discoveries about the craft and the power of poetry as they write, share, revise and read the work of other poets. Using the third person approach while providing observations on a poets' work, this class provides a safe, consultative place to see where you want to take your poetry next. 

In this workshop, you will have the support of fellow poets encouraging your individual poetic “voice” and perhaps write something stronger and truer than ever before.

Good writing evokes sensation in the reader. Not the fact that it is raining, but the feeling of being rained upon.     E.L. Doctorow

     Whether you are on the first sentence or the last sentence of a novel, a short
story, memoir, or magazine article, this workshop will take your writing to the next level and keep your momentum going.  Maybe you wonder if your pace is effective or if your flashbacks work. Should you switch to third person? Is your imagery vivid enough? Perhaps you even wonder if you are wasting your time. Each week you will bring a 300-1000 word piece to share with the group. You will receive honest, yet kind, feedback. As writers, we spend much of our time alone. Participating in an in-person community that cheers us on, shares our frustrations and joys and understands both the drudgery and thrill of writing can make all the difference in our writing skill development and confidence.

“Writing a poem is discovering.” ~Robert Frost.

The main purpose of this workshop is to provide a safe and nourishing environment for young writers to explore, create, and share poetry. The first half of each workshop will be spent sharing a poem with fellow poets, and giving (and learning to give) thoughtful, constructive, and encouraging feedback. There will be a few options (depending on the needs and wants of the group) for the second half of each session: Learning different/new poetic forms; using writing prompts to generate new work; sharing the works of favorite and inspiring poets. There will also be handouts at every session of various essays on the craft of poetry.

Jason S. Squire has dabbled in words off and on for roughly 14,643 days...give or take. For 3 years in the 90’s he wrote the award winning music column “Soundbitten” for The Island Independent newspaper. He started writing poems four years ago, after being diagnosed with a sleep disorder, and found poetry to be the simplest path to exploring the hard questions of life: "Who am I? What am I doing? Where am I going?" He is sleeping very well now, and dreams of one day writing the great American short short story. Jason is currently working on a chapbook entitled Love In The Time Of Apnea.

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