creative writing workshops

SECOND CLASS ADDED! August 1, 9-1, Creative Writing Kickstart: Writing from Life

Posted on by alisonmcghee

NOTE: DEAR FRIENDS, THE FIRST CLASS FILLED IMMEDIATELY SO I’M ADDING A SECOND SECTION THE DAY AFTER, ON SATURDAY, AUGUST 1, FROM 9 AM TO 1 PM, AT 3554 BRYANT AVENUE SOUTH IN UPTOWN MINNEAPOLIS.

Date and venue have changed, but everything else remains the same. Changes below noted IN CAPS.

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Greetings, friends, Minnesotans and countrypeople,

I’m offering a one-day Creative Writing Kickstart workshop on SATURDAY MORNING, AUGUST 1 in Minneapolis. The focus of the Kickstart is writing from life: where you are now, where you were, and points in between. We’ll do several brief writings, discuss some short published works (provided) and talk about various aspects of craft and process –maybe dialogue, maybe tense and point of view, maybe some other things– in terms of what makes great writing great.

The class will be intensive but fun and low-key. It’s designed for writers of all abilities, experience levels and genres. If you’re a longtime writer in need of a boost or someone who’s always had an interest in writing but never known how to sit down and get started, join us!

Limited to fifteen. I’d love to see you there. If you’re interested, please email me at alison_mcghee@hotmail.com to reserve a spot.

Date: SATURDAY, AUGUST 1
Time: 9 am-1 pm
Place: 3554 BRYANT AVENUE SOUTH, MINNEAPOLIS, MN 55408. The Community Gathering Room in Uptown Minneapolis, right on the corner of Bryant and 36th, between Bogart’s Donuts and Gigi’s Cafe. Parking both on-street and in their lot. Community Room.
Cost: $75, including hand-outs, payable via check, Paypal, or cold hard cash.
Bring: yourself, a pen and a notebook or your quiet laptop. Lots of beverages (including beer!) and tasty treats and sandwiches and salads available at Bogart’s and Gigi’s.

Poem of the Week, by Lianne Spidel

Posted on by alisonmcghee

The workshops I teach, at my non-traditional, designed-for-working-adults university, are filled with all kinds of characters, with characters meaning people: tattoo artists, auto mechanics, journalists, pearl-wearing grandmothers, cops, military vets, hairdressers, graphic designers and you name it, you get the picture. Within the first class, friendships and alliances are formed. I can’t even call them unlikely alliances, because they aren’t. People are people, first and always. “A gentle affinity.”
Summer School
           – Liann Spidel
Because I needed to know for a poem,
I asked the science teacher sitting
next to me (the one they teased
about his massive chest) to explain
to me the composition of a cloud.
He had already told me he was there
only for the credit, a step up
on the salary scale. His wife
wanted a bigger house, the kids
were growing, he was overwhelmed

with bills and coaching.
I said, “When you’re my age
it will empty out.
There’s too much, then all
at once there’s almost nothing.”

When he answered me about the cloud,
his voice went soft:
“Moisture on dust,” and when
I asked him “in” or “on,”
he said it didn’t matter

either way. We never shared
a coffee and spoke only
of casual things, a still viable
jock and a graying grandmother
pretending to concentrate on the course

content, side by side through indolent
hours, easy in the peaceful co
existence a couple of prepositions
had provided–a gentle affinity,
pleasure like moisture on dust.

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​For more information on Lianne Spidel, please click here: http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/lianne-spidel​

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