Writing & Publishing Workshops

You don't have to be a writer to be full of stories. And if writing is your main profession, you may find that your creative work often plays second fiddle to paying work — if you have the time and energy to do it at all.

I lead workshops based on the Amherst Writers & Artists (AWA) approach. In addition to the description below, you can read more about this method at www.amherstwriters.com and in AWA founder Pat Schneider's book Writing Alone and With Others (Oxford University Press, 2003).

Read about Marian's experience at an Amherst Writers & Artists retreat in her essay "Dynamite That Heals."

Who can join?

Writers of all ages, professions, skill levels, and genres are warmly welcomed. No writing sample is necessary. The only requirements are your willingness to write and to be a constructive group member.

When and where?

As a certified AWA leader trained by Pat Schneider, I offer occasional one-day weekend sessions. Locations are in northern New Jersey (Bergen County) and Manhattan. For dates, fees, and more information, please email.

What to expect?

In my workshops, participants do not bring in pre-existing manuscripts for feedback. Instead:

• We write during the workshop, in response to exercises.

• We read our writing to each other if we wish.

• We respond as listeners with what we remember, what we like, how the writer surprised us, and how he or she made us care.

• We develop our work further if we wish.

• We critique the work-in-progress of fellow writers in manuscript form when requested.

• We learn to recognize, cultivate, and trust our individual voices.

We also deal with revision and other aspects of craft, such as dialogue — but only after we write in our own true voices. Drawing on my experience as a publishing staffer and a published author, I can also help guide participants into the publishing process.

Why the AWA method?

It's remarkable how fresh, vivid, and true a spontaneous first draft can be, when the exercise is right. It's even more remarkable how much good writing arises in an environment that is safe, nurturing, and open to risk-taking — the kind of writing community that all writers crave.

Art comes first in the AWA method. As Pat Schneider writes in her book: "Craft is knowing when to revise a manuscript and when to leave it alone, but art is the fire in the mind that put the story on the page in the first place." Workshop exercises ignite that fire, sparking not just stories but poems, essays, plays, and more.

If this is the kind of writing approach you've been hoping for, please contact me.

Publishing Workshops

From time to time I also lead single-session workshops such as "Book Publishing 101" (about the publishing process), "Leaving a Legacy: Family and Organizational Histories," and "Breaking Writer's Block." Please click on the calendar for upcoming dates.

Reach me by email or call 1-201-288-2036.

 © 2004-2008 Marian Calabro except as noted. All rights reserved.
 "First Draft Fever" and "Untying the Writing Knot" are service marks of Marian Calabro.
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