"Oh my my — the words just flowed, and with the words all kinds of ideas about where it could all lead... Thank you again for leading such a helpful workshop — I wanted to be inspired and re-energized — and both those things happened." — Madelyn H.

You don't have to be a professional writer to be full of stories. And if you do write for a living, your creative work may lie fallow unless you carve out a time and place to write regularly.

As an affiliate of Amherst Writers & Artists, I lead workshops based on a highly productive and supportive method originated by Pat Schneider, which is briefly described below. You can read more about this approach at www.amherstwriters.com, at www.patschneider.com, and in Schneider's book Writing Alone and With Others (Oxford University Press).

Writers of all ages, professions, skill levels, and genres are warmly welcomed in my workshops. You need not submit a writing sample. The only requirements are your willingness to write and to be a constructive group member. Workshops take place at private venues in northern New Jersey and also at the Adult School of Montclair. Fees vary. Please see the calendar at right for dates.

In short, these workshops create a setting that is safe, nurturing, and open to risk-taking. Fresh, vivid writing easily springs up in such an environment. Art comes first, a crucial element too often lacking in other approaches. As 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 puts the story on the page in the first place."

"I really enjoyed our workshop. I was blown away by how listening and commenting instead of criticizing, and focusing on all the writing as fiction, worked so well for me." — Jay C.

Workshop format:

• We write during the workshop, in response to exercises or our own ideas.
• We read our first-draft 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 comment more extensively on later drafts by fellow writers in manuscript form.
• We learn to recognize, cultivate, and trust our individual voices.

Drawing on my experience as a career publishing profession and a published author, I can also help guide you into the publishing process.

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

Workshops in Publishing, Email Etiquette, Business Writing, and Public Speaking

I lead single-session workshops for the Adult School of Montclair, County College of Morris, and private clients such as Columbia University's Human Resources Department on the following subjects. Most workshops run for two to three hours. Please contact me for details and fees.

• Basics of Public Speaking
• Better Business Writing
• Book Publishing 101
• Breaking Writer's Block
• Email Etiquette
• Leaving a Legacy: Family and Organizational Histories

Marian's Upcoming Workshops

The Ode Less Traveled

Adult School of Montclair, 5 Monday evenings, March 5-April 2, 2012. Registration starts Feb. 1st at www.adultschool.org.

Inspired by Stephen Fry’s book of the same title, we’ll create poems written in forms rather than free verse. Bring a love of language and wordplay along with a desire to try haiku, pantoums, ballads, sonnets, villanelles, pattern poems, and others. Experience is welcomed but not necessary. Please bring a few self-written haikus to the first class and a pen and notebook or laptop each week. We’ll write during class time and between classes too—the latter is up to each writer. (I’m leading this one in lieu of “First Draft Fever” this spring.)

Company Histories, Book Writing, Speechwriting, Editing and Publishing Services