Word Lovers This April

I'm looking for another fun weekend in Lakeside this Spring.  Les Roberts will be back, and his enthusiasm for the craft of writing will ignite us with endless possibilities for using words. In addition, award-winning writer Marsha McGregor will lead a session on writing personal essays. Friday evening dinner, Saturday and Sunday breakfast, and Saturday lunch will be served, with the help of Mary Bodnar, pictured below while dancing in the street last year. The cost is $110 for the weekend plus cost of a room at the Idlewyld, and there's a Saturday-only option for $70. Send me an e-mail at ctallerwrites@wowway.com to reserve your space. 

Here's the Itinerary:

FRIDAY

Arrive any time after Noon

Italian Dinner – 6:00 PM

Listening is an Act of Love, Writing From Life – 8:00 PM

SATURDAY

Breakfast Served – 8:00 AM

An Interlude with Les Roberts – 9:00 AM

Preparing for Publication – 11:00 PM

Lunch -- 12:15 PM

Personal Essays – 1:00 PM

Book Reviewing and Writing Well – 3:00 PM

Dinner at Mon Ami Winery or Crow’s Nest Pub – 6:00 PM

Trouble Shooting or Movie Night with Popcorn – 8:00 PM

SUNDAY

Breakfast Served – 8:30 AM

Show-off Time – 10:00 AM

Encouraging Words and Closing – 11:00 AM

Session Descriptions:
 
Friday Evening Program: Listening is an Act of Love: We will begin by reading stories from the Storycorps Project Listening Is an Act of Love and then we will write our own stories using writing prompts to illicit emotions, images, and deep writing. This will also serve as a way to get to know each other as we read our work out loud. Surprise yourself.
 
An Interlude with Les Roberts: Whether you write fiction or nonfiction, your story must have a beginning, middle, and end, a story arch, and riveting writing. Plot, characterization, dialogue, setting, and everything else you need to know about telling good stories will be covered in this morning session with Les.
 
Personal Essays with Marsha McGregor: This workshop will explore how to access our most meaningful material and apply writing tools that bring it into sharp focus. It will be hands-on, so bring your pen and paper to access your earned wisdom and transform your stories into gifts for the reader.

Preparing for Publication with Claudia Taller: We will talk about everything you need to know to get your article, poem, story, or book ready for publication, from editing to tone to writing deeply. Then we’ll talk about markets and how to break into them and where the best places are to start.

Book Reviewing and Writing Well with Claudia Taller: Book reviews can give us an idea for what critics and readers expect out of writers. We’ll read some book reviews and talk about how to do a book review, then we’ll turn the tables and talk about what we learned about how to write from book reviewing.

Trouble Shooting: Having trouble finding the right structure for your novel or trying to end a short story? Does one of your characters sound false? Need help figuring out what it is you want to say? During our afternoon roundtable, share your writing issues and get some help. If all else fails, we should be able to find guidance in Claudia’s traveling library.

Show-Off Time: Read your writing out loud and capture the audience’s response immediately. Then hear what your fellow word lovers have to say about what you said and how you said it. All show offs are allowed three minutes.