Tuesday, June 12, 2007

1-Day Workshop: Exploring the Personal Essay

From CT IWWG member Mary Carroll Moore:

Telling Our Stories: Exploring the Personal Essay One-Day Workshop with Mary Carroll Moore
Hudson Valley Writers' Center

300 Riverside Drive, Sleepy Hollow, NY
(914) 332-5953 www.writerscenter.org

Friday, July 20, 10:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m.
$135 ($120 HVWC members)
A good essay opens a window and invites the reader into a writer's beliefs about the world. But it also takes the reader on a journey of discovery--as the writer finds out more about these beliefs. So good essays start with strong feeling, thoughtful questions--and this desire to explore uncharted territory. Within this "risk on paper," your essay can take multiple forms (linear, snapshot, collage, narrative) and endless subjects (from illness, loss, or trauma to nature to a neighborhood's disappearing culture). In this one-day workshop we'll learn the steps to explore, craft, and develop a personal or opinion essay. Using short pieces by well-known essayists, we'll practice writing exercises to discover what our own essay really is about--what's the theme? the seed idea that will speak most clearly to the reader and deliver our point? Be prepared to explore deeply, write a lot, and go home with an essay to finish. Bring an essay-in-progress or an idea for one, as well as a bag lunch. For all levels of writers.

2 comments:

Gizelle Alexander said...

I took this workshop, and it was fabulous!

Therese Haberman said...

I have also attended two different workshops with Mary Carroll Moore and she helped me to get back on track with a novel I am writing. She has a wealth of tips and tricks for focusing and progressing systematically. Well worth the time and investment in yourself! Terry Haberman