Pen Central Writing Workshops at RiverRun Bookstore

Everyone Welcome!

Join us for Pen Central’s in-store writing workshops this March. These are free and open to the public. Even if you’ve never tried to write fiction, memoir, or poetry, you’ll find in these circles a warm welcome and writing support. Bring a journal, a pen, and your willingness to experiment!

Roughing It: Adventures in Drafting

Rebecca Dawson Webb

March 14: 7 to 9 p.m. at RiverRun Bookstore

All welcome and free!

This memoir writing workshop invites you to consider the value of the rough draft, the room it makes for experimentation and discovery. Bring your sense of play and come explore an incident from your life through a series of drafting exercises.

The Carnival Mind: Poems from Dream Images

Kimberly Cloutier Green

March 19: 7 to 9 p.m. at RiverRun Bookstore

All welcome and free!

Especially for shy writers (but all writers most welcome!), this poetry workshop will encourage and support the creation of dream-like poems that begin in surreal photographs (we’ll be using Robert and Shana ParkeHarrison images) and end in poems that are – tah dah! –  idiomatic, playful, and surprising. Please bring paper and your favorite writing instrument.

Spring 2013 Workshops

Registration is currently underway for Pen Central’s spring workshops. If you are interested in registering for any of the workshops listed below, please call 207-439-2915 or 603-475-4084 or  email rebecca@pencentralwriters.com. Enrollment is first come/first serve. Additional workshops and events may be added. We look forward to hearing from you! Please note that the workshop locations will be determined by the individual instructors.

Please Note: If you registered for a workshop that does not run, then your check will be returned to you within a week of the workshop date. Once a workshop has started, there will be no refunds. If you register for a workshop and decide before it starts not to take it, your money will be returned to you minus a $15 registration fee.

Nonfiction Workshops

Learning from Other Writers with Rebecca Dawson Webb

Just as painters study accomplished painters and carpenters apprentice themselves to master carpenters, writers learn from other skilled writers. In this workshop, we will look closely at the writing style of published writers exploring their personal experience. You will then have the opportunity to try out some of their techniques in your own writing and get feedback. This thoughtful group will strengthen your writing by helping you read as a writer and expand your writer’s toolbox. Place TBA.

Two separate sessions of this workshop will run: 
Every other Monday, 10 am – noon: April 8 & 22, May 6 & 20, June 3 & 17 (six sessions)

Every other Thursday, 7 – 9 pm: April 4 & 18,  May 2, 16, & 30, June 13 (six sessions)

Fee: $155

Limit: 8 writers

For further information call 207-439-2915.

Life Mosaic: Writing Your Life in Bits & Pieces with Rebecca Dawson Webb

Make progress writing your life story, in short, manageable segments. In this supportive workshop, which welcomes writers of varied experience levels, you will be challenged to grow as a writer. The group offers the motivation and structure to write, the feedback and encouragement to keep writing, and the experienced guidance to strengthen and refine your writing. Place TBA.

Dates:
Every other Tuesday, April 2, 16, 30, May 14 & 28, June 11 (six sessions)

Time: 7 – 9 p.m.

Fee: $155

Limit: 8 writers

For further information call 207-439-2915

Telling Your Story: A Journey of Discovery with Rebecca Dawson Webb

Do you have a story to tell that you’d like to understand more fully? Or that you’re trying to figure out how to write about? This memoir workshop offers a supportive, productive space in which to use writing as a means to explore, clarify, and go deeper. Through writing exercises, shared writing, engaged listening, and thoughtful questions, you are invited to discover the interesting places your writing can take you. Place TBA.

Dates:
Every other Wednesday, April 10, 24, May 8 & 22, June 5 & 19 (six sessions)

Time: 7 – 9 p.m.

Fee: $155

Limit: 8 writers

For further information call 207-439-2915

Poetry Workshops

The Dress of Thought: Style in Poetry* with Kimberly Cloutier Green

In this series of seven* workshops, we’ll shake up our habitual ways of writing by loosely imitating some of the most distinctive voices writing today. Borrowing from the styles of poets as different as C.K. Williams and Kay Ryan or John Ashbury and Natasha Trethewey, we’ll explore unfamiliar word choices, tones, grammars, line-lengths, shapes, sounds, and rhythms… even as we write about the material that is most meaningful to us. In the process, we’ll expand our understanding of what’s possible in poem-making and at the same time discern what is deeply characteristic of our own work. All you need for this workshop is curiosity and the desire to play! Whether you’ve never written a poem or you have a long practice of writing, you’ll find in this workshop the support and camaraderie that’s crucial for invention! ($155.00 /seven workshops; note that we will not meet in January.) Place TBA.

Dates:

First Wednesdays, 7-9pm: Oct. 3, Nov. 7, Dec. 5, Feb. 6, Mar. 6, Ap. 3, May 1. NOTE: June 1* is a make-up workshop in case of snow. $155.00.  (No January workshop.)

Second Fridays, 10:30 to 12:30: Oct. 12, Nov. 9, Dec. 14, Feb. 15, Mar. 8, Ap. 12, May 10. June 7* is a make-up workshop in case of snow. $155.00. (No January workshop.)

For further information, call 603-475-4084. Enrollment is first come/first serve.Registration is by mail only.

*Both sessions of this workshop are full and currently in progress.

Fiction Workshops

TBA

Please Note: If you registered for a workshop that does not run, then your check will be returned to you within a week of the workshop date. Once a workshop has started, there will be no refunds. If you register for a workshop and decide before it starts not to take it, your money will be returned to you minus a $15 registration fee.