Spring 2022 Workshops

SPRING 2022 WRITING WORKSHOPS

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Registration closes 24 hours before start time or when workshop fills. No walk-ins, please.
Please read our workshop policies before registering.
Can't attend without a scholarship? Apply here.

April Workshops

Making Space for the Muse

INSTRUCTOR: Tamara Nicholl-Smith
TIME: Two Saturdays, April 2 and 9, 1–4 p.m. CDT
PRICE: Early bird price: $85 for members, $100 for nonmembers. The deadline for early bird pricing is Sunday, March 27. After Sunday, March 27: $100 for members, $115 for nonmembers. Become a member here. Apply for a scholarship here.
LOCATION: Online via Zoom
LEVEL: All Levels
CAP: 15

Making Space for the Muse (MSFTM) is designed to jump-start the creative productivity of poets and writers of all genres. Taking the pressure away from the process of being creative, MSFTM helps you formulate your personal system for removing blocks and cultivating ideas. These interactive sessions will explore and distinguish the whats, wheres, and whys of your creativity as well as what gets in its way. It will then lay a foundation for reliably connecting with your personal creative inspiration (your “muse”), which you will be able to draw upon long after the workshop is over.

MSFTM is designed to improve creative productivity. It is not a craft workshop in a specific genre of writing. However, if you want to work more diligently and authentically in your genre of choice, this workshop can help.

Photo by PublicDomainPictures on Pixabay

What Writers Need to Know about Publishing

INSTRUCTOR: Ynes Freeman
TIME: Sunday, April 3, 3–6 p.m. CDT
PRICE: PRICE: Early bird price: $45 for members, $60 for nonmembers. The deadline for early bird pricing is Monday, March 28. After Monday, March 28: $70 for members, $115 for nonmembers. Become a member here. Apply for a scholarship here.
LOCATION: Online via Zoom
LEVEL: All Levels
CAP: 15

The publishing industry is changing just as rapidly as the rest of the world. You want your book published, but where do you start? You can’t put your story in just anyone’s hands, but the path to publishing is full of obstacles and unknowns and the environment is harsh and competitive.

Maybe you worry about queries and rejections or the editing process. Maybe you struggle with self-doubt and worry that your ideas will be dismissed before you ever put them in front of a professional.

This workshop will empower you to ask the right questions and make informed decisions about your publishing journey. We will not only review the steps involved in moving from finished manuscript to published work but will also offer self-reflective questions to help you prepare for and plan the right path for your creation.

Ynes Freeman has worked in traditional publishing and is the CEO/Publisher of Balance of Seven,a Houston based independent press.

Ynes Freeman (she/her/hers), CEO/Publisher of Balance of Seven, has more than ten years of experience in publishing and has guided more than a thousand authors with kindness and encouragement in that time. Her background is in audience marketing in traditional publishing, where she enjoyed designing unique strategies to grow readership and engagement. She now pursues her long-time passion of working with creative writers through Balance of Seven, helping promote diversity, equity, and inclusion by providing a platform for emerging writers and artists to find magic in their creative work. Ynes is a Distinguished Toastmaster (DTM) who has held numerous leadership roles in Toastmasters International and she is an active volunteer and instructor at Writespace Houston. Using the pen name Ynes Malakova, she is a three-time award-winning short story author. Her debut novel, “A Viper in the Court,” is coming in the Fall of 2023.

May Workshops

Spiritual Memoir

INSTRUCTOR: Phuc Luu
TIME: Four Wednesdays, May 4, 11, 18, 25, 6:30–8:30 p.m. CDT
PRICE: Early bird price: $150 for members, $180 for nonmembers. The deadline for early bird pricing is Friday, April 29. After April 29: $180 for members, $210 for nonmembers. Become a member here. Apply for a scholarship here.
LOCATION: Online via Zoom and Wet Ink
LEVEL: All Levels
CAP: 15

How do you tell your story through your faith/spirituality? How does spiritual memoir differ from other memoir forms?

All people are by nature spiritual. We are connected to experiences that are inexplicable and ineffable. Love, relationships, the meaning of life are all spiritual phenomena that both reach beyond and dive into the world as we know it. Spiritual memoir intentionally draws from our own particular religious and spiritual language. It plumbs the depths of what it means to grapple with the divine, the other, and the basis of human existence.

In this spiritual memoir course Phuc Luu, author of Jesus of the East (part book of theology, part autobiography), will guide participants through exercises and discussions designed to:
Identify and use the language of spirituality
Expand our knowledge of what can be spoken about spiritually
Describe the abstract through concrete experiences
Reflect on the meaning of our religious/spiritual values and our lives
Explore how spirituality can be used to discuss issues of trauma, pain, and woundedness
This workshop will provide a foundation for writing spiritual memoir while also providing an opportunity to receive feedback on your work.

Photo by Schäferle on Pixaby

Processing the Pandemic

INSTRUCTOR: Joyce Boatright
TIME: Saturday, May 7, 1–4 p.m. CDT
PRICE: Early bird price: $45 for members, $60 for nonmembers. The deadline for early bird pricing is Sunday, May 1. After Sunday, May 1: $55 for members, $70 for nonmembers. Become a member here. Apply for a scholarship here.
LOCATION: Writespace, 1717 Michigan Street, Houston, TX, 77006 (map)
LEVEL: All Levels
CAP: 15

The pandemic has profoundly changed the way we live in and understand the world. We can forget that we are always living through history until years like 2020, 2021, and 2022 give us daily reminders that we are experiencing a major world event in the form of the Covid-19 pandemic. It is important to process our feelings about the trauma the pandemic has caused in ways that lead to healing for us as individuals and as a community.

Writespace invites you to join us for a writing workshop designed to help process painful memories, to support healing, and to create art from our recent experiences. We will offer guided writing prompts, but you can follow them or not as you like. Writers of all experience levels—including folks who are completely new to writing—are welcome.

Photo by Suzanne D. Williams on Unsplash

Writing Subtext

INSTRUCTOR: Thomas H. McNeely
TIME: Saturday, May 14, 1–4 p.m. CDT
PRICE: Early bird price: $45 for members, $60 for nonmembers. The deadline for early bird pricing is Sunday, May 8. After Sunday, May 8: $55 for members, $70 for nonmembers. Become a member here. Apply for a scholarship here.
LOCATION: Online via Zoom
LEVEL: All Levels
CAP: 15

What is subtext and why do we want it in our writing? We’ve been taught that subtext, or hidden meaning, is required for writing to be “deep” or “significant.” The literary world has taken Ernest Hemingway's theory about meaning residing beneath the surface of stories like icebergs beneath the surface of the ocean as a truism. But is this how stories REALLY work? Is this even how Hemingway's stories work? In this workshop, we will learn to create subtext in our stories by studying how authors, including Hemingway, Jayne Anne Phillips, and others, actually create subtext - right on the surface of stories, by carefully training readers to construct meaning through associative patterns, narrative rules, and other strategies.

Photo by 愚木混株 cdd20 on Unsplash

Beginning Fiction 1: Identifying Good Writing

INSTRUCTOR: Patrick Stockwell
TIME: Six Tuesdays, May 17, 24, 31, June 7, 14, 21, 6:30–8:30 p.m. CDT
PRICE: Early bird price: $210 for members, $240 for nonmembers. The deadline for early bird pricing is Wednesday, May 11. After Wednesday, May 11: $240 for members, $270 for nonmembers. Become a member here. Apply for a scholarship here.
LOCATION: Online via Zoom and Wet Ink
LEVEL: All Levels
CAP: 15
In this six-week class designed for beginning fiction writers, participants will explore the components of good writing. We will look at dialogue that reveals character, description that establishes more than setting, and paragraphs that contain multiple elements of story. Through brief weekly reading and writing assignments, students will learn to identify language that works, both in their own prose/work and that of their peers.

Together, we will cultivate an understanding of why certain sentences, scenes, and stories work better than others. We will focus on identifying what is good and leaning into what we like about writing before engaging in any kind of critique. Writers will leave this workshop with a stronger vocabulary for providing useful, meaningful feedback.

Photo by Shiromani Kant on Unsplash

The Power of Writing from the Senses

INSTRUCTOR: Andreana Binder
TIME: Saturday, May 21, 1–4 p.m. CDT
PRICE: Early bird price: $45 for members, $60 for nonmembers. The deadline for early bird pricing is Sunday, May 15. After Sunday, May 15: $55 for members, $70 for nonmembers. Become a member here. Apply for a scholarship here.
LOCATION: Writespace, 1717 Michigan Street, Houston, TX, 77006 (map)
LEVEL: All Levels
CAP: 15

Feeling stuck on an existing project? Feeling writer's block, or that you would love to write more, but you don’t know where to begin? In this workshop, we will explore writing exercises inspired by one or more of the five senses: taste, scent, touch, sight, and sound. We’ll experiment with writing prompts based on fragrance, as well as visual and auditory prompts, to generate ideas for both new and ongoing projects. We’ll also explore how the senses are deeply linked with memory—for example, how scent can bring us back to a specific place, moment, or feeling—and how writing with the five senses helps us create concrete details that engage readers. Writers of all levels are welcome. All you need to bring is a willingness to enjoy your writing experience and your favorite writing tools (paper and pen or laptop).

Photo by Solstice Hannan on Unsplash

Creating Stories and Family: Writing as a Parent

INSTRUCTOR: Patricia Flaherty Pagan and Jae Mazer
TIME: Sunday, May 22, 3–6 p.m. CDT
PRICE: Early bird price: $45 for members, $60 for nonmembers. The deadline for early bird pricing is Monday, May 16. After Monday, May 16: $70 for members, $115 for nonmembers. Become a member here. Apply for a scholarship here.
LOCATION: Writespace, 1717 Michigan Street, Houston, TX, 77006 (map)
LEVEL: All Levels
CAP: 15

How do you support both your creative calling and your loved ones? Can you “have it all,” and do you want it all? Join us as we write our vision and share strategies to make our writing lives stronger while embracing the joyful mess of parenting. Writing exercises, resources, and interactive discussion will touch upon owning your own nonlinear writing journey, focusing on your unique vision of success, finding and nurturing allies, multitasking like a mother, slaying the dragon of time management, self-care, and using the colorful chaos of family life in your stories and poems.

Photo by Surface on Unsplash

June Workshops

Introduction to Personal Essay and Memoir: Turning the Pen on Ourselves

INSTRUCTOR: Mark Dostert
TIME: Saturday, June 4, 1–4 p.m. CDT
PRICE: Early bird price: $45 for members, $60 for nonmembers. The deadline for early bird pricing is Sunday, May 29. After Sunday, May 29: $55 for members, $70 for nonmembers. Become a member here. Apply for a scholarship here.
LOCATION: Writespace, 1717 Michigan Street, Houston, TX, 77006 (map)
LEVEL: All Levels
CAP: 10

Why should strangers care about me—my experiences, my thoughts, my feelings, my joys, my sorrows, my musings, and my confusions? They shouldn’t—unless we give them good reason to!

We engage deeply with memoirs and personal essays when they enable us to see and learn something new about ourselves and the larger human experience. Gifted memoirists and essayists take readers from the concrete details of their particular experiences to revelations of Universal Abstract truths of the human condition.

Accordingly, effective personal essay and memoir writing does not center itself in confession but rather in self-examination during times of trial and/or growth, all presented through engaging narrative arcs.

In this workshop, we will use mentor texts (both memoir and essay) to discover how these great essayists and memoirists employ the elements of point-of-view, imagery, diction, detail, and syntax to create juxtaposition, parallelism, allusion, tone, figurative language, and motif. All of this culminates in aesthetic pleasure and intellectual-emotional enlightenment, which is why we read in the first place, regardless of the essay’s subject matter.

Participants are encouraged to bring the opening one to five pages of a personal essay or book-length memoir for feedback according to the writing craft concepts introduced and discussed.

Photo by annazuc from Pixabay

Write a Winning Book Proposal

INSTRUCTOR: Dr. Cynthia Childress
TIME: Sunday, June 5, 3–6 p.m. CDT
PRICE: Early bird price: $45 for members, $60 for nonmembers. The deadline for early bird pricing is Monday, May 30. After Monday, May 30: $55 for members, $70 for nonmembers. Become a member here. Apply for a scholarship here.
LOCATION: Online via Zoom
LEVEL: All Levels
CAP: 15
Ever dip your toe into the publishing process? You find out pretty quickly that most traditional publishing deals start with a literary agent. Sometimes you can start that process with a query letter, but often they request a book proposal as well.

And every agent wants something slightly different, from chapter summaries to marketing plans, but they rarely tell you how long these documents should be or what to include exactly.

Maybe you have a proposal you're sending and just getting form rejections instead of invitations for meetings. What gives?

In this class, Cindy Childress, Ph. D. will share the client-proven book proposal writing strategy that will help you attract literary agents for your book and, ultimately, a book deal with a publisher who shares your vision. She'll share how to construct each section of your book proposal and even keep your submissions organized in the process. You'll learn how to think like a literary agent and reverse-engineer the publishing process to position your manuscript as a leading title.

Photo by JESHOOTS.COM on Unsplash

Creating a Zine

INSTRUCTOR: Angélique Jamail
TIME: Thursdays, June 9 through June 30, 6:30–8:30 p.m. CDT
PRICE: Early bird price: $150 for members, $180 for nonmembers. The deadline for early bird pricing is Friday, June 3. After Friday, June 3: $180 for members, $210 for nonmembers. Become a member here. Apply for a scholarship here.
LOCATION: Writespace, 1717 Michigan Street, Houston, TX, 77006 (map)
LEVEL: All Levels
CAP: 15

This class is appropriate for all skill levels. Attendees will have an opportunity to participate in Zine Fest Houston, a welcoming mainstay of the zine community, in November.

Have you been looking for a way to share your short writings, including ones you’ve created in other Writespace workshops? The subversive, underground art form of the “zine” (short for fanzine) has been the literary world’s best-kept secret for nearly a century. From its roots in science-fiction and fantasy to its established presence in the modern world as a place for art, poetry, and politics, these informal magazines are the ultimate adventure in self-publishing. And best of all, zines are for everyone, every interest, every ability level, and every subject! You don’t have to be a great or experienced artist.

Come explore the wide and diverse world of zines through creative writing, art, and craft with award-winning published author Angélique Jamail, the creator of the popular zine Sonic Chihuahua. In this course, you will create your own zine filled with whatever your imagination will allow!

Photo by Aeryk Pierson on Glass

The Mythical Muse: All Genre Generative

INSTRUCTOR: Kendra Preston Leonard
TIME: Saturday, June 11, 9:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. CDT
PRICE: Early bird price: $45 for members, $55 for nonmembers. The deadline for early bird pricing is Sunday, June 5. After Sunday, June 5: $60 for members, $70 for nonmembers. Become a member here. Apply for a scholarship here.
LOCATION: Online via Zoom
LEVEL: All Levels
CAP: 15

Have you ever wanted to write about Loki, the trickster of the Norse gods? Are you enthralled with the story of Persephone and her experience of living in two worlds? Do you want to take a peek inside Baba Yaga’s chicken-leg house?

In this course, we will explore ways of writing with ancient and modern myths, creating and developing mythical characters, settings, and plots for our writing, and respectfully using myths from cultures that are not our own. Led by poet Kendra Leonard, whose work often draws on the myths of ancient Greece and other mythic materials, participants will learn how to research myths for inspiration, relocate mythic figures to different times and places, and develop frameworks for thinking about how myth resonates with or is in opposition to our own outlooks and values.

We will have ample time for in-class writing, ranging from free-writing and brainstorming exercises, to writing about characters from myth, to incorporating myth into poetry, stories, and other genres.

Feel free to bring a work in progress or start a brand new piece of writing as part of this seminar.

Photo by aisvri on Unsplash

Mini Master’s in Kid Lit

INSTRUCTOR: Kate Pentacost
TIME: Saturday, June 11, 1–4 p.m. CDT
PRICE: Early bird price: $45 for members, $55 for nonmembers. The deadline for early bird pricing is Sunday, June 5. After Sunday, June 5: $60 for members, $70 for nonmembers. Become a member here. Apply for a scholarship here.
LOCATION: Online via Zoom
LEVEL: All Levels
CAP: 15

Good for both pantsers and plotters, this flexible workshop is a crash course in everything kid lit. We will focus on craft issues like how to tell what age group you're writing for, how to distinguish what your character's true motivations (quiet yearning vs. loud yearning), how to deepen characterization, and industry issues, like how to write a query letter or synopsis, tips for submissions, what to expect in your journey to publication, and how to work with sensitivity readers. Let young adult author and VCFA Writing for Children and Young Adults Program Assistant Kate Pentecost (Elysium Girls, That Dark Infinity) award you your Mini MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults.

Photo by Tumisu on Pixabay

Reading Like a Writer

INSTRUCTOR: Patrick Stockwell
TIME: Saturday, June 25, 9:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. CDT
PRICE: Early bird price: $45 for members, $60 for nonmembers. The deadline for early bird pricing is Sunday, June 19. After Sunday, June 19: $55 for members, $70 for nonmembers. Become a member here. Apply for a scholarship here.
LOCATION: Online via Zoom
LEVEL: All Levels
CAP: 15

In this one day examination of short fiction, we’ll perform close readings of two classic stories, one maximalist from Tim O’Brien, and one minimalist by Raymond Carver. Our conversation will focus on the strategies each author employs to reveal character and to develop the shape of a story by making every sentence count. Students will conduct their own readings of the work before class meets so that we can get right to our analysis.

Photo by Jaredd Craig on Unsplash

Midyear Writer Check Up and Check In

INSTRUCTOR: Joyce Boatright
TIME: Saturday, June 25, 1–4 p.m. CDT
PRICE: Early bird price: $45 for members, $60 for nonmembers. The deadline for early bird pricing is Sunday, June 19. After Sunday, June 19: $55 for members, $70 for nonmembers. Become a member here. Apply for a scholarship here.
LOCATION: Writespace, 1717 Michigan Street, Houston, TX, 77006 (map)
LEVEL: All Levels
CAP: 15

We’re halfway through the year. How are you feeling? Is it getting harder to prioritize your writing? How is your motivation? If you’re like most, your resolutions have flagged, if they haven’t already fallen down. We have more than just writing to deal with in our lives, but how do we keep our writing a priority while trying to have a good work/life balance and practicing healthy self-care and . . . ?

The good news is you don’t have to do this alone! Let’s take stock of our writing lives after six months of resolution keeping (or not) and plan some strategies for the remainder of 2022. We will examine our internal stories to see how they affect our motivation and plan for self-care and community. Hint: If you’re in this class, you’re halfway there!

Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash

Poetry: Members-Only First Page Feedback Session

INSTRUCTOR: Dr. Cynthia Childress
TIME: Sunday, June 26, 3–6 p.m. CDT
PRICE: Early bird price: $45 for members. The deadline for early bird pricing is Monday, June 20. After Sunday, June 20: $55 for members. Become a member here. Apply for a scholarship here.
LOCATION: Online via Zoom
LEVEL: All Levels
CAP: 8

Are you a poet who has wondered what a critique from a professional editor is like? Do you wish you could have an editor’s support and feedback, but you don’t feel ready to incur the cost? Or are you just starting out and would like to know what’s important to keep in mind as you begin to write poetry?

In this three-hour workshop we will embark upon a fast, fun, and in-depth adventure in which we explore the fundamentals and subtleties of dozens of craft elements essential to composing great poetry. By the end of our session, attending poets will have attained greater clarity about what questions good writers ask as they work, as well as a clearer sense of what editors and agents look for when they receive a submission.

Also, each poet will be assigned an exercise or prompt customized to the page we critiqued and designed to vitalize both the specific work and the writer’s development.

Please have one page of a poem ready to share electronically with the group and the instructor for review.

Photo by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay