Writing It Up In the Garden Spring Weekly Workshops

posted March 6, 2022

Hello writers,

In a week full of devastating news, a post by Ilya Kaminsky has been getting me through:

“Me, writing to an older friend in Odessa: how can I help, please let me know I really want to help.

He writes back: Putins come and go. If you want to help, send us some poems and essays. We are putting together a literary magazine.

And that is in the middle of war. Imagine.”-Ilya Kaminsky

What can we do? Make art. Write down what has mattered to a life. Share the truth with each other.

Spring sessions start last week of March, and spots are available. In addition, I’ll be holding a virtual Revision Immersion retreat on Saturday April 2. Details here.

Weekly Groups

Every writer needs a dedicated time to write, knowing that their work is valued and will be listened to with full attention to its strengths. The one thing we know in these times is that there is and will be a lot to write about. The other is that we continue to need human connection. We continue to need each other.

Each of my groups is limited to six writers, including myself. These workshops are for first drafts, experiments, as well as works in progress. We put most of our focus on the generative process and the amazing community nurtured since 2003. All kinds of writers are welcome: we are poets, novelists, songwriters, memoirists, journalers and bloggers. Join a group, find your muse, and write that piece you’ve always wanted to create.

This spring, God/Universe/Nature willing, all my groups will be hybrid. That said, Zoom is here to stay, too. I am pleased to offer the following workshops:


Tuesdays 12:30-2:30pm (one spot left)
Tuesdays for Songwriters only 7-9pm (one spot left)
Wednesdays 12:30-2:30 (one spot left, focus on memoir and poetry)
Wednesdays 7-9pm (full)
Thursdays 12:30-2:30pm (two spots left, focus on Fiction)
Thursdays 3:30-5:30 (full)

Spring term begins the week of March 28. I will be away the week of April 18-21 (in Barcelona! For fun and to sing on the radio). Spring groups are scheduled to end the week of June 6. Soon after, we’ll have a group gathering and reading, either in person or on Zoom.

Tuition is $360, and you can go here to register. Please indicate which group you would like to join.

Brags About Our Amazing Writers!

Congratulations to our writers! In the past couple of weeks:

Jessica Smucker’s beautiful new single, “Stones to Throw,” has been released! You can find it here.

Whitney Hudak’s poem “The Reptile King of Albuquerque” was just published by Pine Hills Review, AND she is the winner of the Streetlight Magazine Art Poetry Contest with “Each Year.”

Anna Baker Smith’s wonderful “Croissant” essay was published by Essay Daily.

Richard Fox’s new book of poetry Let Sleep Bless Our Arrival just came out on Big Table Publishing.

And one of our long-term alums has just released her first novel on Bella Books. She writes under the pseudonym Judy Saffire, the novel is Radiant!

Books I Read Last Month

Our Country Friends-Gary Shteyngart

Deacon King Kong-James McBride

Rodham-Curtis Sittenfeld

Olive, Again-Elizabeth Strout

The Cold Millions-Jess Walter

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