If you’re in Tucson and wish to take an in-person writing class, please consider taking a course from The Writers Studio Tucson. Classes start next week.
Beginning and Intermediate level classes are filling up so don’t wait too long. You’ll find all the course information you’ll need in the link below, but please reach out to me at philivory@writerstudio.com with any questions.
This is a free demonstration open to all who are interested in learning about Writers Studio classes. It takes place online on Wednesday, April 3rd at 6:30 PM Tucson time. Please email to pivory@writerstudio.com if interested and we’ll send a link to join the class.
Starting Saturday October 7th, I’ll be teaching another session of my special six-week class Online Writing About Childhood through The Writers Studio.
Your personal memories of growing up can be a treasure trove of ideas for stories and poems and memoir pieces. This class will show you techniques to manage your personal material and bring it to life.
In this class, we examine techniques and voices crafted by celebrated writers of poetry and prose such as Sandra Cisneros, Seamus Heaney, and Ray Bradbury. How did they use imagination and memory to regain a foothold in childhood’s not-so-distant realm, conjuring its wonder, joy, and pain?
Whether working in poetry, prose, or creative nonfiction, can we apply similar voices and techniques to our own unique material? Let’s bring the world and experience of childhood to vibrant life again through our creative work.
For more information, CLICK HERE. Hope to see you in class!
We have some momentous news at The Writers Studio Tucson. Longtime director of the Tucson branch Reneé Bibby is retiring from that leadership position and stepping away from all branch duties, including her role as teacher of Master Class, so that she can pursue other opportunities in the writing realm and elsewhere.
Reneé has been with the Writers Studio Tucson for 11 years. She worked as a teacher for almost 10 years, instructing nearly 350 students in Tucson and beyond. Reneé has set a profound forward momentum for our branch, keeping us going through the pandemic and other challenges, sometimes just on the force of her positive personality alone, but always fueled by her wisdom, experience, and sense of humor.
Separate from the Tucson branch, Reneé will continue to do online teaching work for The Writers Studio, including special six-week classes conducted on Saturdays that any student, no matter where they live, may take. And she will continue to write and publish and further develop her prodigious writing talents. Peruse her web site to learn about her published work and other activities.
The Writers Studio, including its Tucson branch will always be grateful to Reneé for her outstanding leadership, planning, teamwork, and the great inspiration she has always provided as the best possible teacher.
Okay, that’s the sad part. But we have encouraging news, too. Phil Ivory, longtime teacher and assistant director for the branch, is assuming the role of director.
Phil studied English literature at Columbia University and at Cambridge University in the UK and worked for many years as communications professional in the nonprofit world, most notably for the national headquarters of the Muscular Dystrophy Association. Phil started as a teacher with the Tucson branch in 2016 on the Intermediate level, was appointed assistant director for the branch two years later and has developed and taught special six-week classes for The Writers Studio including Online Writing About Childhood. His short fiction has appeared in Menacing Hedge, Two Cities Review, Ghost Parachute, The Airgonaut and the anthology, The Writers Studio at 30, and he’s currently in the latter stages of a novel that explores the dreams, darkness, and danger of childhood.
Phil is very grateful for Reneé’s mentorship and advice during this transition and is also very thankful for the amazing work being done by Tucson’s workshop teacher, Betsy Mahaffey. Betsy’s next beginner class starts on Sept. 27th and is already full, although a waitlist is available, and more classes for workshop and other levels will be available in January.
We will keep you informed on all changes in our branch as we strategize for a successful 2024. We hope to schedule a number of fun public events for our students to attend in the year ahead. Amidst all these changes, the Tucson branch of The Writers Studio will continue to strive to provide the best instruction and inspiration for our talented and wonderful students.
Starting Saturday April 29, I’ll be teaching another session of my special six-week class Online Writing About Childhood through The Writers Studio.
Your personal memories of growing up can be a treasure trove of ideas for stories and poems and memoir pieces. This class will show you techniques to manage your personal material and bring it to life. (NOTE: For those who have already taken this class, I’m working on creating a “sequel” class with all new exercises that I hope will be ready by summer.)
In this class, we examine techniques and voices crafted by celebrated writers of poetry and prose such as Sandra Cisneros, Seamus Heaney, and Ray Bradbury. How did they use imagination and memory to regain a foothold in childhood’s not-so-distant realm, conjuring its wonder, joy, and pain?
Whether working in poetry, prose, or creative nonfiction, can we apply similar voices and techniques to our own unique material? Let’s bring the world and experience of childhood to vibrant life again through our creative work.
For more information, CLICK HERE. Hope to see you in class!
Starting January 28, I’ll be teaching a new session of my six-week class, Online Writing About Childhood.
CLICK HERE to register.
CLASS DESCRIPTION: Childhood from the perspective of an adult writer can seem like “another country,” a strange land where our powers, responsibilities and perceptions were vastly different. And yet it is the place we all come from. And while the lens through which we viewed the world as children may have seemed innocent and magical, our sensibilities were always vulnerable to the hard truths of encroaching adulthood.
In this class, we will examine techniques and voices crafted by celebrated writers of poetry and prose such as Sandra Cisneros, Seamus Heaney, and Ray Bradbury. How did they use imagination and memory to regain a foothold in childhood’s not-so-distant realm, conjuring its wonder, joy, and pain? Whether working in poetry, prose, or creative nonfiction, can we apply similar voices and techniques to our own unique material? Let’s bring the world and experience of childhood to vibrant life again through our creative work.
This class is open to all writers of poetry and prose, including new and returning Writers Studio students. Each week, students write a two-page exercise based on the week’s model. Then, during a two-hour, live Google Meet session, students present their work and receive feedback from their fellow classmates and from the teacher. The last fifteen minutes of the class are spent reading and discussing the following week’s model, using the Writers Studio method of analyzing persona and narrative technique. The Google Meet sessions are not recorded.
Sign up soon before the class fills up.
This September, I’ll be teaching another session of my special 6-week class, Writing About Childhood. Once again, the class is offered through The Writers Studio and will be conducted online, this time taking place on Saturday and using a video interface.
So what’s the class about?
Childhood from the perspective of an adult writer can seem like “another country,” a strange land where our powers, responsibilities and perceptions were vastly different. And yet it is the place we all come from. And while the lens through which we viewed the world as children may have seemed innocent and magical, our sensibilities were always vulnerable to the hard truths of encroaching adulthood.
In this class, we will examine techniques and voices crafted by celebrated writers of poetry and prose such as Sandra Cisneros, Seamus Heaney, and Ray Bradbury. How did they use imagination and memory to regain a foothold in childhood’s not-so-distant realm, conjuring its wonder, joy, and pain? Whether working in poetry, prose, or creative nonfiction, can we apply similar voices and techniques to our own unique material?
Let’s bring the world and experience of childhood to vibrant life again through our creative work.
This class is open to all writers of poetry and prose, including new and returning Writers Studio students. Each week, students write a two-page exercise based on the week’s model. Then, during a two-hour, live Google Meet session, students present their work and receive feedback from their fellow classmates and from the teacher. The last fifteen minutes of the class are spent reading and discussing the following week’s model, using the Writers Studio method of analyzing persona and narrative technique. The Google Meet sessions are not recorded.
CLICK HERE to register and for further information.
On and off over the past few years I’ve participated in writing contests held by NYC Midnight. What’s unique about these competitions is that writers receive parameters — genre, locations, objects, and etc. — and tight deadlines within which to incorporate these parameters into a successful piece of writing.
Each contest has multiple rounds that writers proceed through if advanced by the judges. I’ve never made it to the final round … before now.
This week I learned that my third round entry in the NYC 2022 Short Story contest has earned me advancement to the final round.
Sure, I’m excited, but the looming reality is that the final round begins (gulp!) at midnight NY time this evening. That’s 9 pm for me here in Tucson, less than four hours away. That’s when I’ll receive a new prompt for a 1250 word story that needs to be completed and uploaded in 24 hours.
Whatever happens, I’m grateful for NYC Midnight for its sometimes maddening but always stimulating prompts, which bedevil a poor writer by informing him that, for instance, he has 48 hours to write a short story in the romance genre featuring localism and an evening student. (That was round three. Romance not being my favorite, I tore my hair out for a while but finally set down to write a passable piece, which got me to tonight’s final round.)
In fact, while I haven’t yet come close to winning the contest, I’ve greatly benefited from the prompts, which helped me arrive at some published stories I would never otherwise have written. Here are two of them:
Wish me luck tonight! I’m grateful to friends in The Writers Studio, especially including Rene Bibby and Betsy Mahaffey (Happy Birthday, Betsy!), who provided feedback and encouragement to help me survive earlier rounds.
Source: Facebook
Through The Writers Studio, I’ll be teaching a new special 6-week class starting next month, Writing About Childhood.
Childhood from the perspective of an adult writer can seem like “another country,” a strange land where our powers, responsibilities and perceptions were vastly different. And yet it is the place we all come from. And while the lens through which we viewed the world as children may have seemed innocent and magical, our sensibilities were always vulnerable to the hard truths of encroaching adulthood. In this class, we will examine techniques and voices crafted by celebrated writers of poetry and prose such as Sandra Cisneros, Seamus Heaney, and Ray Bradbury. How did they use imagination and memory to regain a foothold in childhood’s not-so-distant realm, conjuring its wonder, joy, and pain? Whether working in poetry, prose, or creative nonfiction, can we apply similar voices and techniques to our own unique material? Let’s bring the world and experience of childhood to vibrant life again through our creative work.
This class is open to all writers of poetry and prose, including those who are new to The Writers Studio as well as those who have already taken classes. Students will respond to weekly exercises, posting their assignments to an online class space where feedback will also be posted by other students and the teacher. Our class will then meet for a one-hour online video discussion focusing on the technique described in the exercise using the Google Meet. No special software needed, and no transcript will be available for those who miss the discussion.
Write Yourself Sane 