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!
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.
“Dynamic, Inspiring, invigorating, supportive. The Writers Studio seemed to me to have all the qualities one could possibly wish for in a writing school.”JAMES LASDUN, poetry and fiction professor at Princeton University, New York University and Columbia University
Greetings Tucson writer friends! As a teacher and assistant director for the Tucson branch of The Writers Studio, I’m excited that our roster of fall classes is posted and students are already beginning to sign up for our fall session.
Check out our web site for a full listing of Tucson classes. Discover new voices and craft techniques to bring your personal material to life. Sharpen your feedback skills. Learn to identify and build upon your strengths as a writer
SPECIAL DISCOUNT CODE: Use Coupon Code: shine to get $15 off one of our 8-week classes. (Discount must be taken at time of registration online or by phone (212) 255-7075 and may not be combined with any other offer. Expires 9/19/19.)
BEGINNER’S LEVEL WORKSHOPS
Wednesday Evenings with Lela Scott MacNeil
Starts October 16 at 6:30 PM
Saturday Mornings with Richard Leis
Starting October 5 at 10 AM
ADVANCED
Monday Evenings with Lela Scott MacNeil
Starting October 14 at 6:30 PM
MASTER CLASS
Tuesday Evenings with Reneé Bibby
Starting October 15 at 6:30 PM
If you’re too far away to take an in-person class, consider taking one online.
“The Writers Studio has grown into one of the best creative writing programs I know, at once serving excellence and inspiring the individual. The ambiance is warm and invigorating, making it joyful to be there.”
GRACE SCHULMAN, author of Days of Wonder: New and Selected Poems
I’m pleased to announce I’ve been asked to assume a new role at the Tucson branch of Writers Studio. In addition to continuing to be a teacher on the intermediate level, I’ll be serving as assistant director and working closely with branch director Reneé Bibby.
Here’s some info about the program and its philosophy, from our web site at writerstudio.com:
Janelle Drumwright, who has done an amazing job as Tucson branch assistant director for years, is relocating to another city. I hope I can carry on in her spirit and continue to bring the Writer Studio discipline and devotion to craft to students looking to expand and improve their skills. I’ll also be involved in outreach to potential students and planning of special events.
I started as a student in the program, and its emphasis on craft and the importance of creating a distinctive persona narrator for every piece of writing has been extremely helpful to me. It jump-started me after a long period of non-writing and put me on the road to getting work published. I can definitely attest to the program’s effectiveness.
New classes will be starting in January. Writers of all experience levels are welcome. Online classes are available as well as our in-person classes here in Tucson. Feel free to send me any questions about the program at philivory@writerstudio.com.
The trailer for the upcoming film “COPD: Highly Illogical” is narrated by John de Lancie (“Q” of “Star Trek: The Next Generation”) and features Julie Nimoy, daughter of beloved actor Leonard Nimoy of “Mr. Spock” fame. Leonard Nimoy died just over a year ago of complications related to Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD).
I’m very excited to be involved in this important project, which will be released later this year, during the 50th anniversary of the debut of the original “Star Trek.” I’m proud to have written the trailer and to be involved in scripting the upcoming film, which is in production now.
It’s the true story of Leonard Nimoy’s personal battle against this disease … and his final mission to speak out and educate others about the dangers of COPD, which affects approximately 30 million Americans but remains little understood by the general public.
As someone who has spent a good part of his career writing about progressive, life-threatening diseases like the muscular dystrophies and ALS, it feels natural for me to be part of Leonard Nimoy’s mission to broaden awareness of COPD. The goal is to help all of us better understand how COPD can be prevented, treated and — one day — cured so that families will no longer lose loved ones to this often fatal but preventable disease.
And as a lifelong Star Trek fan (yes, I’ve been to conventions and I even own my own tribble and set of Klingon battlecruiser blueprints) it’s just very cool to be connected to Leonard Nimoy’s legend and the grand mythos created so long ago by Gene Roddenberry. With the success of the new “Star Trek” films produced by J.J. Abrams, it seems that Roddenberry’s optimistic, operatic vision for the future still has a lot of life in it, even after 50 years of storytelling.
I’ll post more as the film develops. It promises to be a very moving story about Leonard Nimoy and his family, but also about all families fighting COPD. I hope it will be a game-changer in sparking awareness to prevent more lives from being lost to COPD.
Live Long and Prosper!
Write Yourself Sane 