Thirty-two conference participants, four intimate eight-student workshops. For more information, go to https://one-story.com/learn/summer-conference.

At this free community writing class on Wednesdays from 6:30-8 PM, Rachel Lyon will lead the class in guided exercises; conduct short lessons on craft; and offer in-class guidance and feedback on works-in-progress. The class is open to writers of all experience levels. Join for all 6 weeks, or just drop in once or twice, to get a feel for things. This program is supported in part by a grant from the Ashfield Cultural Council, a local agency which is supported by the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency.

In this six-week, 10-person online workshop, author Rachel Lyon (Self-Portrait with Boy) will guide students through the sometimes mechanical, often mysterious process of writing a short story. Brief in-class exercises will get your creative juices flowing. Workshop discussions will focus on specific aspects of craft, such as structure, dialogue, beginnings and endings, scene and exposition, character development, and more. Each student should plan to workshop one complete story or novel excerpt, and to offer constructive feedback weekly on others’ work.

The class will meet and discuss student work once a week on Zoom starting Thursday, October 27th. Tuition includes a 30-minute independent meeting with the instructor.

Read more and apply at One-Story.com.

The Belding Memorial Library hosts a free community writing class every Monday from 6-8 PM through the end of June, taught by author and creative writing instructor Rachel Lyon. The class will consist of guided exercises, short lessons on craft, and in-class feedback on works-in-progress. Open to writers of all experience levels. Join for all eight weeks, or just drop in once or twice, to get a feel for things! This program is supported in part by a grant from the Ashfield Cultural Council, a local agency, which is supported by the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency.

In this six-week workshop, we will explore the craft, discipline, and deep mystery of writing fiction. Writing is many things—a communication tool, a way of recording our experience and representing the world around us—but for the purposes of the writer, it is first and foremost a discipline. You will set—and meet—your own artistic expectations. Weekly writing prompts will give you the incentive to get your ass in the proverbial chair, and in-class weekly workshops will hold you accountable—not only to your classmates, but to yourself. We come into workshop for two primary reasons: to get perspective on how other people read our work, and learn how to read ourselves. Each writer will workshop once, and will have the option to meet once with me for an individual conference to discuss their writing goals and progress. Classes will cover structure, character development, the stakes of a story, and more.

This class will meet on Tuesdays from 6-8PM EST over video chat.

Writing Sprints is an exercise-intensive course designed to “unstick” writers struggling to start or continue new projects, boosting writing productivity. The course relies heavily on in-class writing exercises, as well as weekly writing share-outs. Students will be expected to read out loud; participate in in-class writing exercises; and produce approximately 5-8 pages of new writing EACH week for group feedback.

Writers participating in this selective workshop will learn to recognize successful techniques in their fiction–what engages the reader, and how that success is achieved. In-class discussions will focus on analyzing student work, particularly the many choices (point-of-view, tone, detail, pacing, etc.) a writer must make concerning structure, character and language. Each writer will have two opportunities to have his or her work critiqued in class (up to 25 pages each time) and will receive typed feedback from both the instructor and his or her classmates. A private conference with the instructor is included. This course is intended for writers who have extensive writing and workshopping experience.

Find more information about Sackett classes at www.sackettworkshop.com/writing.

Writing Sprints is an exercise-intensive course designed to “unstick” writers struggling to start or continue new projects, boosting writing productivity.  The course relies heavily on in-class writing exercises, as well as weekly writing share-outs.  Students will be expected to read out loud; participate in in-class writing exercises; and produce approximately 5-8 pages of new writing EACH week for group feedback.

Find more information about Sackett classes at www.sackettworkshop.com/writing.

Writers participating in this selective workshop will learn to recognize successful techniques in their fiction–what engages the reader, and how that success is achieved. In-class discussions will focus on analyzing student work, particularly the many choices (point-of-view, tone, detail, pacing, etc.) a writer must make concerning structure, character and language. Each writer will have two opportunities to have his or her work critiqued in class (up to 25 pages each time) and will receive typed feedback from both the instructor and his or her classmates. A private conference with the instructor is included. This course is intended for writers who have extensive writing and workshopping experience.

Find more information about Sackett classes at www.sackettworkshop.com/writing.

Writers participating in this course will learn to recognize successful techniques in their fiction–what engages the reader, and how that success is achieved. In-class discussions will focus on analyzing student work, particularly the many choices (point-of-view, tone, detail, pacing, etc.) a writer must make concerning structure, character and language. Each writer will have two opportunities to have his or her work critiqued in class (up to 25 pages each time) and will receive typed feedback from both the instructor and his or her classmates. A private conference with the instructor is included. This course is intended for writers who have extensive writing and workshopping experience.

Find more information about Sackett classes at www.sackettworkshop.com/writing.

Writers participating in this selective workshop will learn to recognize successful techniques in their fiction–what engages the reader, and how that success is achieved. In-class discussions will focus on analyzing student work, particularly the many choices (point-of-view, tone, detail, pacing, etc.) a writer must make concerning structure, character and language. Each writer will have two opportunities to have his or her work critiqued in class (up to 25 pages each time) and will receive typed feedback from both the instructor and his or her classmates. A private conference with the instructor is included. This course is intended for writers who have extensive writing and workshopping experience.

Find more information about Sackett classes at www.sackettworkshop.com/writing.

Flash fiction is a sexy, versatile form. It can lead the reader somewhere unexpected and leave her there to ponder the unknown. It can crack open a moment to reveal the magnificent eternal. From a writer’s point of view, flash fiction provides an opportunity to distill the elements of craft and focus on them as if under a microscope, without the distractions of a longer, more complicated story or novel.

In this class we will read and discuss several published short-shorts, flash fictions, and/or microfictions, each week. Each of the first five weeks will be dedicated to a specific element of craft—structure, setting, character, dialogue, and endings—and students will write their own short-short stories weekly in response to each lesson. The final class will function as a rapid-fire writing workshop, wherein we will critique and celebrate one another’s work. Revised short-shorts will be collected after the class, and “published” in a mini-chapbook manuscript collection of work by each student.

Find more information and sign up here! 

Writers participating in this selective workshop will learn to recognize successful techniques in their fiction–what engages the reader, and how that success is achieved. In-class discussions will focus on analyzing student work, particularly the many choices (point-of-view, tone, detail, pacing, etc.) a writer must make concerning structure, character and language. Each writer will have two opportunities to have his or her work critiqued in class (up to 25 pages each time) and will receive typed feedback from both the instructor and his or her classmates. A private conference with the instructor is included. This course is intended for writers who have extensive writing and workshopping experience.

Find more information about Sackett classes at www.sackettworkshop.com/writing.

Find more information about Sackett classes at www.sackettworkshop.com/writing.

Find more information about Sackett classes at www.sackettworkshop.com/writing.

Writers participating in this selective workshop will learn to recognize successful techniques in their fiction–what engages the reader, and how that success is achieved. In-class discussions will focus on analyzing student work, particularly the many choices (point-of-view, tone, detail, pacing, etc.) a writer must make concerning structure, character and language. 

Find more information about Sackett classes at www.sackettworkshop.com/writing.

Writers participating in this selective workshop will learn to recognize successful techniques in their fiction–what engages the reader, and how that success is achieved. In-class discussions will focus on analyzing student work, particularly the many choices (point-of-view, tone, detail, pacing, etc.) a writer must make concerning structure, character and language. 

In creative writing workshops, we study structure and craft–but how do we learn to fill our structures with compelling substance; how do we learn to apply our craft to subject matters that matter, to the stories that are ours? In this class, we’ll explore these questions with an eye toward discovering our own obsessions and finding those stories only we can tell.