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“Two years ago, I attempted my first NaNoWriMo. With no previous writing experience, I pounded out a 60k word rough (very rough!) draft. A few months later I signed up for a class at WriterHouse. I learned so much, so quickly. Over the following months I took more classes and and refined my manuscript. A year later I submitted it to PitchWars, a highly competitive, international competition. Out of nearly 3000 applicants, 160 were chosen (including me!) to work one-on-one with a published author followed by a showcase with literary agents. I know the only reason I was able to go from a newbie writer to having interest from top literary agents in 18 months was because of the lessons I learned at WriterHouse. So thank you, WriterHouse! “–Emily Thiede, WriterHouse student and member
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FEATURED EVENTS
September 2018
How to Promote Yourself and Your Work: A Brown-Bag Lunch Talk
**This Event will take place at New Dominion Bookshop In this interactive brown-bag lunch & learn from copywriter and brand strategist Elizabeth Hope Derby, uncover “How to Promote Yourself and Your Work (Without Feeling Like a Fraud or a Sleazeball).” This event will be free and open to the public. Bring your lunch if you wish! This event is co-sponsored by New Dominion Bookshop, the oldest independent bookseller in Virginia, located in Historic Downtown Charlottesville Elizabeth Hope Derby is a…
Find out more »First Fridays Art Opening with Philip Marlin
Join us for food, wine, and lively conversation as we celebrate the artwork of Philip Marlin. His exhibition titled Abstract by Intuition is free and open to the public. About the artist: Philip Jay Marlin was born in Queens, NYC, on October 16, 1963, to Rebecca and Kenneth, who had a short-lived marriage. The memory of his mother initiates all of his work. After all, it was his mother who introduced him to acrylic painting when he was ten years old.…
Find out more »Putting the Pen to the Page: Drafting Your Novel in One Year
Instructor: Kristen-Paige Madonia $1,399* Members | $1,399* Nonmembers Select Tuesdays, 9/11/18 - 5/21/19** | 6:30 PM - 9:30 PM *Payment plans of $335 per quarter will be available to students accepted into this program. Overview: Putting the Pen to the Page is an opportunity for writers to study the craft of creative writing, share and workshop portions of their novel manuscript, provide and receive constructive criticism, and work with a published author at an MFA-level of instruction as they write…
Find out more »Plot. Stakes. Tension
Instructor: Crystal Hana Kim $60 Members | $65 Nonmembers Saturday, 9/22/18 | 9:30 AM - 1:30 PM These three terms are often used interchangeably when we talk about the craft of writing. How are these three terms different and how do they work together to keep the reader interested? In this seminar, we will discuss how to effectively create and maintain dramatic tension in fiction by closely reading a short story together. We will then examine our own characters to…
Find out more »Getting Your Book Published: A Year-Long Master Class with Jane Friedman
Instructor: Jane Friedman $1,200 Members* | $1,200 Nonmembers* Select Saturdays, 9/22/18 - 2/9/19**(see below) | 2:00 PM – 4:30 PM *Payment plans of $287.50 per quarter will be available to students accepted into this program. In this comprehensive masterclass, you’ll learn not just the foundational principles of getting your book published, but you’ll also gain expert insight into the changing landscape of the publishing industry, and how you can navigate your own path toward success. Learn what it takes to capture…
Find out more »October 2018
2018 Words and Wine Celebration
Art Gallery at Indoor Biotechnologies, 700 Harris Street (across from WriterHouse) Tickets: $50 per person Sponsorship*: Best Seller ($250), Pulitzer ($500), and Nobel ($1,000) It's time for Words and Wine, the signature annual fundraiser for WriterHouse, an organization whose mission is to promote the creation and appreciation of literature and to encourage the development of writers at all levels by providing affordable, secure workspace and meeting space, high quality writing instruction, and literary events for the public. Join us for…
Find out more »The Songs of Fall: A Poetry Retreat
Instructor: Sara Robinson $99 Members | $110 Nonmembers Saturday, 10/20/18 | 10:00 AM - 4:00 PM Fall and its change of colors offers writers an opportunity to explore their writing in a natural setting. We can look at our art and see how changing colors, direction of light, plants, trees, streams, offer us opportunities to evaluate our own sense of change in what we compose. We can find inspiration like Robert Duncan’s “Often I Am Permitted to Return to a…
Find out more »The Art of Forgiveness: A Writing Retreat (2 Spots Left!)
Instructors: Lisa Ellison and Deborah Prum $85 Members | $95 Nonmembers Saturday, 10/27/18 | 10:00 AM - 3:00 PM Grievance stories are detrimental to your writing health. Ruminations on bad guys eat up your creative space. Side effects include one-dimensional characters, stale plotlines, and preachy prose. How do you stop nursing a juicy grievance story and regain your creativity? It all comes down to forgiveness. Join Lisa Ellison and Deborah Prum as we explore various aspects of forgiveness. We will…
Find out more »Capricious, Courageous, Captivating: Crafting Irresistible Characters
Instructor: Doug Lawson $60 Members | $65 Nonmembers Saturday, 10/27/18 | 1:00 PM - 4:30 PM What is it that makes a character truly, madly, deeply memorable—so uniquely gripping that they can’t be forgotten, so quirky that you can’t help but love them, hate them, want to take them home with you and cook them dinner? In this seminar, we’ll look at some examples of great characters from stories in different mediums (stories, novels, movies, TV) and see if we…
Find out more »WRITERHOUSE NEWS
When Publishers Fail to Market Your Book
This post appeared in the August 1, 2018 edition of the WriterHouse Newsletter. Jane is teaching Getting Your Book Published: A Year-Long Master Class during the fall 2018 term. As may have heard, not all books are adequately marketed by publishers, who may rely...
The Power of Digression
Lately, I’ve been editing my own work, trying to put together a collection of short stories I’ve worked on for three years. Revision, for me, involves a lot of cutting. I value clarity to a fault in my early drafts; later I aim to lose the excessive unnecessary...
Read the Winning Entries from the 2018 JMRL and WriterHouse Poetry Contest
We received an overwhelming response to this year's JMRL and WriterHouse Poetry Contest judged by former Virginia Poet Laureate Ron Smith. We'd like to congratulate winner Erin Wells for her poem "Nevertheless, Isabella Gibbons Reads" and co-runners-up Cynthia...
