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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
May 2019
WriterHouse 11th Birthday Celebration, Spring Class Reading, and Open House
Join us for food and fun as we celebrate WriterHouse's 11th birthday and the writing created during the 2019 Spring Term. Fiction, nonfiction, and poetry will be represented. The event is free and open to the public and refreshments will be served. Bring friends!
Find out more »June 2019
Touring Today’s Publishing Options
Instructor: Chris Register $30 Members | $32.50 Nonmembers Saturday, 6/1/19 | 10:00 am – 12:00 pm Getting published has never been easy, but once upon a time the protocol was at least straightforward: writers would search (and search, and search) for a literary agent willing to introduce their work into an otherwise impenetrable industry. Of course, times have changed. While the traditional approach continues to work well for many authors, an ever-expanding universe of publishing options has made ‘straightforward' a thing of the…
Find out more »Science Fiction & Fantasy Group Reading and Open House
Join us for food and fun as we celebrate the varied writing from our speculative fiction group. The event is free and open to the public and refreshments will be served. Bring friends!
Find out more »Writing the Tough Stuff: Generating Essays (Only 4 spots left!)
Instructor: Jennifer Niesslein $60 Members | $65 Nonmembers Saturday, 6/8/19 | 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm When you experience a life-changing event, how do you even begin to write about it? And how do you make your work stand out from other work that tackles the same kind of event? In this seminar, we’ll focus on a few approaches and forms to tackle the tough stuff. Expect to read and discuss, and write and share, and leave with the germ…
Find out more »Navigating Self-Publishing Using Amazon KDP
Instructor: John Nicolay $60 Members | $65 Nonmembers Wednesday, 6/12/19 | 6:00 pm – 9:00 pm This seminar takes the student through the process of using Amazon’s “Kindle Direct Print” for publishing any project as a softcover book. We will discuss each element of the process, starting with formatting the “to-be” work so that KDP remains happy. John Nicolay is a professor in The Graduate School, University of Maryland. He is an officer with the Blue Ridge Writers, and a…
Find out more »Writing for Magazines
Instructor: Bill Glose $60 Members | $65 Nonmembers Saturday, 6/15/19 | 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm In this workshop, Bill Glose shares his own roadmap to successful publication to show how to break in at magazines and keep landing assignments after you’ve kicked the door down. You will learn the basics of querying, the three stages of the interview, editorial timelines and relationships, and the art of narrative non-fiction as it applies to both essays and articles. Bill Glose is the author…
Find out more »Structuring Your Book
Instructor: Kristie Smeltzer $60 Members | $65 Nonmembers Saturday, 6/15/19 | 1:00 pm – 5:00 pm Have a great idea for a book but no idea where to start? Do you have a first draft and now you're ready to shape it? Or has your book stalled because you don't know where to go next? Participate in this seminar to learn about a variety of story structures and planning techniques that can help with your book. Writing a book-length work…
Find out more »Rhyme
Instructor: Neil Perry $60 Members | $65 Nonmembers Saturday, 6/22/19 | 10:00 am – 1:30 pm This seminar will investigate the strange topic of rhyme and rhyming. At once the formal element most readily associated with poetry and the thing most poets first kick out of their tool box, rhyme has a unique and almost paradoxical place in our consideration of craft. We'll look at poems that rhyme and rhyme well. We'll look at poems that rhyme terribly. We'll talk about…
Find out more »Get Work Done: Evaluating and Planning Structure for Your Book
Instructor: Kristie Smeltzer $60 Members | $65 Nonmembers Saturday, 6/29/19 | 1:00 pm – 5:00 pm Are you ready to plan or revise your book? Stuck in the writing process because your book's path is unclear? Join this seminar to roll up your sleeves and do some evaluation or planning for your book. Participants will apply several techniques to identifying or evaluating the structure of their work in progress. You'll gain experience in the techniques and leave with a more…
Find out more »WRITERHOUSE NEWS
WriterHouse teams with City Clay for multi-media summer camps!
Writerhouse is joining with City Clay to host three summer camps offering children from 9 - 11 years old the opportunity to sculpt, write, and paint during the course of one week. All camps run Monday - Friday, from 9:00 am - 4:30 pm. Children will be dropped off...
Read the Winning Entries from the 2019 JMRL and WriterHouse Poetry Contest
We received an overwhelming response to this year's JMRL and WriterHouse Poetry Contest judged by Poet Laureate of Virginia, Henry Hart. We'd like to congratulate winner Ron Berube for his poem "A Differential Calculus of My Feelings" and runner-up Clay Moldenhauer...
2019 Write On! Summer Camps Are Here!
Creative Writing Camp for Kids Session I: Monday-Friday, July 8 - July 12, 2019 | 1:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.Session II: Monday-Friday, July 22 - July 26, 2019 | 1:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. SESSION ONE CAMPS: Grades 6-8: Writing...
