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Here’s what some of our students are saying about WriterHouse:
“What I enjoy most about my experience with WriterHouse is the support of a writing tribe.”
“Sunny and comfortable. Glad there’s coffee!”
“I like the space and time dedicated to the effort of writing. I like the quiet.”
“I am just so glad WriterHouse exists. I am grateful to have a place to come and write and be around writers.”
“I am a huge WriterHouse fan. Thank you for fostering this unique community; it’s completely revolutionized what has otherwise been a relatively lonely hobby for me.”
“Great institution. Love the camaraderie, the exchange of knowledge, the feedback. No way I would have started writing in this way without WriterHouse.”
“WriterHouse is incredible–such an asset to this community.”
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FEATURED EVENTS
January 2020
Fiction and the Craft of Character (Only 1 spot left!)
Instructor: Bruce Holsinger $60 Members | $65 Nonmembers Saturday, 1/25/20 | 1:00 pm - 4:00 pm This seminar will address the making of human characters in fiction. Characters--believable, authentic, sympathetic--are the lifeblood of story. Who wants to read or keep reading a novel if we don’t care about the fellow human beings inhabiting its setting and guiding its plot? We’ll look at several examples of great characters, learn about the relationship between character and story structure, and try out some…
Find out more »February 2020
The Short Long Poem
Instructor: Christopher Kondrich $60 Members | $65 Nonmembers Saturday, 2/1/20 | 1:00 pm - 4:00 pm Long poems marvel us with their expansiveness, but many short poems seem to have this quality as well. Their brevity belies their extraordinary breadth and scope. In this seminar, we’ll explore how to harness the expansiveness of long poetry for our more concise work. We’ll consider four poems—one each by Brigit Pegeen Kelly, Louise Glück, Srikanth Reddy, and Robin Coste Lewis—as examples and guides,…
Find out more »Navigating the Query Trenches: Pitches, Pitfalls, and PitMad
Instructor: Emily Thiede $60 Members | $65 Nonmembers Saturday, 2/15/20 | 1:00 pm - 4:00 pm There’s a reason many writers describe querying as “going into the trenches,” but like any battle, it’s easier to survive the fight if you start with the right tools in your armory. In this course, we’ll explore resources for building (and narrowing down) a list of agents to query, and the pros-and-cons of non-traditional paths like twitter pitch contests, mentorship competitions, and writing conferences.…
Find out more »Beyond the Banana Peel: A Workshop on Writing Humor
Instructors: Lisa Ellison and Debby Prum $80 Members | $87 Nonmembers Saturday, 2/22/20 | 10:00 am - 3:00 pm NOTE: Maximum number of students - 8 Quote: “If heaven exists, to know there’s laughs, that would be a great thing.” Robin Williams During this four-hour workshop, we will discuss the elements of humor, use improv exercises and film clips to demonstrate those elements and then give participants opportunities to write short humorous pieces. NOTE: Lunch break from 12:00-1:00 PM. Participants…
Find out more »Utopia and Dystopia: Writing Heaven and Hell
Instructor: Warren Rochelle $60 Members | $65 Nonmembers Saturday, 2/29/20 | 1:00 pm - 4:30 pm Utopia, the perfect society? Or, a planned, better one? Dystopia, a warning, a cautionary tale: if we don't stop doing .... there'll be hell to pay. We'll talk about utopia and dystopia, past and present, outline a statement of beliefs, then start individual stories set in the alternate world of these beliefs in action. Warren Rochelle lives and works in Fredericksburg, Virginia, where he…
Find out more »March 2020
Propelled by Story, Constrained by Truth: Exploring the Boundaries of Narrative Nonfiction
Instructor: Chris Register $60 Members | $65 Nonmembers Saturday, 3/14/20 | 1:00 pm - 4:00 pm Narrative nonfiction authors face many decisions along their journey from proposal to print. Whether curating material for a historical snapshot, recreating conversations for a travelogue, or painting a scene for a memoir, the challenges are the same: where to begin, what to tell and leave out (and in what order), how much dialogue versus backstory to employ, and—of course—that elephant in the writing room: to…
Find out more »WriterHouse Winter Class Reading and Open House
Join us for food and fun as we celebrate the writing created during the 2020 Winter 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 »WRITERHOUSE NEWS
Unity Days Poetry Event
Unity Days Poetry Event to Highlight the Power of Writing to Heal On August 9, 2019, from 12:00-1:30 PM, WriterHouse, in partnership with The Bridge Progressive Arts Initiative and the Jefferson-Madison Regional Library, will host a free poetry writing event open to...
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...
