WLT: Programs

2009 Classes & Workshops

Writers' League of Texas Classes and Workshops feature a variety of topics taught by outstanding instructors. Open to members and nonmembers, the series offers something of interest for all writers - from novice to professional. Check out the list and register now.

Areas of Interest

Select your area of interest and click to learn about classes and workshops designed to follow that track.

More classes and workshops will be added, so check back often for updates. Announcements will also be sent to members through the League's Footnotes e-newsletter and by e-mail. Contact the office if you wish to be added to the subscription list. Writers' League of Texas classes and workshops are open to the public.

Location

All classes and workshops are held at the WLT Office, 611 S. Congress Ave, Suite 130, Austin, TX, unless otherwise stated.

Registration

If you have a disability that requires access accommodations and you wish to attend one of our workshops or classes, please contact the WLT office at least 48 hours prior to the program date.

Refund Policy

A refund is offered only if the event is cancelled.

Accommodations

Clarion Inn at Oltorf and I-35 offers workshop attendees a discounted rate of $89 per night for a room with king-size bed or two doubles. Please reserve at least two weeks in advance. For reservations, call 800.434.REST - 512.444.0561 and mention the discount for Writers' League of Texas workshops.

Discounts on Workshops

Our classes, workshops, and conferences are open to the public, but members receive special discounts. To join the League, visit the membership page. Discounts vary depending upon the cost of the class, workshop, retreat or conference, yet the bottom line is "you can pay for your membership via the savings offered."

The Craft of Writing

Saturdays, January 17 & 31, February 7 & 14, and March 14 & 28 (6 sessions)
2 - 5 PM

Saundra Goldman

Dr. Saundra Goldman

Writing Practice, Memory, and Memoir

Dr. Saundra Goldman

For years Saundra Goldman has been dreaming of a class using writing practice to excavate material for memoir. With Natalie Goldberg coming to Austin in March to promote the paperback edition of Old Friend From Faraway: The Practice of Writing Memoir, we have the perfect opportunity. This course provides the opportunity to delve deeply into mind and memory. Students will work through Old Friend, finishing all the exercises in the book in time for Natalie's visit. Students will also study several short memoir pieces to get some ideas for organizing their newfound material. After an introduction to writing practice, class time will be spent writing (a lot!), reading aloud, and studying assigned reading.

Who should attend?

Those interested in memoir and personal essay
Any writer who wants to excavate his or her own life for material
Writers at all levels welcome

Dr. Saundra Goldman brings years of experience in writing practice, including intensive study with Natalie Goldberg. She is a writer and art historian. Her short stories, essays, and reviews have been published in literary journals, museum catalogs, textbooks, anthologies, and professional journals, including Art News, New Art Examiner, Art Papers, Theater and Drama Review, and the Texas Observer. She also served as art critic to the Austin American-Statesman and the Austin Chronicle. She is currently writing a book about the feminist performance artist and sculptor Hannah Wilke. For more on Saundra, visit www.saundragoldman.com.

$199 members; $259 nonmembers

Saturdays, February 7 & 21, March 7 (3 sessions)
10 - Noon

Scott Wiggerman

Scott Wiggerman

Jump-Start Your Creative Engines Redux

Scott Wiggerman

How do you start writing when that blank page just stares back with emptiness? Sometimes getting the first line or first sentence — or even first word or first phrase — is the hardest step; sometimes you need a jump-start to get your creative engines going. Join poet and editor Scott Wiggerman for "Jump-Start Redux," the return of the fall 2008 course described by students as "wonderful," "well-organized," and "fantastic"—now expanded to three morning sessions. Not only will you discover many sure-fire techniques and exercises to turn that blank page into something filled with potential, but you will have the opportunity to draft several pieces that will be shared and discussed in class. Learn how to conquer that blank page once you're alone with it back home, and practice what you've learned in challenging but entertaining assignments. This workshop — for both prose and poetry writers — is guaranteed to get your creative juices flowing.

Poet, editor, publisher, and instructor, Scott Wiggerman has had poems appear in The Texas Observer, Heartlodge, Contemporary Sonnet, and in the anthologies Poem, Revised and The Two Southwests. He edited the Texas Poetry Calendar 2009 as well as the recent poetry anthology Big Land, Big Sky, Big Hair, both published through Dos Gatos Press. In 2008 Scott taught a workshop at WLT's Summer Writing Academy and participated in the Blanton Museum's statewide poetry project, combining poetry by Texans with art from the museum's permanent collection. In October he was one of ten poets invited to participate in "Interwoven Illuminations," a collaborative exhibit between poets and painters at the Rane Gallery in Taos, New Mexico.

$99 members; $159 nonmembers

Saturday, April 25
10 AM - 5 PM *Location to be announced.

Saundra Goldman

Dr. Saundra Goldman

The Build a Writing Practice Retreat

Dr. Saundra Goldman

Spend the day immersed in writing practice. Sit in meditation, write in your notebook, and dive deeply into your writing dreams. There will be time for instruction and writing together, as well as time to write on your own. For alumni of Dr. Goldman's previous "Writing Practice" classes, this is a chance to deepen your writing practice. For new students, the retreat will jump-start your writing and launch you in to this amazing practice. Open to all.

$99 members; $159 nonmembers

Publicity and Marketing

Saturday, February 28
2 - 5 PM

Nettie Hartsock

Nettie Hartsock

Overloaded, OverWWWebbed: What You Really Need to Know About Social Media (FaceBook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Blogs, and More)

Nettie Hartsock

So you're ready to boost your social-media savvy, but with the plethora of social-media tools available, how do you choose the ones that will work most powerfully for you? This class will focus on blogging and Web 2.0 social-media tips, tools, and traps for you to avoid so you're not mired down and online 24/7 without a return on your time investment! The class will cover:

Facebook, LinkedIn, and who still needs MySpace
How to follow the short and long tail on social media so you don't waste your time
Myths about what social media can and cannot do for you
The top ten tips for reaching out to bloggers today
Why microblogging and Twitter are the next cool tool for you to use

Don't miss this opportunity to learn how to apply the strategies of Web 2.0 communications for your book or writing career, your platform, and your long-term virtual conversations!

Nettie Hartsock is a digital strategist who helps artists, musicians, authors and companies focus on creating, conveying and connecting their message to the world. Her work as a "connector" is highly regarded, and she creates successful programs that establish a powerful base for attracting both bloggers' and journalists' attention. Her blog is her Web site, www.nettiehartsock.com.

$49 members; $109 nonmembers

The Secrets of the Agents

Saturday, February 28
9 - 1 PM * Location to be announced.

Brandi Bowles

Brandi Bowles

The Secrets of the Agents: Building a Better Beginning

Brandi Bowles of the Howard Morhaim Literary Agency

Editors and agents usually only read the first fifty pages of a new work, so if you're first few pages aren't hot, your chances for publication will be slim. The "Build A Better Beginning" workshop is designed to help you improve and re-evaluate the beginning of your novel or memoir to make it more compelling, so that no reader will be able to put it down — including the ones you want most to impress. Through class discussion, writing exercises, and tried-and-true techniques, this workshop will help you craft an opening that pops, has an irresistible concept, and relays relevant background info, providing the bait that will ensure your reader stays hooked till the very end.

Who should attend?

Fiction and nonfiction writers working on books
Writers with scenes that have the potential to become a book
Freelance writers and short fiction writers who want to sharpen their writing skills

Brandi Bowles became an agent in 2007 after sharpening her skills as an acquisitions editor at Random House, where she worked on books like Do Travel Writers Go to Hell? and How to Become a Famous Writer Before You're Dead. Her areas of interest include mystery, science fiction, and historical novels, as well as women's fiction and southern fiction, and many areas of nonfiction including music, pop-culture, memoir, sociology, science, humor, and prescriptive/narrative/how-to. More information about Howard Morhaim Literary Agency.

$99 members; $159 nonmembers