Dropping our readers into a particular time, a particular place, populated by particular people, is essential to making readers care about our stories. Learn to create vibrant, convincing reality on the page.
For Memoirist and Essay Writers
Memoir is a juggling act. As writers, our job is to bring the potent emotional stakes of our story to the page right from the beginning, introducing conflicts and launching the book’s dynamic journey. But equally important is establishing the story’s reality and dropping our readers into a particular time, a particular place, populated by particular people. This is how readers begin to care deeply and invest their hearts in our work.
This interactive webinar will closely examine the techniques of setting and characterization—often taught in fiction workshops—and how important they are to memoir. We will study the difference between mere “description” and active, dynamic detail and movement. Prompts will be provided for new work and for work-in-progress.
Can’t make it live? No worries—a replay will be available to all registrants.
In this webinar, you will:
DISCOVER how to transplant readers directly into the world of your memoir through vivid, specific detail
LEARN the craft of characterization techniques borrowed from fiction and applied to true stories
IDENTIFY the difference between static description and dynamic, active detail that propels your narrative forward
PRACTICE writing prompts designed to deepen both new work and works-in-progress
EXPLORE how to establish emotional stakes early while simultaneously grounding readers in time, place, and character
This webinar is ideal for writers at any level who…
would like their work to immediately capture attention, to engage agents, editors and—most of all—readers
struggle with “Why would anyone care about my story?”
worry their prose is moving too slowly, that they may be “explaining too much” and showing too little
are insecure about their storytelling skills (that’s all of us)!
Closed captioning is available. ✔ All registrants receive the recording. ✔
ABOUT YOUR PRESENTER
One of our most popular and beloved presenters, DINTY W. MOORE, is the author of the memoirs Between Panic & Desire and To Hell With It and the writing guides Crafting the Personal Essay and The Mindful Writer, among other books. He has published essays and stories in Harper’s, The New York Times Magazine, Georgia Review, Kenyon Review, Southern Review, Short Reads, and elsewhere. He is founding editor of Brevity, the journal of flash nonfiction.
Questions? Please email Info@writingcraft.com
Before the replay is sent, you may request a refund less a $10.00 processing fee. For a refund, EMAIL us at info@WritingCraft.com. Canceling your Zoom invite will not initiate this process.
Learn to write compelling pieces that go beyond self-healing to provide paths through grief and sanctuary for your readers.
Live on Zoom | Saturday & Sunday, June 6-7 | 1:00-3:00 pm EDT
For All Writers
Art serves a vital role as witness to events and emotions we have trouble naming. We know which poem arrived at just the right time in our lives, which song helped us imagine a path through deep feelings, and which book helped us navigate our grief.
But what makes those pieces resonate in readers’ hearts? How does writing foster empathy? How can language, with its strengths and inadequacies, help us build sanctuaries within ourselves and where others can go to be witnessed and held?
Taught by one of our most knowledgeable and empathetic presenters, this deeply experiential seminar is a hybrid of generative writing and craft conversation.
We’ll begin with a gentle writing practice to help you gather the glimmers of your own grief; then move into craft conversation and generative writing portals. grief,
We’ll discuss key craft elements in published poetry, how they can elevate emotional subjects from sentimentality to specificity, and connect readers to an emotional experience.
We’ll examine a variety of grieving experiences through the lenses of reckoning, regret, remembrance, ritual, revitalization, and restoring (re-story-ing). This framework will offer six possible portals into exploring and writing about your own grief, creating a sanctuary for your soul and the souls of others.
We will have space for optional sharing at the end. In the seminar’s confirmation email, you’ll receive a packet of recommended prep work, containing additional optional readings and links to (very) short films on grief. After the class, you’ll receive the seminar recording, slide deck, and all poems used for our conversation.
Please be prepared to write.
In this interactive 2-Day live seminar, you will:
LEARN key craft elements that help dramatize emotion
UNDERSTAND the difference between sentimentality and sentiment
ANALYZE poems addressing different aspects of grief
ENGAGE with your own grief to create six new portals to longer work
PRACTICE writing through different lenses on grief
IMAGINE how writing can serve as sanctuary to self and others
This course is ideal for writers in all genres who are interested in using language to help meet personal and collective grief.
Closed captioning is available. ✔ Think you might miss class? No worries, replays will be available 3 business days after the event. ✔
ABOUT YOUR Instructor
Funny, kind, and direct, Laraine Herring is a popular CRAFT TALKS presenter and one of our strongest voices on deeply personal writing that powerfully connects with readers.
Laraine’s memoir, A Constellation of Ghosts: A Speculative Memoir with Ravens, was released in 2021 from Regal House. She’s the editor of the anthology Becoming Real: Women Reclaim the Power of the Imagined through Speculative Nonfiction (Pact Press, 2024), and a trilogy of writing books from Shambhala, including Writing Begins with the Breath: Embodying Your Authentic Voice. A retired professor of creative writing and psychology, Lariane has worked with writers for thirty years. She’s also an illustrator and a grief counselor, and creator of The Grief Forest: a book about what we don’t talk about. She founded the online ‘zine Hags on Fire, a place for women to share stories about menopause, and co-designed The Imaginal Memoir Cave immersion program with Gayle Brandeis. Laraine’s work has appeared in The New York Times, Tiferet, The Rumpus, The Manifest-Station, and many more. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing and an MA in Counseling Psychology and lives in the mountains of northern Arizona with many cats.
Student Testimonials
“Laraine helped my book tell me what it wants to be and challenged me to do the work to get it there. I am grateful for her intuitive, empathic, supportive approach, and for her enthusiasm when I arrived at the realizations she was hoping I’d get to as I did that work. Laraine’s skills are many, and she is fantastic to work with. She is dedicated, direct, detailed, dependable, and delightful.”
— Meg Weber, author of A Year of Mr. Lucky (Sincyr Publishing)
“Through Laraine’s authentic nature and ability to listen, I learned that writing is as much an act of bravery and strength as it is about being gentle and flexible. I can’t wait to be one of her students again!”
— Naomi Kaplan
“Without a doubt, Laraine is the most generous, inspirational and challenging writing instructor I have ever met. Using provocative writing exercises, she guided me through creative discovery, helping reveal ideas and truths I had previously locked away. She challenged me to delve deeper into my story, even if it meant going into the dark hidden corners.”
— Janine Weyers
“Laraine opened doors inside my mind and created space for me to come into relationship with my writing in a refreshing way that was all my own. I had more than one breakthrough working with her. With ease and honesty, she created an authentic, interesting and inviting space to grow.”
— Grace Welker
“Laraine encourages students to dig deep. She provides original, interesting exercises designed to pull past the first obvious idea and find the more compelling material underneath. She is as invested in students’ work as the students themselves.”
— Janet Burrue
THE FINE PRINT
We understand that life can get in the way of your plans. We want you to be able to get the most out of your course, and our refund policy is designed to balance your need for flexibility with our deadlines and obligations to our teachers.
Before the class, you may request a refund less a $10.00 processing fee.
Please keep in mind that no refunds or credits will be issued after class begins.
Unlock your storytelling potential and share your words with captivating brevity.
REPLAY INCLUDES : VIDEO, CHAT SCRIPT, AUDIO FILE, SLIDES, HANDOUT, AND TRANSCRIPT & MORE
Micro prose—stories told in 300 words or less—provides an opportunity for more, not less. Learn how this short but versatile form can amplify your creative nonfiction work (memoir and personal essay) and even poetry and fiction.
We’ll look at examples of micro in the world, how you can begin writing micro right away, and submission opportunities as you ready your work for the world. Darien will share her methods for drafting and crafting micro prose, and lead an in-class exercise so you can try it for yourself.
If you’ve ever been curious about micro, now’s a great time to add this powerful form to your writer’s toolbox.
In this webinar, you will:
LEARN about micro prose and its storytelling superpowers
EXPLORE micro prose possibilities for creative nonfiction, fiction or poetry projects
CONSIDER submission and publication options for your own micro prose work
This webinar is ideal for writers who …
want to explore new ways to generate material
are interested in learning more about short-form writing
are ready to experiment with different ways of telling a story
want to publish short work as they write toward longer projects
want to deepen their literary craft
Closed captioning is available. ✔ All registrants receive the recording. ✔
ABOUT YOUR PRESENTER
Darien Hsu Gee is an international bestselling author published by Penguin Random House and the third Mark Twain Distinguished Writer-in-Residence at the University of Connecticut, following Alexander Chee and Justin Torres. Her work spans genres, from novels translated into eleven languages to award-winning micro prose and poetry collections. She is the executive editor of Nonwhite and Woman: 131 Micro Essays on Being in the World (IPPY Silver Award) and the author of Allegiance (IPPY Bronze Award), Other Small Histories (Poetry Society of America Chapbook Fellowship), and Writing the Hawaiʻi Memoir (Ka Palapala Poʻokela Award of Excellence).
A recipient of a Sustainable Arts Foundation grant and a Vermont Studio Center fellowship, Darien teaches creative nonfiction at UCLA Extension and Hugo House. She also leads specialized micro prose workshops through her platform, Writer-ish, and publishes two Substacks: Writer-ish, focused on the art of micro prose, and Drafts, Deals & Detours, a real-time look at the working writer’s life.
Her service to the literary community includes board work with Short Reads and Flash Fiction Institute.
Questions? Please email Info@writingcraft.com
Because the replay is delivered instantly upon purchase, all sales are final.
Beyond show-don’t-tell, create powerful scenes through details, images, and juxtaposition.
For Fiction Writers, Memoirists, and Essayists
Our strongest writing makes the reader feel with our characters/our narrator selves. But too often, we over-write—spelling out emotions, explaining through dialogue, interrupting memoir scenes with reflection or novel scenes with backstory—so that readers are watching someone else have an experience. By paring down our prose to singular details and powerful images, we give room for the reader to “lean in” to the story, actively assemble information, and share the discoveries, realizations, tears, and laughter on the page.
In this interactive webinar (let’s call it a workshop!) we’ll prune text, remove summaries to let details stand, and use gestures and images to create meaning and feeling. We’ll examine how to “score” text by arranging it on the page, making the visual processing of words and white space part of the reader’s experience. In published examples from fiction and memoir, we’ll learn how juxtaposition, high-context dialogue, and purposeful repetition give emotional punch. And we’ll challenge ourselves to create endings without explanations that resonate in the reader’s mind long after they’ve closed the book.
Raise your craft level and gain a tool kit. In-class writing time and live editing will give you a chance to apply this to your writing right away.
Can’t make it live? No worries—a replay will be available to all registrants.
This is a TWO-HOUR class, with 20 minutes of writing time in the middle.
45 minutes – Learn a new tool kit of writing techniques to give fewer words more power.
5 minutes – Q&A to fully understand and apply the techniques.
20 minutes – Revise a scene from your novel, memoir, short story, or essay using your new tools. Allison will continue taking questions in the chat.
OPTIONAL: Volunteer for live editing and upload your revised scene as a Word doc or docx to a Google Drive (link will be provided IN CLASS; no pages accepted early).
40 minutes – Allison will live-edit volunteer pages on screen, noting where the writer is succeeding and what revisions could make the prose even more effective. She’ll call out specific techniques and tips for everyone to apply to their own work.
10 minutes – additional Q&A and more on applying this work to your writing.
In this workshop you will:
HEAR how the interplay of said and unsaid makes dialogue more powerful
SEE how scoring text on the page establishes distance and attitude, smooths transitions, and increases dramatic tension
DISCOVER ways to increase emotional power on the page through specific details
APPLY the tools and techniques to your own scene, essay or story
CREATE powerful emotional connection with deliberate craft choices
This Course is ideal for writers who are …
Novelists who want readers to feel what the characters are feeling
Memoirists and essayists who want to write powerful emotions without over-explaining their own feelings or over-using reflection.
Creative writing students and graduates of MFA programs who want to expand their writing craft with conscious practice.
Developmental editors who want to grow their knowledge of white space, details, and juxtaposition in prose and better communicate that knowledge to their author clients.
Writers hearing feedback that they are “telling” or info-dumping on the page
Writers struggling with realistic dialogue, whether recreating a remembered scene or writing fiction.
Closed captioning is available. ✔ All registrants receive the recording. ✔
ABOUT YOUR PRESENTER
Allison K Williams is the author of Seven Drafts: Self-Edit Like a Pro From Blank Page to Book. She has edited and coached writers to Big Five and literary/university publishing deals and the New York Times and USA Today bestsellers lists. She’s guided essayists and humorists to publication in media including the New Yorker, Time, the Guardian, the New York Times, McSweeney’s, Refinery29, Hippocampus, the Belladonna and TED Talks. As Social Media Editor for Brevity, she inspires thousands of writers with weekly blogs on craft and the writing life.As a memoirist, essayist, and travel journalist, Allison has written craft, culture and comedy for National Public Radio, CBC-Canada, the New York Times, the Christian Science Monitor, Creative Nonfiction,McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, Kenyon Review Online,Travelers’ Tales and Flash Nonfiction Funny.
Questions? Please email Info@writingcraft.com
Before the replay is sent, you may request a refund less a $10.00 processing fee. For a refund, EMAIL us at info@WritingCraft.com. Canceling your Zoom invite will not initiate this process.
Photographs are a powerful source for creative nonfiction. Learn practical approaches to bring them to life as scenes, draft an essay, and get personal feedback.
Limited to 12 memoirists, essayists, and creative nonfiction writers
Live On Zoom | Sundays, June 14 – July 5, 2026 | 3-4:30 pm eastern
Starting a nonfiction piece can often feel daunting, despite having stories and experiences you wish to tell. Memories may feel incomplete—and can be inaccurate. But photographs can inspire your process and provide a starting point for our writing, serving as an object, an image, and a memory touchstone. When used as prompts for our writing, pictures can become rich reservoirs of personal and cultural history. Drawing on photographs that intrigue, haunt, or conjure forgotten memories, this four-week course explores the rich possibilities that photographs can serve in prompting your nonfiction writing and developing your craft.
You’ll work with your own photographs, inspiring your writing with concrete moments to describe, reflect, and expand on. At the end of the four weeks, you’ll have a short essay or the start of a longer piece.
This small-group, workshop-format course will include instructor feedback on 1,000 words.
Over these three weeks, you will …
LEARN techniques of nonfiction narrative, including writerly presence, details and description, and the art of scene-making
DISCOVER how to use photographs to create richly imagined narrative nonfiction stories
EXPLORE the possibilities of your own photographs as prompts for expressive essays and scenes
EXPERIMENT with crafting and refining narrative nonfiction both individually and with guided workshopping
Schedule
Week 1. Photographs and Stories We will look at how writers find stories in photographs and consider the different approaches a photograph can prompt. Then we’ll experiment with low-stakes writing inspired by your own photographs.
Week 2: Incomplete Photographs Explore how to turn a photograph into a scene, filling what is outside the frame and delving into memory and experience in the process. We will consider ways of crafting compelling descriptions and writerly presence.
Week 3. Expanding the Writing Expanding on the work from Week 2, this week will focus on refining a draft of an essay. We will uncover ways of giving focus and depth to the developing piece towards a more richly textured draft.
Week 4. Revision and Critique The final week offers guided group feedback, helping each other in thinking about directions for giving the writing a more solid frame and focus.
This course is for beginning and intermediate writers who want to
explore elements of creative nonfiction that draw on memory and experience
experiment with how photographs can prompt stories
refine their prose style and techniques
learn practical approaches to nonfiction storytelling
have a pile of photographs to inform their memoir…but aren’t sure how to use them
Closed captioning is available. ✔ Think you might miss a class? No worries, replays will be available. ✔
ABOUT YOUR INSTRUCTOR
James Polchin is a writer and cultural historian, and a clinical professor at New York University. He is the author of Indecent Advances: A Hidden History of True Crime and Prejudice Before Stonewall, a finalist for an Edgar Award, and Shadow Men: The Tangled Story of Murder, Media, and Privilege That Scandalized Jazz Age America. His writing has appeared in The New York Times Book Review, Slate, TIME, Huffington Post, CrimeReads, Paris Review, Rolling Stone, The New Inquiry, Brevity, and the Gay and Lesbian Review. He has been interviewed about his work by BBC4 Radio, NPR, Advocate, The American Scholar, CrimeReads, Bookforum, and Publishers Weekly, among others.
Testimonials from past students:
“He really created a transformative course. His insightful comments on everyone’s writing were really superb, encouraging revision while also providing inspiration and direction.”
“I appreciated the thoughtful feedback and helpful questions.”
“I was surprised by how much I was able to generate in a short time and in a way that felt fresh to me. The course opened up new pathways to consider.”
“Big thanks to James for a class that fed my writing and my heart.”
THE FINE PRINT
We understand that life can get in the way of your plans. We want you to be able to get the most out of your course, and our refund policy is designed to balance your need for flexibility with our deadlines and obligations to our teachers.
Before the first class, you may request a refund (less a $25 processing fee).
After class begins, you may request a refund for the remaining value of the course (less a $25 processing fee).
No credits or refunds will be available after the 1st class.
What tone to strike at the start? And how to shape an ending that responds? Learn how to make your essays move.
For Personal Essays
Essays sing. Beginning sentences open the tune—and connect to the endings in how the song ends. An essay’s opening says something about what the writer wants to explore through different lenses or truths. The beginning can nail the “what,” the essence of an essay’s quest, through an image or inflection or voice or rhythm of language (“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times”).
Essays move. Writers listen for a change—a mini-epiphany, an angle through the mind’s eye that frames in a fresh way, or a phrase like prayer in structure and sound. What might the last line say in response to the first? If beginnings and endings are siblings, what is the connection that links them? How might the closing not just echo the opening but instead extend it, go beyond what’s there?
In this practice-driven webinar (be ready to write), Jonathan Callard will guide you through possibilities in shaping strong openings and closings in essays and how they can work together to inspire movement and revelation in your work.
Can’t make it live? No worries—a replay will be available to all registrants.
In this webinar, you will:
EXPLORE key elements of strong openings in essays and how to express them on the page.
DISCOVER how closings can respond to openings to deepen a piece and ways to write strong closings.
LEARN how beginnings and endings can work with a “what”—a tension/question—to create a transformative essay that pivots toward a change/shift, a “then.”
PRACTICE writing your own openings and closings in real time, guided by exercises designed to unlock movement and revelation in your essays.
This webinar is ideal for writers who …
feel stuck on how to begin or end their pieces
want to play with structure of narrative or idea
want to hone their essays to engage agents, editors, and readers
want to understand how a central tension or question can guide an essay
Closed captioning is available. ✔ All registrants receive the recording. ✔
ABOUT YOUR PRESENTER
Jonathan Callard is a writer, editor, and teacher who helps writers shape stories and find their voice. The winner of the Prairie Schooner Creative Nonfiction Contest judged by National Book Award honoree Sarah M. Broom, his work has appeared in Prairie Schooner, PublicSource, Creative Nonfiction, Hotel Amerika, Gulf Coast, Image, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, Pittsburgh Magazine, Arts & Letters, and the Dallas Morning News, among others, and has earned fellowships from the Ragdale Foundation, the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, and the Brush Creek Foundation for the Arts. Having previously taught for the Creative Nonfiction Foundation, he currently offers writer-mentoring services and also teaches for the University of Pittsburgh, where he received an MFA in nonfiction writing. He lives in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Questions? Please email Info@writingcraft.com
Before the replay is sent, you may request a refund less a $10.00 processing fee. For a refund, EMAIL us at info@WritingCraft.com. Canceling your Zoom invite will not initiate this process.
Write your book’s “blurb”—the sharp, versatile pitch for submissions, promotion, and marketing that defines what your book is and why it matters.
All Genres
Whether you call it “jacket copy,” an “extended pitch” or the meat of your query, your book’s blurb is critical. This short piece of persuasive copy determines whether someone reads on, requests the manuscript, or buys the book. Just 150 words do a lot of heavy lifting: positioning your book in the market, introducing your protagonist and stakes, and making a promise that reading will be worth the commitment.
But many writers get stuck with blurbs that sound generic or interchangeable with another author’s book. Shortcuts, AI, and borrowed language won’t sum up the heart of 100,000 words. You have to step inside your book and ask what it is truly offering—and then stress-test whether or not your manuscript delivers on that promise.
When I finally arrived at the right 150 words for my own memoir/reported nonfiction project, everything fell into place. I received thoughtful, encouraging passes instead of crickets, and in a very short period of time, two offers of publication. As I wrote and revised, the blurb became a microcosm of my story’s logic and the reason someone would choose my book over anything else in front of them.
Agents are looking for the blurb in your query letter (and will use it to sell your book to publishers). Editors are looking for the blurb in your book proposal. Marketers are looking for the blurb in your materials. And most importantly, your readers are looking to be fulfilled by the blurb’s promise. They want to read your book; give them every chance to be excited. This session shows you how to make those 150 words count.
Can’t make it live? No worries—a replay will be available to all registrants.
In this webinar, you will:
DEFINE what a blurb is (and is not) and see how it functions across queries, proposals, websites, and sales materials
ANALYZE real blurb examples to see how a clear, compelling story or concept is expressed in 150 words
STRUCTURE a blurb for yourself that introduces the protagonist/author, stakes, and take-away (without summarizing the entire book!)
IDENTIFY and AVOID common pitfalls that weaken blurbs, including generic language and over-reliance on trends
EVALUATE whether your blurb makes a promise your manuscript actually delivers on
This webinar is ideal for writers who are …
not getting responses from their query letters or book proposals
planning to self-publish and needing strong sales copy for online retail pages and author websites
finished with their manuscript and need to articulate what the book is about
struggling to describe their book clearly, concisely, and in a compelling way
getting stuck in the weeds of their book and need to refine the premise
Closed captioning is available. ✔ All registrants receive the recording. ✔
ABOUT YOUR PRESENTER
Michelle Cutler is an award-winning screenwriter, storytelling coach, and developmental editor specializing in true stories and memoir, as well as an enthusiastic teacher. She has written more than 1,700 advertising campaigns for global brands, humanizing brand copy for short form content.
She holds an MFA in film from NYU and a diploma in advanced creative writing nonfiction from Cambridge. She is currently writing I WON’T LET YOU DIE ALONE, a reported memoir from the trenches of modern elder caregiving for Bloomsbury.
Questions? Please email Info@writingcraft.com
Before the replay is sent, you may request a refund less a $10.00 processing fee. For a refund, EMAIL us at info@WritingCraft.com. Canceling your Zoom invite will not initiate this process.
In a crowded publishing marketplace, professionally reviewing books is a way to network and build your byline.
Focus: Creative Nonfiction though LARGELY THE PRINCIPLES APPLY ACROSS GENRES
Book reviewing is a time-tested, excellent way to connect with literary venues and network with writers further along in their careers. Whether you have a manuscript of creative nonfiction well underway or are just beginning to break into essay or memoir writing, reviewing also allows you to practice critical approaches to writing that transfer to resolving thorny issues in your work.
In a time of thumbs up or thumbs down and dashed-off Goodreads reviews of “this sucked” or “loved it,” there’s an art to book reviewing—and a need for a blending of personal and critical analysis. But there are many different types and formats of book reviews and countless outlets that accept them, so it may be difficult to know where to get started.
In this webinar we will outline different types of book reviews and outlets, learn the do’s and don’ts (and the value!) in the writing and publishing process of book reviews, and take home craft tools to create a successful review of your own.
Can’t make it live? No worries—a replay will be available to all registrants.
In this webinar, you will:
LEARN do’s and don’ts of book review pitching and writing
GAIN PERSPECTIVE on reviewing as a means of elevating your own writing and others’
DISCOVER how searching for comps in a book review helps find comps for your own manuscript
LEARN how the practice of analysis and critique leads to stronger writing
DISCOVER venues for your reviews and the expectations for different outlets
LEARN how reviewing is a valuable networking tool in the creative nonfiction and independent publishing communities
DECONSTRUCT a sample review structure
This webinar is ideal for writers and readers of creative nonfiction who …
hope to professionally network with others in the field
seek practice pitching both critical and creative work
are interested in book reviewing but not sure how to start
Closed captioning is available. ✔ All registrants receive the recording. ✔
ABOUT YOUR PRESENTER
Brooke Champagne is a native New Orleanian and the award-winning author of Nola Face: A Latina’s Life in the Big Easy, named a Best Book of 2024 from Kirkus Reviews. Her book of cultural criticism and reportage, Drive-Thru Daiquiri, is forthcoming with LSU Press. Champagne serves as Book Reviews Editor for River Teeth: A Journal of Narrative Nonfiction. She is an Assistant Professor of Creative Writing in the MFA Program at the University of Alabama.
Questions? Please email Info@writingcraft.com
Before the replay is sent, you may request a refund less a $10.00 processing fee. For a refund, EMAIL us at info@WritingCraft.com. Canceling your Zoom invite will not initiate this process.
Authors are marketing in new and surprisingly successful ways.
What’s the best way to sell YOUR book?
More than ever, authors are doing the lion’s share of marketing–even when traditionally published. But gone are the days of religiously posting to socials and desperately hunting for Goodreads reviews. Our guests have mixed new practices and unique publicity hooks to get their books in front of the readers who need them.
Andromeda Romano-Lax, Jo Piazza and Stephanie Weaver will tell us how their marketing plans have changed in 2026, the ways they’re bringing their words to the world, and the surprising tactics they never thought would work! Find out the best new book marketing tricks of the trade, and what you already know that’s still working.
Join us TUESDAY April 28th at 1PM EASTERN – live and FREE on Zoom, all welcome!
Our special guests:
Andromeda Romano-Lax’sfirst novel, The Spanish Bow, was translated into eleven languages and her next novels– The Detour, Behave, Plum Rains and Annie and the Wolves have been Indie Next and Amazon Books of the month; one has been optioned for TV/film. With 2024’s The Deepest Lake (a Barnes & Noble Monthly Pick) and her 2026 novel, What Boys Learn, Andromeda has swerved into the world of suspense fiction, although she continues to write historical fiction, too. Her next novel, coming in 2027, is a speculative retelling of Sylvia Plath’s life.
Jo Piazza is the national and international bestselling author of The Sicilian Inheritance, Everyone is Lying to You, We Are Not Like Them, You Were Always Mine, Charlotte Walsh Likes to Win, The Knockoff and How to Be Married. Her work has been published in ten languages in twelve countries and four of her books have been optioned for film and television. Jo’s podcasts have garnered more than twenty-five million downloads and regularly top podcast charts. An editor, columnist and travel writer, her work has also appeared in the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, New York magazine, Marie Claire, Glamour and many other publications. Her next book, The Parisian Heist, comes out in July, 2025.
Stephanie Weaveris a TEDx speaker coach and chronic illness advocate who distills complex human experiences into accessible, compelling narratives. Her fifth book, Bitter, Sweet: How to Heal Yourself When Your Family Is Broken is a heartfelt exploration of healing from childhood sexual abuse. Weaver’s personal journey as an abuse survivor who reconciled with her parents after years of estrangement informs her work, inspiring others to rewrite their own narratives and transform pain into purpose.
Join your hosts Allison K Williams (SEVEN DRAFTS), Sharla Yates (CRAFT TALKS) and our special guests for this lively, funny hour of frank talk about publishing, platform, and always following your mission.
FREE, all welcome! Sign up to receive the Zoom link the day before.
Closed captioning is available. ✔ All registrants receive the recording. ✔
ABOUT YOUR PRESENTERS
Allison K Williams has edited and coached authors to publishing deals with Penguin Random House, Knopf, Mantle, St. Martin’s Press, and numerous small presses. An expert in author marketing and community building, her platform includes the Brevity Blog (80k+ followers), Instagram (10k+), a mailing list (12k+), and Facebook (5k+), with publications in the New York Times and appearances on NPR and CBC. Her book, Seven Drafts: Self-Edit Like a Pro from Blank Page to Book, sold on proposal. She leads the Rebirth Your Book writing retreats and co-hosts The Writers Bridge.
Sharla Yates is the author of the poetry chapbook What I Would Say if We Were to Drown Tonight, published by Stranded Oak Press (2017). She hosts a webinar series, CRAFT TALKS for writers on writing, and co-hosts The Writers Bridge with Allison K Williams. Her nonfiction essay, “Address” was a finalist for the 2015 Columbia Journal writing contest and the 2016 Penelope Niven Creative Nonfiction Award. She is the former Director of Education at the Creative Nonfiction Foundation and teaches creative writing at the University of Pittsburgh.
You’re more than words on a page. How does your life inform your writing?
Three authors, three lives.
Outside of our writing pursuits, we all have other roles: as parents, job-holders, athletes, volunteers, activists, etc. Writers often lament that these demands compete with our practice, but how can they improve our craft? But how can we balance the lives that surround our writing with the work we create–and more than that, how can our “regular” lives feed, complement, and support our creative process?
Blair Glaser, Jocelyn Jane Cox and Jaque Gorelick will share the surprising ways their extra obligations (and passions!) provide inspiration, content, and transferable skills, and of course, how they handle all the multitasking. Get practical advice and strategies to get words on the page, not just in spite of your other roles but because of them.
Join us TUESDAY March 31st at 1PM EASTERN – live and FREE on Zoom, all welcome!
Our special guests:
Blair Glaser is a recovering psychotherapist, executive leadership and career coach. Her essays have appeared in Longreads, Shondaland, Oldster, Quartz, HuffPost, Inside Higher Ed, and others, as well as in literary magazines such as Brevity, Scoop, Rain Taxi, and The Mantlepiece. She is the author of This Incredible Longing: Finding Myself in a Near-cult Experience (Heliotrope, 2026).
Jocelyn Jane Cox was a competitive figure skater who became a national-level coach, balancing this role with her writing for over 25 years. She is the author of Motion Dazzle: A Memoir of Motherhood, Loss, and Skating on Thin Ice (Vine Leaves, 9/25). She holds an MFA from Sarah Lawrence College. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, Slate, The Offing, and the Colorado Review, among others.
Jacque Gorelick is an elementary school teacher turned writer who spent years helping students turn ideas into stories. Her essays about motherhood, health, education, and estrangement appear in The New York Times, Salon, Los Angeles Review of Books, Pithead Chapel, X-R-A-Y, and The Kenyon Review. Map of a Heart: A Memoir of Love, Loss, and Finding the Way Home (Vine Leaves Press 2026) is her debut.
Join your hosts Allison K Williams (SEVEN DRAFTS), Sharla Yates (CRAFT TALKS) and our special guests for this lively, funny hour of frank talk about publishing, platform, and always following your mission.
FREE, all welcome! Sign up to receive the Zoom link the day before.
Closed captioning is available. ✔ All registrants receive the recording. ✔
ABOUT YOUR PRESENTERS
Allison K Williams has edited and coached authors to publishing deals with Penguin Random House, Knopf, Mantle, St. Martin’s Press, and numerous small presses. An expert in author marketing and community building, her platform includes the Brevity Blog (80k+ followers), Instagram (10k+), a mailing list (12k+), and Facebook (5k+), with publications in the New York Times and appearances on NPR and CBC. Her book, Seven Drafts: Self-Edit Like a Pro from Blank Page to Book, sold on proposal. She leads the Rebirth Your Book writing retreats and co-hosts The Writers Bridge.
Sharla Yates is the author of the poetry chapbook What I Would Say if We Were to Drown Tonight, published by Stranded Oak Press (2017). She hosts a webinar series, CRAFT TALKS for writers on writing, and co-hosts The Writers Bridge with Allison K Williams. Her nonfiction essay, “Address” was a finalist for the 2015 Columbia Journal writing contest and the 2016 Penelope Niven Creative Nonfiction Award. She is the former Director of Education at the Creative Nonfiction Foundation and teaches creative writing at the University of Pittsburgh.
Do you want to write essays that speak to larger societal issues and learn how your personal narrative can speak to the cultural moment?
for Creative Nonfiction
Powerful, of-the-moment creative nonfiction weaves our personal experience, as both subjects and witnesses, with larger issues to convey important themes and messages of social justice and advocacy. Our writing can speak against injustices occurring in the world around us and help question the status quo. But what skills do we need as writers to speak out on topics we are passionate about?
Join Amy Shea, author of Too Poor to Die: The Hidden Realities of Dying in the Margins, to explore the idea of the essay as activism. Learn craft techniques to combine your interior experience with wider themes to create effective messaging that readers will emotionally connect with. Develop your command of rhetoric, structure, and conveying meaning to lend a critical eye to the standards and norms held before us.
We will do close reading of some short examples from published essays, reviewing not only how but also what the author is doing. Attendees will have the opportunity to engage in some writing prompts and practice toward writing or revising their own culturally relevant essays.
Can’t make it live? No worries—a replay will be available to all registrants.
In this webinar, you will:
CLOSE READ examples to understand the choices authors make to convey meaning
CONSIDER how to connect personal experience to collective importance
PRACTICE using form and structure to explore larger themes
EXPLORE different rhetorical devices/craft elements that can do the heavy lifting in meaning-making
This webinar is ideal for beginning and intermediate writers …
looking to expand beyond the personal essay
who want to learn how craft elements create effective messaging
who want to use their craft for advocacy
considering writing “memoir-plus,” who want to know how to weave the personal with the universal
who want to explore more experimental styles of essay writing
Closed captioning is available. ✔ All registrants receive the recording. ✔
ABOUT YOUR PRESENTER
Amy Shea is an essayist with an MFA and a doctorate in Creative Writing from the University of Glasgow and is the author of Too Poor to Die: The Hidden Realities of Dying in the Margins. Her work has appeared in The Missouri Review, Portland Review, The Massachusetts Review, the Journal of Sociology of Health & Illness, among others. She works as the writing program director for Mount Tamalpais College, a free community college for the incarcerated people of San Quentin. Learn more about her work at https://amysshea.com.
Questions? Please email Info@writingcraft.com
Before the replay is sent, you may request a refund less a $10.00 processing fee. For a refund, EMAIL us at info@WritingCraft.com. Canceling your Zoom invite will not initiate this process.
Before you can effectively bring characters to life on the page, you must understand who they are and why they do what they do.
Your characters are the lifeblood of your stories, but writers sometimes overlook techniques that can make a character feel real on the page. Whether you’re inventing, researching, or remembering the characters you’re crafting, this webinar will introduce you to methods for uncovering the motivations, quirks, and inner lives of the people populating your pages.
In this prompt-driven webinar, you will explore proven techniques for writing memorable, believable, and indelible characters for both fiction and nonfiction prose. We will explore why your characters do what they do: their goals, secrets, and what screenwriters call the “ghost.” You’ll be able to apply these traits to your memoir or novel by showing unique behaviors, speech patterns, and physical traits that make us love (or not!) the people on your pages.
This generative (be ready to write!) webinar is a great fit for beginning and intermediate writers seeking practical, effective techniques for adding depth to their character portrayals (including real-life characters).
Can’t make it live? No worries—a replay will be available to all registrants.
In this webinar, you will:
IDENTIFY your protagonist’s secret goals (and your antagonist’s too!)
DISCOVER the quirks and behaviors that make your characters unique
LEARN techniques for writing distinctive and realistic dialogue
DEVELOP a connection to your characters
Closed captioning is available. ✔ All registrants receive the recording. ✔
ABOUT YOUR PRESENTER
Jessica Handler is the author of the forthcoming novel The World to See. Her novel The Magnetic Girl was awarded the 2020 Southern Book Prize. She’s the author of Invisible Sisters, one of the “25 Books All Georgians Should Read,” and the craft guide Braving the Fire: A Guide to Writing About Grief and Loss. Her nonfiction has appeared on NPR, in Tin House, Drunken Boat, The Bitter Southerner, Brevity, Salvation South, Five Points, Image, Creative Nonfiction, Newsweek, The Washington Post, Oldster, and elsewhere. www.jessicahandler.com
Questions? Please email Info@writingcraft.com
Before the replay is sent, you may request a refund less a $10.00 processing fee. For a refund, EMAIL us at info@WritingCraft.com. Canceling your Zoom invite will not initiate this process.
