BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
PRODID:-//Craft Talks - ECPv6.17.4.1//NONSGML v1.0//EN
CALSCALE:GREGORIAN
METHOD:PUBLISH
X-WR-CALNAME:Craft Talks
X-ORIGINAL-URL:https://writingcraft.com
X-WR-CALDESC:Events for Craft Talks
REFRESH-INTERVAL;VALUE=DURATION:PT1H
X-Robots-Tag:noindex
X-PUBLISHED-TTL:PT1H
BEGIN:VTIMEZONE
TZID:America/New_York
BEGIN:DAYLIGHT
TZOFFSETFROM:-0500
TZOFFSETTO:-0400
TZNAME:EDT
DTSTART:20250309T070000
END:DAYLIGHT
BEGIN:STANDARD
TZOFFSETFROM:-0400
TZOFFSETTO:-0500
TZNAME:EST
DTSTART:20251102T060000
END:STANDARD
BEGIN:DAYLIGHT
TZOFFSETFROM:-0500
TZOFFSETTO:-0400
TZNAME:EDT
DTSTART:20260308T070000
END:DAYLIGHT
BEGIN:STANDARD
TZOFFSETFROM:-0400
TZOFFSETTO:-0500
TZNAME:EST
DTSTART:20261101T060000
END:STANDARD
BEGIN:DAYLIGHT
TZOFFSETFROM:-0500
TZOFFSETTO:-0400
TZNAME:EDT
DTSTART:20270314T070000
END:DAYLIGHT
BEGIN:STANDARD
TZOFFSETFROM:-0400
TZOFFSETTO:-0500
TZNAME:EST
DTSTART:20271107T060000
END:STANDARD
END:VTIMEZONE
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260920T150000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20261004T170000
DTSTAMP:20260827T165044Z
CREATED:20260805T160402Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260827T165044Z
UID:10000144-1789916400-1791133200@writingcraft.com
SUMMARY:3-WEEK WORKSHOP | The Art of Facts: Using Research in Lyric Essays
DESCRIPTION:“Lyric” essays are often poetic and personal—but they can do so much more! Extend the reach of your lyric essays with accurate\, effective research.\n\n\n\nOpen to 15 writers in creative nonfiction\, nonfiction and lyric essay \n\n\n\nLive On Zoom | Sundays\, September 20 – October 4\, 2026 | 3-5 pm Eastern \n\n\n\nFrom hermit crab to braided\, collage to fragmented\, lyric essays are having a big moment. They offer innovative and unexpected routes into the familiar territory of personal stories and reported essays. In this workshop\, we’ll look at several common essay forms and explore ways that research—including interviews and fieldwork—can enrich and invigorate your own lyric essays. \n\n\n\nIn the three weeks of this course we will talk\, read\, and write\, with multiple opportunities to share your progress and drafts for feedback. We’ll also discuss how veteran and emerging essayists can best work professionally with editors and fact-checkers\, plus tips and tricks on documenting sources. \n\n\n\nThis course will offer writers with a bit of experience in (or who are eager to explore) nonfiction or journalism a fun and engaging chance to experiment and add new tools to their practice\, all while drafting a flash lyric essay. There will be an opportunity to get written comments from the instructor\, and all participants will get a list of resources and further reading. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nOver these three weeks\, you will …\n\n\n\n\nEXPLORE a range of lyric essay styles\n\n\n\nDEVELOP your own list of possible essay topics\n\n\n\nPRACTICE effective techniques for incorporating researched elements\n\n\n\nGENERATE two drafts of a researched\, flash lyric essay\n\n\n\nPROVIDE & RECEIVE peer feedback\, and optional instructor-written comments\n\n\n\nLEARN tips and tricks for documenting sources and working with fact-checkers\n\n\n\n\nSchedule\n\n\n\n\nWeek 1 – Intros\, notable examples\, idea-generating prompt\, sourcing discussion\, homework overview\n\n\n\nWeek 2 – Check-in\, feedback-generating prompt\, workshop of participant essay drafts\,\, assignment review\, Q&A\n\n\n\nWeek 3 – Check-in\, workshop of participant essay drafts\, fact-checking discussion\, open Q&A\, next steps in your researched lyric essay journeys\n\n\n\nOptional office hours 3–4pm EDT on Tues and 8–9pm EDT Thurs \n\n\n\n\nThis course is for writers who …\n\n\n\n\nwith some experience in one or more: reporting\, researching or essay writing; or who have a desire to explore these skills\n\n\n\nwho want to add compelling facts & reported elements to their flash\, lyric\, or experimental essays\n\n\n\nwho want to add lyric\, poetic\, or experimental elements to their reported essays\n\n\n\nwho enjoy experimenting with prompts and shorter essays\n\n\n\nlooking for brainstorming\, researching\, and fact-checking tools to add to their essay or reporting practice\n\n\n\n\nClosed captioning is available. ✔Think you might miss a class? No worries\, replays will be available. ✔ \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nABOUT YOUR INSTRUCTOR\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nKnown for packing her courses with deep knowledge\, actionable information\, and fun facts\, Chelsea Biondolillo is a collage artist and the author of The Skinned Bird: Essays and two prose chapbooks\, Ologies and #Lovesong. \n\n\n\nHer essays have been collected in Best American Science and Nature Writing 2016\, The Lyric Essay as Resistance\, and How We Talk to One Another: An Essay Daily Reader and is forthcoming in The Rose Metal Press Field Guide to Writing the Lyric Essay. \n\n\n\nChelsea’s paper and mixed media collages have been shown in Oregon\, Washington\, and New York. Her image and text essay\, “Weeds” was the winner of CRAFT Literary’s inaugural hybrid writing contest. She has a BFA from the Pacific Northwest College of Art and an MFA from the University of Wyoming. She currently lives in Eugene\, Oregon. \n\n\n\nTestimonials from past students\n\n\n\n“I took an online workshop with Chelsea two years ago. As a fiction writer venturing into nonfiction\, I needed a lot of guidance\, and I got it. Chelsea’s lessons and feedback were immensely helpful to me. An essay I began in that class was later accepted by a well-known online magazine. I still go back to the material Chelsea provided as support when starting new projects. I can wholeheartedly recommend Chelsea as a mentor and teacher.” ~ L Doyle \n\n\n\n“I took Chelsea’s intensive flash nonfiction class and was deeply impressed by her commitment\, feedback\, and warm teaching style. The class was online\, but Chelsea managed to create a respectful and intellectually stimulating sense of community.” ~ J Zarankin  \n\n\n\n“Chelsea Biondolillo is an incredibly talented teacher. I learned more from a 1-month intensive workshop with her than I did in semester-long courses with many of my MFA professors. From her close attention to my verbs to her insights on pacing to her overall reflections on the themes of my essays\, Chelsea really got what I was trying to do\, and then made it better. Chelsea is also a cheerleader\, and will go to the mat for you and your work. I can’t recommend her enough.” ~ B Johnston \n\n\n\nTHE FINE PRINT \n\n\n\nWe 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. \n\n\n\nBefore 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. \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\nQuestions? Please email Info@writingcraft.com \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nRegistration Info\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nEvent Organizer\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nLocation
URL:https://writingcraft.com/event/the-art-of-facts/
LOCATION:Zoom
CATEGORIES:Workshops and Masterclasses
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://writingcraft.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/MASTER-Event-Templates.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260929T130000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260929T140000
DTSTAMP:20260920T191641Z
CREATED:20260919T192851Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260920T191641Z
UID:10000157-1790686800-1790690400@writingcraft.com
SUMMARY:The Writers Bridge | Writing Off-Limits: How Comedy Creates Powerful Work in Every Genre with Elissa Bassist
DESCRIPTION:Do you have to be born funny to write funny?\n\n\n\nMost writers assume humor is a gift some people have and others don’t—and that it only belongs in comedy. But funny writing isn’t joke after joke after joke. It’s being vulnerable\, opinionated\, emotional\, and a little silly\, whether you’re writing a personal essay\, a novel\, or a query letter. \n\n\n\nHumor is a craft—and it’s built the same way any other kind of good writing is: through observation\, specificity\, honesty\, and revision. And good humor leavens the darkest personal essay\, sustains reader compassion in a memoir\, and makes novels sparkle on the page. \n\n\n\nElissa Bassist—author of the memoir Hysterical\, created and edited The Rumpus’s “Funny Women” column\, and has been a humor-writing teacher for two decades. She joins The Writers Bridge to talk about why infusing humor into your writing—even writing that isn’t “comedy”—makes it sharper\, more honest\, and more memorable. Elissa will share no-fail ways to make anything you write funnier (and just plain better)\, and how to find the joke in any topic\, including the ones that feel too boring or too off-limits to touch. \n\n\n\nJoin us TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 29 at 1PM EASTERN / 10AM PACIFIC – live and FREE on Zoom\, all welcome! \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nOur special guest \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nElissa Bassist is the author of the memoir Hysterical\, a semifinalist for The Thurber Prize for American Humor. \n\n\n\nRoxane Gay called Hysterical “one of the most intelligent\, painful\, ridiculous\, awesome\, relevant things I’ve ever read\,” and Cheryl Strayed wrote that Bassist “wrote it like a motherfucker.” The memoir also earned a starred review from Library Journal and praise from Kirkus and Booklist for its fierce\, funny take on chronic pain\, medicine\, and the silencing of women’s voices. \n\n\n\nElissa has worked in media and publishing since 2007—as an editor\, a managing editor\, a TV and film writer’s assistant\, a producer\, a performer\, a speaker\, and a barista. Her writing has appeared in over 30 publications and anthologies\, and she’s taught for more than 20 writing programs\, including The New School\, 92NY\, and Lighthouse Writers Workshop. Her next book\, Inside Jokes: A Comedy and Creativity Guide for All Writers (co-written with Caitlin Kunkel)\, is out October 20th from Grand Central Publishing—a step-by-step guide to writing anything funnier\, from short humor to personal essays. \n\n\n\nJoin your hosts Allison K Williams (SEVEN DRAFTS)\, Sharla Yates (CRAFT TALKS) and our special guest for a genuinely funny\, genuinely useful hour on writing with more humor—no matter what genre you write. \n\n\n\nFREE\, all welcome! Sign up to receive the Zoom link the day before. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nEnjoy past recorded sessions here\n\n\n\nClosed captioning is available. ✔All registrants receive the recording. ✔ \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nABOUT YOUR PRESENTERS\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nAllison 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 bestselling writing craft book is Seven Drafts: Self-Edit Like a Pro from Blank Page to Book. She leads the Rebirth Your Book writing retreats and co-hosts The Writers Bridge. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSharla 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. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nQuestions? Please email Info@writingcraft.com \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nRegistration Info\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nLocation
URL:https://writingcraft.com/event/comedy-elissa-bassist/
LOCATION:Zoom
CATEGORIES:Writers Bridge
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://writingcraft.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/TWB-logo-2023-1.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260930T150000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260930T161500
DTSTAMP:20260908T201936Z
CREATED:20260827T161412Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260908T201936Z
UID:10000149-1790780400-1790784900@writingcraft.com
SUMMARY:WEBINAR | Getting Past "I": The Challenge of Writing in First-Person POV
DESCRIPTION:Writing a compelling first-person narrator in your novel or memoir is far more challenging than it seems. Learn to recognize and avoid the pitfalls of your Point of View.\n\n\n\nFor All GenresIncluded in the Season Pass \n\n\n\nWriting in first-person seems easy at first. After all\, how hard can it be to get inside just one character’s head and stay there? But from a craft perspective\, writing in first-person is a potential minefield. Building an interesting and dynamic world full of believable characters can be a craft challenge when the reader only sees that world through one set of eyes.  \n\n\n\nCommon first-person pitfalls involve an over-reliance on telling rather than showing; not using inner dialogue strategically to build conflict and tension; and accidentally switching out of first-person\, which can confuse the reader.  \n\n\n\nYet the first-person perspective is an exciting opportunity to explore your protagonist’s deepest secrets—whether a fictional character or from your own perspective—and drives and develops a sympathetic bond with the reader as they get to know your character from the inside.  \n\n\n\nIn this webinar\, we’ll examine what can go wrong and explore great examples of first-person done well. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nIn this webinar\, you will:\n\n\n\n\nDETERMINE the right Point of View for your story and genre\n\n\n\nLEARN HOW first-person works differently from other POVs\n\n\n\nANALYZE examples of first-person pitfalls\n\n\n\nIDENTIFY hallmarks of great first-person POV writing\n\n\n\nEXPLORE practical techniques to vary your writing style within a single narrator\n\n\n\n\nThis webinar is ideal for beginning and intermediate writers…\n\n\n\n\nwriting a novel\, memoir\, or personal essay in first person who want to strengthen their craft\n\n\n\nworried their narrator sounds flat\, limited\, or overly self-focused\n\n\n\nstruggling with showing rather than telling from a single perspective\n\n\n\nwho want to build a rich\, believable world through one character’s eyes\n\n\n\nunsure whether first-person is the right POV choice for their story\n\n\n\nwho find themselves accidentally slipping out of first person mid-scene\n\n\n\nwho need models of first-person done exceptionally well\n\n\n\n\nClosed captioning is available. ✔All registrants receive the recording. ✔ \n\n\n\nABOUT YOUR PRESENTER\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nAmy L. Bernstein shares her passion for writing craft and her deep knowledge in info-packed presentations with clear examples and plenty of time for Q&A!  \n\n\n\nAmy writes award-winning fiction and nonfiction that lets readers feel while making them think. As the author of six novels\, including Tent City\, and a book of inspiration for creatives called Wrangling the Doubt Monster\, Amy brings a compassionate and insightful voice to writers’ conferences around the country. A former journalist\, Amy also works as a book coach\, helping nonfiction authors craft compelling book proposals. She welcomes followers to her weekly Substack\, Doubt Monster\, which explores the agony and ecstasy of creativity. \n\n\n\nREFUNDS (less a $10 processing fee) ARE AVAILABLE before the replay is sent out. For a refund\, EMAIL us at info@WritingCraft.com. Canceling your Zoom invite will not initiate this process.  \n\n\n\nThere are no refunds after the replay is sent.Questions? Please email Info@writingcraft.com \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nRegistration Info\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nINSTRUCTOR\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nLocation
URL:https://writingcraft.com/event/getting-past-i/
LOCATION:Zoom
CATEGORIES:Webinars
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://writingcraft.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Bernstein.png
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR