SIGN UP FOR A WORKSHOP

+ Welcome. Find a comfortable place to work. Short reading.

+ Review the AWA workshop method.

+ Facilitator offers a writing prompt. There's no wrong way to respond: Question it, ignore it, write a grocery list. Our grocery lists tell more stories than we might think, anyway.

+ Write for 5 or 10 or 20 minutes. Follow your writing where it goes and see what you say.

+ Read your work aloud to a captive audience. It's okay to pass, but we hope you'll share. Reading aloud can help you hear your own voice.

+ Get immediate feedback about what's strong, what's working, what stays with the listener.

+ Soak in everything that just happened. Take a break & repeat.

In a painter's studio, you paint; in an AWA workshop, you write. So what about manuscript review and critique, that traditional staple of writing groups?

Manuscript review may be available in longer AWA workshops. In an AWA review, the writer receives balanced group feedback, answering the questions, What's strong? What made me question or stumble? Reviewers are asked not to make "corrections" and remember that the authority of the piece remains with the writer.

The writer listens quietly during the review process and takes notes. To finish, the writer may ask for points of clarification but does not lead a discussion or respond to criticism.