Writing imaginatively is part craft, part mystery, or as Flannery O’Connor put it, ‘both canny and uncanny.’ Learn techniques for digging deeper and getting under your words on the page, to create pieces with unique depth, voice and structure. Find out what your writing is really trying to say by shucking the outer skin of a piece to get at its more fascinating heart.

Whether you are beginning a new project, or diving into finding your voice for the first time, or are deep into the revision or editing stage of a long-developed work-in-progress, this workshop is designed to find you where you are, and to give you guidance and tools for the journey.

The workshop includes:

• experimental writing each day, focused on flow, voice, plot, conflict, action, scene versus summary, and other narrative issues
• building rituals, habits and tools to assist you at each stage of the creative process
• a strong focus on revision, to dig up and expand on clues you’ve left on the surface of the page
• workshopping your own and others’ writing, in a safe, engaged and creative group setting

During our time together, discover:

• how to connect with the power of your individual voice
• the deep creativity of revision
• how to use surface clues to find symbols, which can point to the underlying meaning of your work
• the excitement of weaving conflict, action and power into your work’s DNA
• how to move away from the tyranny of the laptop, engaging notebooks, file cards and scrapbooks to allow more intense creativity
• how to structure your work organically
• how to sustain a writing life

All participants should send 10 pages of fiction or memoir to be shared and discussed in workshop. To enable other participants to read and consider in advance, please submit 2 weeks before the start of the program. Those who enroll just before start date, please send your writing immediately! Thank you.

“Shaena Lambert is a master of her craft, a master of shaping and holding space, and an exemplary listener. Her vigilant presence and enthusiasm throughout the workshop inspired the same in every attendee.” – 2018 Attendee of Going Under the Words.