WE WRITE! Creative Writing University

Sharpen Your Writing Skills On October 4

2014-08-18T01:18:00.001-04:00

Cooler weather means more time to stay inside and write through the winter hibernation season. Each session in this final WE WRITE! event for 2014 will provide fresh ideas, insights and useful tips for sharpening your skills along with your pencils. Join other writers on October 4 for inspiration and enjoyment.

When:	Saturday, October 4, 9:30 AM - 3:00 PM
Where:	Monroeville Public Library, 4000 Gateway Campus Blvd., Monroeville, PA 15146
Cost:	$30 — lunch included. Mail check out to "Monroeville Public Library Fund" to the library.
More info:	412-372-0500, ext. 4

You can call to put your name on the list, but payment is required to guaranteed a seat.

Register early — seating is limited!

Our three speakers are all published authors and teachers. Bring questions and plenty of paper for taking notes.

All that Glimmers

Writing at its best is an act of discovery. In this workshop, we’ll go against the lesson of “write what you know.” We’ll talk about why it’s important to write what you don’t know, or even better, to write to discover what you want to know. We’ll discuss the concept of luminous vs. everyday details. We’ll talk about writing out-ward vs. inward and how to avoid navel-gazing and put readers first. More-over, we’ll focus on moving beyond writing what happened into writing that shows what your experience means – to readers, to you.

Lori Jakiela is the author of the memoirs The Bridge to Take When Things Get Serious (C&R Press) and Miss New York Has Everything (Hatchette), as well as the poetry collection Spot the Terrorist (Turning Point). Her third memoir – Belief Is Its Own Kind of Truth, Maybe – is forthcoming from Atticus Books in Spring 2015.

Setting Inside and Out

In this generative writing work-shop, we’ll look at two ways to think about and create setting in a piece of prose—through observation and through memory—and the ways in which these types of settings evoke different emotional atmospheres in creative work. List making, in-class writing exercises, active observation, and reading aloud.

Sherrie Flick is the author of the novel Reconsidering Happiness and the flash fiction chapbook I Call This Flirting. Her work has appeared in many anthologies and journals, including Norton’s Flash Fiction Forward and New Sudden Fiction as well as Ploughshares, North American Review, Prairie Schooner, and others. She writes a regular garden-to-table column for Pittsburgh Quarterly Magazine and teaches in the Food Studies and MFA programs at Chatham University.

Devils and Details

Whether you write fact or fiction, de-tails matter. Some details are structur-al, others add a finishing touch. Details bring characters to life, evoke moods, enhance reader connection, and keep dialog and story credible. Attention to detail is a master key to writing compelling description. But too much detail bogs the story down and inconsistencies and errors send readers fleeing. In this session we’ll explore how to add appropriate accents to every aspect of story, and tips for ensuring accuracy and consistency.

Sharon Lippincott is the author of The Heart and Craft of Lifestory Writing, The Heart and Craft of Writing Compelling Description, and two memoirs: Adventures of a Chilehead and The Albuquerque Years. She serves on the advisory board of the National Association of Memoir Writers and teaches writing in the CMU and Pitt Osher programs.

Laugh and Build Writing Skills on June 7

2014-04-23T22:27:00.002-04:00

Summer is a great time to write in the park, on the beach, or in your air-conditioned house. No matter where or what you write, you'll get fresh new ideas, sharpen your skills, meet new writing friends, and enjoy lots of laughter at the June 7 WE WRITE! event.

When:	Saturday, June 7, 9:30 AM - 3:00 PM
Where:	Monroeville Public Library, 4000 Gateway Campus Blvd., Monroeville, PA 15146
Cost:	$30 — lunch included. Mail check out to "Monroeville Public Library Fund" to the library.
More info:	412-372-0500, ext. 4

You can call to put your name on the list, but payment is required to guaranteed a seat.

Register early — seating is limited!

Our three speakers all write full time. Bring questions and plenty of paper for taking notes.

Put a Smile on Their Faces

Humor writing is easy. Seriously. Well, not seriously. But anybody can -- and should – liven up their copy with splashes of wit and reader-engaging word play. Deft use of humor gives even cerebral readers an opportunity to connect that is absent in starched prose. This session on humor will

Help writers to realize that the best humor writing is the kind that's so subtle readers don't even recognize it until the end of the story.
Lay the humor ground rules for what works best for you.
Remove the burdens of trying to "write funny" so you can just be the side of yourself people often like best.

Chris Rodell is the author of Use All The Crayons!:The Colorful Guide to Simple Human Happiness. He blogs humor at his “Eight Days To Amish” blog. He's taught humor writing at Point Park University and at workshops throughout western Pennsylvania. He lives in Latrobe and stresses that anyone can write good humor well.

Tools for Connecting with Readers

It’s important to tell the truth. But, it’s not always easy to tell it in a way that resonates with readers. Learn how to use laughter to navigate and transition through all of the emotions required for a good, honest essay or story.

Turn your personal experiences into a story that people can relate to and recognize.
Draw your readers into the emotional center of your story with authentic emotions.
Create scenes in your writing that resonate with readers of all ages and preferences.

Adam Matcho is a columnist for The New Yinzer and writes obituaries for Trib Total Media. He writes about life in his spare time. His book, The Novelty Essays (WPA Press), is a non-fiction collection of work and relationships. His poetry collection, Six Dollars an Hour: Confessions of a Gemini Writer (Liquid Paper Press), won Nerve Cowboy’s 2011 chapbook contest.

Finding Your Words of Power

Every writer has certain words that trigger emotional shock-waves and open up the creative floodgates that lead to great writing. Scott Silsbe will draw on his extensive writing experience to show

What it means to empower your writing with strong language.
How to identify your own personal words of power and how to use them.
Ways to generate powerful writing that can resonate with others.

Scott Silsbe lives in Pittsburgh where he writes, sells books, and makes music with friends. He edits The New Yinzer, an online magazine. His poems and prose have appeared in numerous periodicals such as Kitchen Sink, Third Coast, The Chariton Review, Nerve Cowboy, Words Dance, and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Six Gallery Press published his first full-length collection of poems Unattended Fire in 2012 and Low Ghost Press published The River Underneath the City in 2013.

March Event Open for Registration

2014-02-06T23:43:00.000-05:00

The first WE WRITE! event of 2014 will take place on March 29 at Monroeville Public Library from 9:30 AM - 3:00 PM. The $30 registration fee includes lunch. Registration is required. Call the library at 412-372-0500, ext. 4 for more information or send a check for $30, made out to "Monroeville Public Library Fund" to the library at 4000 Gateway Campus Blvd., Monroeville, PA 15146 to guarantee your spot.

Register early — seating is limited!

Three talented speakers will inspire writers of any genre and experience to new levels of excellence, creativity and success.

PSYCHIC DEVELOPMENT FOR WRITERS

This session is guaranteed to enhance your creativity. Psychic development is not just for a gifted few. It's for everyone human, and especially for you as a storyteller. This workshop will help you discover your innate skills of clairvoyance, clairaudience, and clairsentience. By exercising your higher sense mechanisms, you widen your inspirational channel, empowering you to create stories that resonate more deeply with readers. Come prepared with a specific project in mind to strengthen your imaginative abilities.

Lee Allen Howard writes supernatural fiction. Besides editing fiction and non-fiction, Lee serves as a book publishing consultant. His publications include The Sixth Seed, Desperate Spirits, Night Monsters, and Death Perception. He blogs about writing on his writer's site: leeallenhoward.com. Lee also discusses metaphysical and spiritual issues at buildingthebridge.wordpress.com. He works as a Spiritualist medium and healer.

HOW TO READ LIKE A WRITER

Attentive reading is one of the most powerful self-directed learning tools any writer can use, and library books make this resource free. Helen-Faye Rosenblum's examples will unlock the secrets of the masters for your benefit. She will show you how the writer's point of view can influence readers, consciously or not; how to explore a story from many points of view to see how the parts work together; and how writers can use others' examples to refine their own work.

Helen-Faye Rosenblum, veteran reviewer, is the award-winning author of two novels. She has also written dramas, and served as a reviewer and critic for radio stations and publications including the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Pittsburgh Press. Her CMU Osher Life Long Learning Institute classes are always wait-listed.

INSPIRING OTHERS - THE CHICKEN SOUP WAY

Did you ever wonder how to get an inspiring true story into print in one of the series of anthologies, such as Chicken Soup for the Soul? There is a formula. In this workshop, learn how to take a great story and transform it into a dynamic tale ready for publication. No matter how good your story is, it won't go very far without 5 crucial elements. Submission guidelines for Chicken Soup for the Soul anthologies will be covered, as well as current story callouts. Gather your stories and discover the secret to sharing them with the world!

Hana Haatainen Caye is agency principal for Speechless, a copywriting and voice-over business. She has won awards for her poetry, short stories, and blog, and has authored over 30 children's books, including her soon-to-be released biography of Abraham Lincoln. She is multi-published in the Chicken Soup For the Soul anthologies. Known mostly as blogger Green Grandma, Hana is the author of Vinegar Fridays and her "Ask Green Grandma" column is a regular feature in Green Child magazine. she has published over 50 magazine articles in various publications. Hana teaches writing locally and at writers' conferences, and leads two monthly writing groups in Pittsburgh. Find her online at www.WordsinyourMouth.com and www.greengrandma.org.