Class Offerings:

Susan Brown, PhD

5-Week Intensive Masterclass on Zoom for Fiction and Memoir Writers: The Secrets of the Greatest Writers with James Joyce scholar and master teacher, Dr. Susan Brown

Monday evenings, March 3 to March 31, 2025
6:00 to 8:00 PM ET
Class is limited to 14 participants
$450

Reading Session on Zoom (optional) from 8:00 to 9:30 PM
Optional individual introductory meeting with Susan (before workshop)
Optional one-hour individual consultation with Susan (during workshop)

​Bring your fiction and memoir writing to the next level with James Joyce scholar, editor, and writing coach, Susan Brown, PhD

In this market, your memoir and novel have to read like the classics. In a five-day intensive workshop with master teacher Susan Brown, PhD, take your writing project to the next level by applying the literary secrets of Western culture’s greatest authors. Dr. Brown brings decades as a college creative writing professor, writing coach, and book editor to her workshops.

To register, email Susan.

Jennifer Clement

5-Week Intensive Zoom Master Class for Poetry and Lyric Prose​ with Jennifer Clement, prize-winning writer, director and founder of the San Miguel Poetry Week, and President Emerita of PEN International

Five Monday Evenings, April 7 to May 5th
6:00 to 8:00 p.m. EST
Class is limited to 14 participants
$450

Please email Jennifer with your name and email address to confirm there’s a space.

Using models from international poets and lyric writers, internationally known and published poet, Jennifer Clement has designed a workshop to inspire moving, thoughtful, and aesthetically sophisticated new work. Participants will do in-class exercises, read each other’s work and respond, as well as discussing assigned in-class reading. We will devote time to the exploration of metaphor and simile, the senses and synesthesia, persona work, etymology, and music.

Participants will do in-class exercises, read each other’s work and respond, as well as discussing assigned in-class reading. We will devote time to the exploration of metaphor and simile, the senses and synaesthesia, dialogue, persona work,  etymology and music.

It is a delicious thing to write, to be no longer yourself but to move in an entire universe of your own creating. Today, for instance, as man and woman, both lover and mistress, I rode in a forest on an autumn afternoon under the yellow leaves, and I was also the horses, the leaves, the wind, the words my people uttered, even the red sun that made them almost close their love-drowned eyes.  Gustave Flaubert

The artist, and particularly the poet, is always an anarchist in the best sense of the word… (and) must heed only the call that arises within (…) from three strong voices: the voice of death, with all its foreboding, the voice of love and the voice of art.  Federico Garcia Lorca

Jennifer Clement is President Emerita of the human rights and freedom of expression organization PEN International and the only woman to hold the office of President since PEN was founded in 1921.

Clement’s award winning novels, memoirs and poetry have been translated 38 languages and have been taken to the stage and screen. Her work has covered  topics such as the stealing of little girls in Mexico (Prayers for the Stolen) gun violence and trafficking of guns into Mexico and Central America (Gun Love) as well as writing about her life in  the art worlds of Mexico and New York in Widow Basquiat and The Promised Party.

Jennifer Clement was raised in Mexico where she lives.

“Clement is a brilliant stylist; her figurative language is far more than fine; her metaphors and similes are superb; and together they create a haunting atmosphere—sometimes fey, occasionally whimsical, no stranger to tragedy but always heartfelt and spot-on, as are her beautifully realized, captivating characters. Though suigeneris, her work may remind some readers of Flannery O’Connor’s. Always evocative, it is an unforgettable knockout not to be missed.”— Booklist (starred)

Nan Tepper

5-Week Intensive Zoom Master Class: So, You Want to Write on Substack But You Don’t Know Where to Start? With writer/designer Nan Tepper

Five Thursday Evenings, May 1 to May 29, 2025
6:00 to 8:00 p.m. EST
Class is limited to 20 participants
$450

Please email Nan with questions. Or register here.

Substack, the hottest newsletter platform around is exploding in popularity. The audience of engaged, curious readers grows daily. You can create a Substack newsletter and thanks to its subscription model you might make some money, too! Nan Tepper––commonly referred to by one of her clients as “The Substack Goddess”––will guide you through the steps of creating your presence on this exciting platform. Have you been itching to write, but need a little guidance to help you get started? Do you understand best practices when it comes to strategies for publishing? Have you already created an account but found yourself flummoxed by the dashboard, by the tech? Do you understand branding principles so that your publication pops and is memorable?

Nan will show you everything you need to know to jump in, start writing AND publishing, and will offer helpful guidance for ways to build a loyal, interactive, and generous audience. She’ll show you how to navigate Substack and learn the ins and outs of being successful in the greatest writing community available today. You’ll get all your questions answered, we’ll brainstorm and prepare you for a fabulous launch utilizing this remarkable model for publishing your work.

Nan Tepper is a creative non-fiction writer and graphic designer. She’s worked for over 10 years as the visual creator of Woodstock Bookfest and many other clients over the course of her 15-year career in web design. She started her Substack newsletter, The Next Write Thing in January 2024, with 25 subscribers, and has grown her stack to over 1400 readers in less than a year. She’s earned the distinction of becoming a Substack Bestseller by reaching a goal of over 100 paid subscribers. She’s also created a separate Substack business, StyleYourStack, so she can help other writers brand and grow their personal newsletters, providing them with the tools they need to attain success in this marvelous community of creators. Will you join us? See some reviews of Nan’s work.

Chris Wells

5-Week Intensive Zoom Master Class for Creative Non-Fiction Memoir Writers Funny, Sad and Surprisingly Deep with nationally renowned storyteller and teacher, Chris Wells

Five Wednesday Evenings, September 3 to October 1, 2025
6:00 to 8:00 p.m. EST
Class is limited to 15 participants
$450

Please email Chris to register
For more details visit my website at mrchriswells.com

• Class from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. EST on zoom
• Feedback Session from 8:00 to 9:30 EST p.m.
• Individual introductory meeting with Chris before the workshop
• Brief individual consultations with Chris during the workshop

In a 5-day intensive workshop with Obie winner and master teacher Chris Wells, learn to turn personal stories and life events into pieces ready to be shared with the public and submitted for publication. Chris bases his course on years of professional theater making, storytelling before live audiences, a storytelling podcast, and two decades of teaching privately and at nationally recognized institutions (Omega Institute, Southern Vermont Writers Conference, LACMA, Actors’ Center NY and more).

What Will We Study?

Do you have a great story that you’ve always wanted to work up into something you could read to the public? Do you dream of submitting your non fiction work to journals for publication? Workshop participants will be led to draft a story from their own life, and to take that story from scratch to a polish. Using writing exercises, assignments and revision techniques, Wells will guide each participant to make something powerful and surprising, with personal insights that illuminate the life of the author and provide a-ha moments for the reader. Elements will include humor, creating a powerful narrative voice, getting to the heart of what the piece is really about, adding insights that deepen the story and move it from cheerful anecdote to revelatory tale.

Who Are Our Models?

We’ll be learning advanced techniques from authors such as David Sedaris, Nancy Giles, Anne Lamott, Sandra Tsing Loh, Augusten Burroughs, John Waters and Wells himself.