Workshops

In-Person

January 19-21, 2027: Tinker Mountain Winter Recharge
Hollins University - Roanoke, VA

June 13-19, 2027: Tinker Mountain Writers Workshops
Hollins University - Roanoke, VA


Online


The Basics and the Bold Series

The Basics and the Bold: Fundamentals of Editing Your Fiction and Creative Nonfiction

Sundays at 3 p.m. EST, January 10-February 7, 2027

Pricing: $75/single one-hour session or $60/session for two or more sessions.

Note: Choose any or all of the small group master class sessions from the menu below, except that Session 1, The Basics and the Bold, is a prerequisite for all other sessions.

Each session is 60-minutes long and will be conducted via Zoom (link sent day of, after you’ve signed up communications with me via the “Contact me” button).

Class 1: The Basics and the Bold—A presentation of key editorial concepts and tools that can notably lift a manuscript toward publication. – This presentation is available on Sunday, January 10, 2027; 3 p.m.

Class 2: Easy Edits—Practice handling a few highly effective “basics” tools that are, once understood, easy and fun to use. –Sunday, January 17, 2027; 3 p.m. EST

Class 3: Bad Acting—Gain experience identifying “bad acting” (i.e. hokey behavior) from the characters in your work and write Oscar contending performances of their lives instead. –Sunday, January 24, 2027; 3 p.m. EST

Class 4: Unnecessary Repetitions of Action—Learn to spot and edit the “unnecessary repetitions of action” that deflate the dramatic tension in your narrative –Sunday, January 31, 2027; 3 p.m. EST

Class 5: The Drama—Conceive of your book as a palpable tension between two countervailing forces, and structure your manuscript to keep that necessary drama alive on the page. –Sunday, February 7, 2027; 3 p.m. EST


How to Write a Query Letter

(Check back for 2027 dates.)

Note: The following list is a menu, from which writers may choose any or all of the sessions. Writers may experience the sessions in any order and may take any of them more than once. However, Class 1: The Essential Ingredients of a Query is a prerequisite for all other sessions.

Class 1: The Essential Ingredients of a Query. What are the essential ingredients of a great query letter, and how are they organized and why.

Class 2: The Greeting and the Pitch

Class 3: Describing Your Manuscript

Class 4: Comp Titles

Class 5: Who Are You and Why and How Does That Matter