| Workshop practices: how we write together
What happens in our community's groups is called work, but writing at its best evokes a sense of play. The protection, confidence and acceptance unfolds at our Workshop as members respond to your writing with what's memorable and what's working. Together we support your new work, keeping what's written in confidence.
After 15 years of workshop study and practice, I lead people in creating fresh writing in their authentic voices. We gather for a short guided meditation to focus ourselves. We sit with paper or notepads around our hand-made table or take a lap desk of to a sofa or a leather chair. We write longhand in notebooks or tap out on laptops for timed writings of 3 to 20 minutes. These are the generative exercises, the bedrock of the AWA Amherst Writer's Method, the foundation of the Writer's Workshop. This safe and sacred time turns daydreams into words, then words into complete stories or chapters once you apply persistence.
After we have written, writers read aloud if they wish. Reading is always optional, no matter how long you attend a workshop or a writing group series. But that reading strengthens what's best in your writing.
"This writing group provided an opportunity to reach into your creative mind and find the first of many jewels that have the potential of becoming little works of art."
Linda Thune
"If you love words and fun, pasta, brownies and friendly folk, Ron's table is the place to be."
Kathleen Clark
"Ron's workshop is very supportive of budding authors, offering creative opportunities to write, encouraging feedback, and writing alongside others."
Lorna Idol
"I liked the way the workshop worked. Getting positive feedback from other writers is nice. It gave me a great deal of enthusiasm and I was at my keyboard the next morning working on my novel with a great deal of renewed gusto."
Todd Glasscock
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"Ah, Austin, Texas. Where else for the cost of dinner out can you get a delicious homemade meal and a literary salon? But that’s what Ron Seybold offers in his Writer’s Workshop—a cozy, safe environment in which to stretch one’s literary wings, get some helpful consultation, and enjoy the works of other fledgling writers."
Ted Smith
"Ron's warmth, compassion and creative exercises were just the right combination of fun and interesting. They spark and feed the creative mind. And there were brownies to boot!"
Corey Stewart
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We treat everything written as fiction, whether it's poetry, prose, essays, articles, or memoir. The minutes of patient writing will develop into a half-hour of sharing around the table, including those positive responses and your own reading. A variety of our exercises, some with visual prompts, some with verbal, make up a single-night workshop.
In our weekly series, we meet on the same night of the week for 8 consecutive weeks. I serve a light supper for early arrivals, then we get down to our notebooks. We break for dessert, then return to the writing, or respond to a manuscript that a member has offered at the prior meeting. We comment positively on what's strong in the writing that has just been created. Like reading your writing aloud, offering revised, manuscript pages is always optional.
Our new Wednesday morning sessions focus on a few hours of writing for anyone who has space to create in the morning's light. We serve up refreshments along with fresh writing prompts, a full two hours of play and creation that will leave you feeling filled with inspiration, as well as admiration for your work or insights on what's working in your writing.
Workshops which use the AWA Method create this safe environment. Ours is the first AWA community based in Central Texas. AWA leaders ensure that writers can take challenges with their work, rather than challenge each other's creative abilities. Our workshops emphasize our strengths. If a writing group cannot identify the strengths in our writing, we have no business pointing out its weaknesses. This method helps us see where we might grow our abilities, too.
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