A Writing Retreat:

  In the Company of

Women VIII

  Founded by Writer, Doris Larson, 2001

  April 18, 2008—April 20, 2008

****************************************************

Workshops and Presenters

            The following workshops will be offered twice during the weekend, allowing  those attending to participate in all the workshops (exception Saturday ONLY attendees).

~~~~~~

LIFE INTO FICTION * Elizabeth Kane Buzzelli 

We will discuss ideas for stories taken from our own lives.  Too often we are afraid of hurting others, afraid of facing our fears, tentative about talent, limiting of our rights to our own life.  We’ll discuss how to take an idea and build on it, fictionalize it, make it into something new, something other than it was—but yours at its heart.  You will be writing, plotting, discovering hidden stories, and leaving with a plan to keep writing. Elizabeth Kane Buzzelli is a novelist and short story writer.  She teaches writing at Northern Michigan College, writes two columns for the Record Eagle Newspaper in Traverse City, is also their book reviewer, and has two novels coming out in 2008.  She is currently working on the next mystery in her Emily Kincaid series, and a novel about a family of women torn apart by old secrets.

~~~~~~

SHOW, DON'T TELL  * Linda Eisenstein,  Playwright

How do you create drama in your work?  Whether you want to write for stage and screen or just want to put more juice in your writing, this workshop with award-winning playwright Linda Eisenstein shows you how to use props, action, and prompts to spur your creativity and make your work come alive.  Linda Eisenstein’s plays and musicals have been produced off-off-Broadway, in 27 U.S. states, on international radio, and in England, Canada, Ireland, Australia, South Africa, and the Philippines.  She is the recipient of 3 Individual Artist Fellowships in Playwriting from the Ohio Arts Council; other awards include the Gilmore Creek Prize and the West Coast 10-Minute Play Contest.  Her plays have been published by Dramatic Publishing and her monologues and shorts are in many popular anthologies by Smith & Kraus, Heinemann, and Penguin.  On the other side of the aisle, she is the principal drama reviewer for Cool Cleveland and Arts & Entertainment editor for The Learning Post.

~~~~~~

OPEN CRITIQUE CIRCLE * Marsha McGregor

Workshop attendees who would like to receive gentle but productive critique on a work-in-progress are welcome to bring a manuscript sample of no more than three double-spaced pages for this workshop.  Five manuscripts will be chosen from a random drawing.  Both fiction and non-fiction are welcome.  Each writer will be allotted 7½ minutes to read her work aloud, followed by feedback from the circle, limited to 7½ minutes, for a total critique of 15 minutes per individual writer.  All are welcome to attend, even if not reading, as participating in an effective critique circle is a tool for strengthening our own writing. Marsha McGregor's essays and features have appeared in a variety of regional and national venues, including The Philadelphia Inquirer, Boston Herald, National Public Radio, Akron Life & Leisure, Cleveland’s Plain Dealer and the popular anthology, A Cup of Comfort for Women. She teaches personal essay workshops at the annual summer conference of The International Women’s Writing Guild (IWWG), held at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, New York, in addition to writers’ conferences in Ohio. She also serves as an IWWG Northeast Ohio regional contact, is a member of the Society of Children’s Writers and Illustrators, and participates in two monthly critique groups. She believes that productive and supportive critique circles can help a writer take her work to the next level of growth, as well as encourage and mentor fellow writers to achieve the same.

~~~~~~

BASICS OF GREETING CARD WRITING * Sandra Miller-Louden    www.greetingcardwriting.com

When was the last time you sent—or received—a greeting card?  Exactly!  Greeting cards are an integral part of our lives, present at all life’s most endearing occasions and holidays.  And while most of us pick up a greeting card for its design, if those words are not precisely what we want to say...back it goes in favor of a card that speaks to us because eventually those same words will speak from us.  Sandra Miller-Louden presents a vibrant, hands-on workshop that will teach the basics of greeting card writing.  She’ll discuss the different types of cards in today’s marketplace, the various formats for submitting verses and have you write sample verses of your own.  Sandra is the author of two books on writing and has been interviewed in a variety of places, including BBC Radios 4 & 5, Radio’s Voice of America, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Ferguson’s Careers In Focus: Entrepreneurs, Metro International, The Washington Post Sunday Magazine, The Christian Science Monitor and Staples.com.  She's also appeared on the cover of Parade Magazine, as well as a guest on NBC-TV's The John Walsh Show where she discussed her at-home career as a greeting card writer.  In addition, Sandra teaches online at: writerscollege.com and absolutewrite.com.  Her website, greetingcardwriting.com, is the only site exclusively devoted to the subject of writing for today’s greeting cards.

~~~~~~  

FINDING THE STORIES IN HISTORY * Shelley Pearsall www.shelleypearsall.com 

Where do you look to find the hidden stories in history?  How do you turn historical facts into exciting fiction?  Join award-winning children's author Shelley Pearsall for a workshop on historical fiction writing.  Participants will work with historical letters, photographs, artifacts, and other pieces of the past.  Shelley Pearsall is a children's writer with Random House and Little, Brown & Company.  She is the author of Trouble Don't Last, winner of the 2003 Scott O'Dell Historical Fiction Award.  Her other titles include Crooked River and All of the Above.

 ~~~~~~

EASY   STRETCH   YOGA   *   Pamela Frost

Saturday and Sunday mornings, Pam Frost will once again be leading her Sunrise - Easy Stretch Yoga class. This year, she has added a Lullaby Yoga class for Saturday evening, as well !  In Sunrise classes you'll do easy stretches from a chair or while standing for 20 minutes, then finish up with an energizing visualization at the end for 20 minutes. Lullaby class will offer easy stretches from the chair or while standing for 20 minute followed by restful meditation for the last 20 minutes.  Pamela Frost is a registered yoga teacher and a Reiki Master. She teaches in Medina , Ohio, at RX Yoga Monday and Wednesday evenings.  She is also available for private classes or to lead your group.  You can contact her at scatteredfrost@hotmail.com . "I love the  In The Company of Women  weekend because I get to share my two great passions, writing and yoga!" 

Return to Maumee 2009 Retreat