11/7 Check the Rhyme Teen Writing Workshop @ BPL

CHECK THE RHYME TEEN WRITING WORKSHOP  FREE!

Thursday, November 7th, 14th and 21st @ 4pm 

Brooklyn Public Library - Central Library - Youth Wing

10 Grand Army Plaza, Brooklyn, NY 11238

(718) 230-2100

 

            Check the Rhyme Writing Workshop facilitated by educator, author and award nominated poet, DuEwa Frazier, is a workshop for teens focusing on supporting them in the creation of original poetry and short stories.  Each workshop will focus on a craft lesson which teen writers can use to elevate their writing and understand the elements of the genre. Teens can sign up to register in the youth section of the library!

10/26 The 2013 Sisterhood Summit: Digital Daughters (Workshops!)

 

I am one of the workshop facilitators for 

The Black Girl Project presents the 2013 Sisterhood Summit

Digital Daughters: Black Girls Bridging the Divide

on Saturday,

October 26, 2013 from 10am to 6pm

100 participants! 20 workshops!

SUNY Empire State College

NY, NY 

Writers Digest Conference (New York City)

Writers Digest Conference
Sessions
From educated predictions on the future of publishing to concrete advice on marketing and selling your book, this year's sessions are packed with information that's going to revolutionize the way you look at your writing career. Click on each session for more information.


Friday, September 18
4:00 pm - 4:45 pm
Opening Address: The Changing World of Book Publishing: An Author-Centric View

4:45 pm - 6:15 pm
Decisions, Decisions: Deciding the Best Publishing Route for You
Do You Have a Meaningful Marketing Platform?

8:00 pm - 9:30 pm
The First Annual Writer's Digest Poetry Slam
Saturday, September 19

7:00 am - 9:00 am
Breakfast with the Stars

9:00 am - 10:30 am
Indie Authors and the Temple of DIY
We Control the Audio: Podcasting Your Way to Book Sales
Working with an Independent Editor: Do You Really Need One?

10:30 am - 12:00 pm
Click This! Build an Effective Author Website
Do You Have a Meaningful Marketing Platform?
Panel: How Agents Discover Talent and What They Really Want

1:30 pm - 2:30 pm
Keynote Address: The Book as Platform: Seeding Your Future

2:30 pm - 4:00 pm
Break Free of the Bookstore: Drive Your Online Book Sales
Effective Marketing and Promotion for Fiction Writers
Panel: Moving from DIY to Traditional Publishers

4:00 pm - 5:30 pm
"The Editor Will See You Now": One-on-One Critique Appointments
Sunday, September 20

7:00 am - 9:00 am
Breakfast with the Stars

9:00 am - 10:30 am
Blog Hogs, Social Twitters and Online Tools for Authors
Panel: eBooks, Kindles and the Digitization of the Industry
Top Five Legal Issues You'll Face as an Author

10:30 am - 12:00 pm
Effective Marketing and Promotion for Fiction Writers
Indie Authors and the Temple of DIY
Twitter, Facebook, and I Really Should Update My Website

1:30 pm - 3:00 pm
"The Editor Will See You Now": One-on-One Critique Appointments

3:00 pm - 3:45 pm
Closing Address: Show Me The Energy: Finding the Energy to Write and Complete Your Writing Projects

Mosaic Literary Conference

The Mosaic Literary Conference presents creative ways for keeping books and reading valuable sources of knowledge and creativity. This day of professional-development workshops will help educators incorporate literature into existing curricula to further explore course work that focuses on cultures, history, and social studies.

Early Registration: $30
Regular Registration: $50
Registration includes gift bag, continental breakfast, and lunch

Conference Date: November 7, 2009
Location: Hostos Community College
450 Grand Concourse at 149th St., Bronx, NY

3/30 Rhymes, Views & News Radio w/Qaadira Allen

Rhymes, Views & News Talk Radio Featuring -- Qaadira Allen, today, March 30th at 5pm EST!

Qaadira Allen is a mixed media artist, creative life coach and transformative art facilitator and student of spiritual law. She creates and facilitates workshops that feature art-making, affirmations, reflective journaling, energy work, meditation, visualization, music, and sacred ceremony. In 2006 Qaadira received the Art & Change Grant from The Leeway Foundation. She is the author of the forthcoming book “Soulful Change”.
DuEwa will interview Qaadira Allen about her work as an artist and life coach and the practices she utilizes in her transformative healing workshops for women.

Be sure to listen in today at 5pm EST on this empowering discussion!

It Pays to Workshop Your Writing

Last Saturday, I took my first “real” writing workshop in a year. When I say this was a “real” workshop, meaning it wasn’t a talkfest where people just exchanged abstract ideas on writing or talked about their publishing credentials for the full class time, like some workshops I’ve taken in the past. For four hours, myself and ten other writers workshopped samples of projects we’re working on with a Senior Editor at a major publishing house. The experience was both exciting and scary, as I let go of “my baby”, a project I’ve been working on for some months now, and shared an excerpt of it with complete strangers.

This workshop was filled with women writers of all ages, mostly professional women, from New York, Georgia, Texas and other areas. We all read our work, gave copies of our work to the other participants and braced ourselves for the critique. Our instructor gave us some insider tips to the publishing industry and what it takes for an editor to acquire your work. I found the process extremely helpful. Even though I am a published writer, I very much consider myself a newbie in the world of writing and publishing and I am always open to learning as much as I can. Halfway through the class I realized I knew one of the women there, as she previously worked for a literary organization in New York City (now she’s raising a family in the suburbs) that I used to frequent. This woman and I exchanged contact information after the class and the rest of us swapped email addys to keep in touch and provide support for one another during our writing process.

When I returned home that evening, I immediately turned on my computer and began making necessary revisions to my work, based on the critique I received. Our instructor, a veteran editor, was open to all of us keeping in contact with her, which is absolutely awesome. She gave me some really valuable feedback which motivated me even further to enhance my writing. And even if nothing comes of my project right away, at least I had the experience of gaining greater knowledge in something I have true passion for.

The lesson I learned here: it pays to workshop your writing and have it critiqued. Friends and family can be your #1 fans, and rave about what they think is an absolute masterpiece, but leave it to the professionals to give you to real scoop on language, structure, etc. Sometimes you need a third, fourth, fifth and even more eyes to look at your writing with an objective lens and help you fine tune something that you may have missed.

So, here are some resources which offer affordable writing workshops (and even free), especially if you’re in the New York City area. Writer’s workshops can really help you bust through your writer’s block, stagnant stories, or other troublesome writing snags. And you may end up getting a great network out of it.

Publishing workshops at The Learning Annex

Writing and Publishing workshops at MediaBistro

Poetry workshops with Cave Canem

Writing workshops with Gotham Writers