Agents, editors, and more importantly, readers, are often turned on or off by the first chapter, even the first page of a novel. In this workshop guided by award-winning novelist Jamie Ford, we’ll analyze opening scenes. We’ll focus on immersing the reader, sinking story hooks, and examine the types of contracts we make with readers on page one.

Thursday, April 17, 2025 10-11:30AM Pacific Time
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Long time Editors-In-Chief, Simmons Buntin (Terrain.org) and Pam Uschuk (Cutthroat, a Journal of the Arts) invite you to join their lively discussion of what makes up their resistance as editors: How can education, literature, and art help protect the natural world? They will share stories of what it’s like to be an editor today and how the choices they make reflect their own resistance in this time of great challenges to freedom of speech, freedom of artistic expression, environmental protections, land use, and protection of the wild. After reading juicy selected writings of resistance (poetry and micro-essay/memoir) from their esteemed journals, Simmons and Pam will offer a writing prompt and give you time to write and share. Come with questions: We will close with a moderated Q&A and a take-away writing prompt.  

Thursday, April 24, 2025 10-11:30AM Pacific Time
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How do we live with our writing? How does it live in us? Are there hacks to sustaining craft, well-being, and keeping the lights on? What is success? What boundaries do we set to protect our writing space? How do we fund our creative work? What practices sustain us for the long haul? What questions must we return to in order to keep going? How do we promote the value of our work? All of these and more are the questions we'll work toward answering as we gather and get real around the challenges of creative work. 

Thursday, May 1, 2025 10-11:30AM Pacific Time
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