When I Can
BY SUZANNE FARRELL SMITH At my first grad school program, my inaugural class was a writing-heavy course on cultural criticism, co-taught by a famous, cantankerous, prolific author. He told us, […]
A Story Scavenger
BY BARBARA JOSSELSOHN Not too long ago, my family and I took a week-long vacation to Sonoma. The weather was glorious, and eager to spend lots of time outdoors, I […]
Writing Workshops: What To Expect For New Students
BY LIZ MATTHEWS I have had the pleasure of teaching and coaching writers who consider themselves beginners (or beginning again) for the past eight years, and a few themes have […]
Weight of Our Wheels
BY MADDIE EVANS* WEIGHT OF OUR WHEELS Amid the humid blur of fleeting days And the renaissance of fluorescent blooms among naked limbs My solace is found within the ever […]
5 Reasons You Might Want to Self-Publish Your Book and 1 Reason You Might Not
BY LIBBY WATERFORD Self-publishing has become easier and more accepted than ever, but there are still many authors who are uncertain about taking the plunge. After being initially published by […]
Every Sun Sets
BY CHRIS ALTROCK From ages seven through ten, my twin brother Craig and I spent the dying moments of each daylight on our living room couch. In front of us […]
What is 500 Words of Summer?
BY LIZ MATTHEWS Inspired by National Novel Writing month a.k.a. NaNoWriMo (which challenges writers to write 50,000 words during the month of November), and Jami Attenberg’s 1,000 words of summer […]
Under the Marula and the Oak: Writing Between Two Landscapes
BY ELISE CHIDLEY Three miles on a dusty, bone-rattling road to school. When the potholes punched holes in the tires, we would pull over. My mother, with her long red […]
Hot to Go: Metaphors, Music & Motherhood
By Amanda Parrish Morgan April is National Poetry Month, and every year to mark the occasion, my kids’ elementary school does a poetry unit. I wish there were more opportunities […]
How to Get More Words on the Page
by Libby Waterford “How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.” –Annie Dillard, The Writing Life Writers are notorious procrastinators. We’ll find any number of […]
Five Questions with Blake Schnirring about Blake’s Books!
Our Executive Director, Blake Schnirring, writes a monthly book review for our weekly newsletter, the Writers’ Weekly called Blake’s Books. She discusses story from a reader’s perspective and craft from […]
Celebrating our 20th: An Interview with long-time fiction instructor, Chris Belden
1.) How long have you been teaching with WWW and what was your first workshop? My memory is ominously spotty, but I think I started at WWW somewhere around 2013 […]
From Freewrite to Final Draft
In our workshops, we discuss: freewriting, the craft of writing, revising/editing, and how and where to submit, but usually not at once! Many writers join our community with a few […]
What is (a) Hybrid?
Is it part fiction writer and part poet? Is it part screenwriter and party memoirist? Or is it an AI-generated robot who can write all genres simultaneously? Well maybe the […]
Five Questions with our new Instructor, Cara Wall
Meet our new instructor, Cara Wall. What’s your favorite book and why? I like long, character driven novels I can sink into, like The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth […]
Beware the Information Dump
By Douglas Moser Information dumps happen to the best of us. Hell, sometimes they’re even useful, and warranted. Take your typical TV procedural. The network shows demand a certain format, […]
Writing Lessons from Clown School
By Lauren LoGiudice For the last two summers I traveled to France to stand on a classroom stage and have a Frenchman with a drum tell me how I’m falling […]
How to Give Feedback in Workshop
Hi, this is Jessie McEntee. I’ve worked at WWW as an instructor for almost eight years. I’m sometimes asked for tips on giving great feedback during a workshop. I’d say […]
Notes on dialogue: It’s not just what you say
“I’m just one stomach flu away from my goal weight.” This line, spoken by Emily Blunt in the film “The Devil Wears Prada” (screenplay by Aline Brosh McKenna and Lauren […]
Q&A with Rebecca Stay: Showrunner/Creator Sheryl J. Anderson
Sheryl J. Anderson is the Showrunner on the hit Netflix series, Sweet Magnolias, which is releasing season 3 this month. The streamer categorizes the beloved show as “Heartfelt, emotional, and […]
Catching Up With Allison Dickens
Former Penguin and Random House Senior Editor Allison Dickens has taught a slew of WWW classes, from generative workshops in which students write to prompts to revision workshops wherein advanced […]
Marine Assaiante and the Fundamentals of Creating a Web Series
Just days after delivering her second child, Marine Assaiante was back at the computer, determined to finish writing her half-hour pilot. But this writer, producer, actress, also had a passion […]
Q&A with Rebecca Stay
I read somewhere that wisdom = knowledge applied, so for me there was no one better than the honorable showrunner, Donald Todd to talk to about the craft of writing. […]
Five Questions with Poetry Instructor, Cheryl Wilder
1.) When did you know you wanted to be a writer? When Mr. Langford, my high school English teacher, pulled me aside a month before I graduated, a stack of […]
Five Questions with Intro. To Memoir Instructor, Amy Shearn
1.) When did you know you wanted to be a writer? I really always wanted to be a writer! I was always a big reader and writing felt like a […]
Five Questions with Lisa Cloherty, Our New Writing For Young Kids Instructor!
1.) When did you know you wanted to be a writer? I’ve loved writing all of my life. While my friends were out playing soccer or doing theater, I was […]
Meet Courtney Maum, Our Pitch & Publish Keynote Speaker
Author of five books, including the game changing publishing guide BEFORE AND AFTER THE BOOK DEAL and the memoir, THE YEAR OF THE HORSES, (chosen by The Today Show as […]
Five Questions with Diane Parrish
“I am so grateful for the opportunity the conference provided me and am still pinching myself on a daily basis.” -Diane Parrish, 2022 conference attendee 1. Why did you decide […]
What is Flash?
Flash is prose that is typically 1,000 words or less. The craft of writing flash shares many techniques with writing poetry, including a focus on language, imagery, and resonance. You […]
Pitch & Publish Conference FAQs
1. I attended the event last year, will there be different agents taking pitches this year? Yes! We have a slate of new agents taking pitches and sitting on our […]