Upcoming Workshops & Courses
Writing with the Seasons: Summer
Saturday, June 6, 2026 | 10am-12pm | Literary Arts 716 SE Grand Ave Portland, OR 97214
Does what you write or how you write it change with the seasons? In these quarterly gatherings we’ll meet to be inspired by the turn of the world. From autumn leaves to springtime flowers, rain and snow and sun, we’ll consider nature’s shifts and how we can incorporate them into our writing practice. We’ll also reflect on the impact of climate change on our seasonal rhythms and on our writing. Through brief readings, writing prompts, and generative exercises, we’ll welcome in and attune our writing to the time of year.
This gathering meets once per season. You can sign up for all four or just come to one. It’s suitable for all writing levels and genres.
Writing with Plants, Animals, and Ecosystems
Beginning July 6, 2026, weekly on Mondays (6 sessions) | 8-10 pm ET | Online with Writing Workshops
Do you write with your cat in your lap or your dog sitting next to you? Do you enjoy writing under trees or in gardens? Many of us write in partnership with the more-than-human beings that surround us, whether or not we fully realize it. And we're in good company. It's widely believed that the haunting work of the Brontës would not have been possible outside of the Yorkshire landscape that inspired them. Ursula K. Le Guin loved to write with her cats alongside her. Robin Wall Kimmerer writes with a deep awareness of her position within ecosystems. Ada Limón's work is influenced by her connections to trees.
In this generative online writing class, we'll embrace the ways that plants, animals, and ecosystems influence our writing practices — considering how our work shifts and grows around these influences. Each week, we will discuss an area of focus and a few example texts before completing a writing exercise designed to generate new work, experiment with our practices, and seek inspiration from the more-than-human. Students will write six new pieces in response to weekly prompts and nature-based writing practices, exploring a rich variety of techniques for engaging with the living world in their craft.
The First 10 Pages: A Revision Workshop
Beginning July 7, 2026, weekly on Tuesdays (6 sessions) | 6-8pm | Online with the Loft
The first pages of a book create the entryway into the story. They’re what readers first encounter and, often, where they form their expectations of the book as a whole. These pages are also what you will initially send to agents and publishers once your novel is ready for submission.
In this workshop, participants will focus on revising the first 10 pages of a book-length manuscript of fiction or creative nonfiction/memoir. Though you do not have to have a completed manuscript to take this workshop, it will be most useful to you if you are at least some way into an initial draft. We’ll workshop and revise these pages twice over six weeks while studying the first pages of books by authors like Celeste Ng, Claire Messud, Toni Morrison, and Ocean Vuong.
By the end of these weeks, you’ll have a greater understanding of the beginning of your book and a honed and polished first 10 pages.
Past Courses
CREATIVE WRITING
Writing with Tarot | Literary Arts
Novel Support | Literary Arts
Your Novel’s First Pages | Literary Arts
Natures of Narrative Structure: Seeking Your Novel’s Shape | The Loft
Writing with the Seasons | Literary Arts
Intermediate Fiction | Linfield University
Speculative Memoir Workshop | Deschutes Public Library
Experiments in Narrative Structure Workshop | Portland Book Festival
Writing Feminist Fairy Tales | The Loft
Advanced Creative Writing | Fiction | Portland Community College
Beginning Creative Writing | Fiction | Portland Community College
Beginning Creative Writing | Prose | University of Washington
LITERATURE, COMPOSITION & RESEARCH
Northwest Literature | Portland Community College
College Writing – Environmental Writing | Portland Community College
Film as Art | Portland Community College
College Writing – Feminist Literature | Portland Community College
Writing with Research | hybrid, online, and f2f | Portland Community College
College Writing | hybrid course | Portland Community College
College Writing | University of Washington
World Literature – Fairy Tales | online | Renton Technical College
College Writing and Writing with Research | online and f2f | Renton Technical College
Technical Writing | Renton Technical College