REGISTER NOW  $175 (early bird) | $200

LIVE ON ZOOM |Saturdays, 2-4 pm Eastern | August 10th and 17th

Part of our new series of longer writing workshops for in-depth learning with the additional opportunity for those who want to share their work to join early (1:30 Eastern) on day two. More details to come.

Many writers have strong language skills—the writing is beautiful. But to attract readers, it’s helpful to stop writing, and spend time crafting ways to engage the reader’s attention from start to finish.

Your fiction, memoir, or nonfiction keeps getting rejected. Or, you have a draft-in-progress, but you sense something is missing.  

This workshop is for writers of essays, memoirs, short stories, or novels with active work in progress who wish to move past the basics (you’ve already heard and done show don’t tell!). In this two-session masterclass, you will learn fresh strategies for creating truly dynamic, memorable, publishable work.

 First, we will look at the pitfalls—the common reasons writing goes flat and fails to capture the attention of readers (editors, agents, publishers). Then, we’ll take a deep dive into seven techniques you can easily employ to make sure your writing is un-put-downable. We will look carefully at published examples, and you’ll receive a list of prompts and resources.  

In this two-day masterclass, you will…

• LEARN  the most common reasons readers fail to engage with writing
• EXPLORE seven specific strategies you can apply to work in progress, and when to deploy each strategy and why
• IMPROVE your ability to avoid flatlining problems at the outset of a writing project
• WITNESS how attending to reader engagement allows you to have more fun writing

This class is ideal for…

• Writers who want to gain craft techniques that are useful in numerous writing situations and genres
• Writers who want to be more reader-focused
• Writers who are stuck
• Writers with a project that is overwhelming, stalled, problematic, or overly long
• Writers who are Experienced Beginner, Middling Intermediate, or Advanced

Closed captioning is available. ✔

Think you might miss part of the class? No worries, replays will be available. ✔

ABOUT THE INSTRUCTOR

HEATHER SELLERS has a Ph.D. in creative writing from Florida State University. She has been teaching, coaching writers, and publishing poetry and prose for over thirty years. Heather is the author of four craft guides for writers, including the popular The Practice of Creative Writing and the brand-new How to Make Poems: Form and Technique. She’s published a memoir on face blindness, You Don’t Look Like Anyone I Know, featured on Good Morning America and NPR, along with a children’s book, a collection of short stories, and four volumes of poetry. She gives readings and talks around the country, most recently at NASA, and she has won numerous awards for her teaching. Currently, she directs the creative writing program at the University of South Florida where she was given the University’s prestigious Kosove Award for Distinguished Undergraduate Teaching and Service in 2022. She offers private online courses and in-person courses in Tampa, Florida, where she lives, writes, and gardens. 

THE FINE PRINT

We understand that life can get in the way of your plans. We want you to be able to get the most out of your course, and our refund policy is designed to balance your need for flexibility with our deadlines and obligations to our teachers.

Before the first class, you may request a refund (less a $25 processing fee).

Please keep in mind that no refunds or credits will be issued after class begins.

Questions? Please email Info@craft-talks.com