Writing Workshops
“It’s none of their business that you have to learn to write. Let them think you were born that way.” —Hemingway
General Info: My Great Valley Writing Workshops are for writers preparing short narrative pieces for anthologies, contests, blogs or other venues, or who are working on parts of a longer work. The focus can be memoir or fiction or the essay. Sessions will cover character arc/plot, settings, tension, and marketing the work. The members of a workshop may form a critique support group to carry on together after the workshop is over.
The four live Zoom workshop sessions are scheduled every other week. One-hour Writing Sprint sessions are scheduled between the workshop weeks to support the writing. Workshop instructors include June Gillam, PhD, along with other California authors as guest speakers.
Location: Virtual via Zoom.
Days and Times: Mondays, 4:00-6:00 p.m. PST
Workshop Sessions in 2024
Workshops: February 12 and 26; March 11 and 25
Sprints: February 19; March 4 and 18
Writer Information Sheet: I’d love to know more about your interests, so I can shape the sessions to your needs. In the Workshop Application, below, please let me know what you would most like to work on.
Cost: $50.00. Use the Donate button or contact June to pay by check.
If you are curious about Cooperative Inquiry Groups, please read Writing in Small Groups the 4color Way, available at Amazon, then note your interest on the Workshop Application below.
What Makes Us Different: My Great Valley Writing Workshops are a welcoming environment for writers at all stages of skill and development. As Hemingway said: “We are all apprentices in this craft where no one ever becomes a master.”
Join my writing workshops.
“In June’s class I learned tools I am certain will help me in the future”
— Melinda Matthews, Delta College Creative Writing Student
Great Valley Workshops
These workshops are a series of Zoom sessions for writers who want to be published in online venues and anthologies of short stories and creative nonfiction (aka memoir or essay). Writers working on longer pieces will find value here, as well.
Update on the San Joaquin Valley Writers Great Valley Stories anthology project.
San Joaquin Valley Writers first anthology was published in ebook and paperback formats and offered for sale at the October 14, 2023, Great Valley Bookfest in Manteca, CA.
Great Valley Stories: Portals to the Past will be celebrated Saturday, Nov. 4, at Valley Brewing Company, Stockton, CA.
The SJVW’s first anthology, was not the type to call for submissions and then judge and select from those, with many writers being rejected. Instead, editors worked with each writer to polish their piece to its shiniest and include it in the anthology.
My part was to lead the creative process, including brainstorming, drafting, editing and polishing the writing. Pam Van Allen’s part was to line-edit, format and publish the anthology through Whizzits.
When the SJVW met at UOP before the pandemic, they offered informal critique sessions right after the regular Saturday meeting. These sessions would run from 2:30 to 4:30.
Now, critiques are carried on informally at the 4th Saturday, noon SJVWriters lunch meetings at a local restaurant. See the SJVW newsletter for details.
To join a workshop, complete the short application above.
I’ll be your writing guide
