"I am trying to check my habits of seeing, to counter them for the sake of greater freshness. I am trying to be unfamiliar with what I'm doing." - John Cage


Monday, July 18, 2022

Prompts for the pop-up creative writing workshop in the garden: Notes on Body Work by Melissa Febos - just the first chapter!

“It is joy to be hidden and disaster not to be found.” – D.W.Winnicott, British psychoanalyst

Tonight for our Monday Night Creative Writing Workshop pop up  in the garden, we discussed these notes from the first chapter called In Praise of Navel Gazing. Then we chose one of the prompts below to free write for thirty minutes.

“Navel-gazing is not for the faint of heart. The risk of honest self-appraisal requires bravery. To place our flawed selves in the context of this magnificent, broken world is the opposite of narcissism, which is building a self-image that pleases you.” – Melissa Febos

“What I’m saying is: don’t avoid yourself. The story that comes calling might be your own and it might not go away if you don’t open the door. I don’t believe in writer’s block. I only believe in fear. And you can be afraid and still write something. No one has to read it, though when you’re done, you might want them to. “ – Melissa Febos

“Almost everything I’ve ever written started with a secret, with the fear that my subject was unspeakable. Without exception, writing about these subjects has not only freed me from that fear, but from the subjects themselves, and from the bondage of believing I might be alone in them. What I have also observed is that avoiding a secret subject can be its own kind of bondage.” - Melissa Febos

Prompts:

  • Write about a secret you know of someone else. 
  •  Write about a secret you have. What is the fear around that secret? 
  • Write about something unspeakable.

Saturday, July 2, 2022

Summer is finally here! Three creative writing pop up events in the garden this July

 Summer is finally here! Join us in the garden for a beautiful summer evening of inspiration and writing:

 Monday Night Creative Writing Workshop pop-up in-person - RSVP by phone or email

July 11th and 18th 6:30-8 pm $30/workshop

 
For fiction, nonfiction, poetry, blogging, journaling. All levels of experience. Generate new material with creative prompts and develop writing skills in a supportive community of writers. Includes tea and chocolate.

 

Literary Submissions Garden Party  

Thursday, July 14th 5-8 pm in-person / $45 

RSVP by phone or email

In a supportive community of writers, learn tips and venues for submitting your work out into the world. Learn where to research resources for finding the best venue for your poems, essays, and stories, and how to prepare a manuscript for submission. Gain confidence in a writing community. Bring your specific questions to the workshops. If you are ready, push the SUBMIT button! 

 

Wednesday, June 15, 2022

Summer literary events - here's where to find your people

 Hi Writers!

I'm collaborating with the Melhop Gallery to offer a new art-based workshop. Ekphrasis comes from the definition “Description” in Greek. Traditionally, an ekphrastic poem is a vivid description of a scene or, more commonly, a work of art. Through the imaginative act of narrating and reflecting on the “action” of a painting or sculpture, the writer may amplify and expand its meaning.Poems and writing in any genre can be informed by visual art, architecture, film, music, and live performance.

“It is as if there is a circuit or feedback loop between the poem—the poem as act of composition, revision, and/or construction—and the art object. … So that when one composes they may be aware of many layers of meditation between themselves and some communion with the work of art.” – Thom Donovan, Harriet  Blog

Join us at the Melhop Gallery in Zephyr Cove on the evening of June 22nd, a Wednesday, to explore the exhibit and to let the art be your guide for new writing!

The gallery is a woman-owned business with a mission to introduce and support practicing artists who are creating art with ethical and conceptual substance. The gallery works with architects and designers helping collectors refine their art collections while helping to build a thriving arts community in Nevada and nearby California.

In addition to exhibiting solo exhibitions of represented artists, Melhop Gallery also exhibits curated group exhibitions that include invited artists as well as those represented.
The gallery is open by appointment, contact hello@melhopgallery.com or keep an eye on social media @melhopgallery7077 and website www.melhopgallery.com for open days.

Here's some approaches to discovering how art can guide your own writing:

  • Your writing can be about or for the art as an object
  • Your writing can engage with the art or a character within the art
  • Your writing can embody the process of the art
  • Your writing can help you understand or see in a way you haven't seen before
  • Your writing can reflect upon the moment of encounter with the art
  • Your writing can contemplate the materials of the art object
  • Your writing can imagine what extends beyond the borders of the art
We'll have beverages and snacks, too, so come a bit early to tour the gallery before the workshop begins.

Finally, Tangled Roots Writing is in person in downtown Truckee for playful Monday night creative writing workshop pop ups continuing with four workshops over this summer. These are welcoming generative writing sessions with tea and chocolate in my living room and garden when the weather cooperates.

Do you have a book length writing project or manuscript (novel or memoir) that you want to revise for publication? Join the Master Revision Workshop meeting monthly on Zoom beginning again in September after our summer break.
 
I'm so excited to schedule another Literary Submission Garden Party! We will share the latest news in the world of publishing in poetry, fiction, and nonfiction. Reassess your goals or set publishing goals for the first time in your writing life. Learn new tips for finding venues to submit your poetry, stories, and essays. Gain the confidence to send your work out into the world and meet other writers in our community.

Please read my blog for more information on the latest workshops with Tangled Roots Writing, or call me at 530-386-3901 to brainstorm about your writing goals. I would love to help you reach them.

Happy writing!
Karen Terrey

Monday, June 6, 2022

An Ekphrastic Writing Workshop June 22nd "From the wall to the page: making story and poetry from art"


Join us for an evening of deeper reflection on the current show in a playful and generative creative writing workshop “From the wall to the page: making story and poetry from art” June 22nd at 6 – 7:30 pm.

The MELHOP GALLERY ยบ7077 is a woman-owned business with a mission to introduce and support practicing artists who are creating art with ethical and conceptual substance. The gallery works with architects and designers helping collectors refine their art collections while helping to build a thriving arts community in Nevada and nearby California.

This past Saturday evening, two concurrent shows opened at the gallery. A solo exhibit, "American Snapshot", of paintings and drawings by artist Kelly Popoff explores snapshots as "a reference to try to capture the essence of American life – with emphasis on family, memory and socio-psychological dynamics."

In addition to exhibiting solo exhibitions of represented artists, Melhop Gallery also exhibits curated group exhibitions that include invited artists as well as those represented. What I love about the artists is that all of them are teachers as well of their medium. As Frances Melhop, the gallery owner and curator pointed out at the opening last Saturday evening, this engagement pushes these artists to stay present on the ground with current and new students and the practicalities of making new art.

"No Such Place" is an exhibition of invited artists playfully exploring non-traditional approaches to the landscape genre:  

"After these last strange years of internalization, absence from friends and excursions, living more and more through the screen, these are contemporary artists thinking about our surroundings, exploring landscapes of the imagination or no-such-places, where the mind, heart and eye can rest or dream…"

In this creative writing workshop, we will talk about how writers can respond to visual art as inspiration for new writing in poetry and prose. What is happening in this artwork? What story is being told? How does this artwork connect with you personally? As a storyteller or a poet, you’ll discover new methods to understanding art as well as new jumpstarts for art-inspired (ekphrastic) writing. 

Arrive early on June 22nd if you’d like to view the show with snacks and beverages before the workshop. We will begin at 6 pm with a short discussion with insights into the art of Kelly Popoff and the other artists in the show, and then sit down to write from a fun series of writing prompts. This is a supportive, playful, and generative workshop for creatives of all art mediums and all levels of experience.

The address is 210 Elks Point Road, Zephyr Cove, NV, 89448.