"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


Saturday, December 30, 2023

Announcing our guest authors for the Submissions and Publication workshop series 1/30, 2/13 & 2/27

Online Workshop Series: Take action now on Literary Submissions and Publication (with Guest Authors)

January 30, February 13th & 27

Tuesday nights 6-8 pm
 
Guest Authors: Suzanne Roberts, Shaun Griffin, Lindsay Wilson, Marianne Porter, Bridey Thelen-Heidel, Sue Norman, Diana Whitney, Kim Culbertson, and maybe a surprise : )
 
Over the next two weeks, I'll be sharing juicy details about these writers' books and publications, in many genres, from YA to fiction to memoir to poetry to freelance to craft. They'll share tips on their process including submitting manuscripts, working with an editor, choosing a publisher (University Press, Hybrid, mainstream, self-publish, Indie?) Bring your questions for the Q&A!

I offer this workshop series the beginning of each new year to refresh and revive our submission goals and process. If you took this workshop last year, all the more reason to take it again and pick up right where you left off. If you haven't yet taken it, get started now! 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 editing, researching, tracking submissions, publications. Strengthen your professional presence as a writer. $160 for all three workshops. Online.
 

Saturday, December 9, 2023

New 2024 Workshop Schedule is now open for registration!

Poet Aaron Abeyta in his letter In Praise of Books, says of writers:

"We broker in what we see on a daily basis and also that which we imagine. We fuse the two constantly, alchemists that work at new meaning, new vision, new understanding. We must see differently; it is, perhaps, the only requirement of the job."

Reading, writing, joining in community to study and explore other writers' work is how we continue to see differently, to explore meaning and deepen understanding of each other.

Winter 2024 Writing Workshops

Submissions and Publication: a workshop series online with guest authors
3 Tuesday evenings 6-8 pm

January 30th, February 13th & 27th

Successful authors 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. Guest authors each week share their tips and experience.  $160

Monday Night Creative Writing Workshop 6 wk Series In-person and on zoom with chocolate and tea: January 8, 15, 29, February 5, 12, 19 6:30-8 pm

A fun and generative workshop for beginners and experienced writers alike. Do you wish you wrote more? Want to feel a sense of community when you write? Craft, technique, and prompts for fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. A kick in the butt for your writing life! $180.

Revision Workshop for Memoir, Fiction and Non-fiction - call me for details

I try to leave out the parts that people skip.   - Elmore Leonard
 
In this intimate workshop, the goal is to develop and revise your first draft by pushing further to the next level, strengthening your writing skills and exploring meaning in your writing. This workshop is deadline- and goal-oriented to complete the next draft of a project for publication.

I am always available for manuscript review and developmental editing in fiction, non-fiction, and poetry.

Happy writing!
Karen Terrey

Tuesday, December 5, 2023

Looking ahead to April 13th, 2024: Sierra Poetry Festival in Grass Valley

Sierra Poetry Festival’s mainstage event will take place on April 13, 2024 at The Center for the Arts in Grass Valley, CA. Attended by some of the most exciting local, national and international poets and performers, it is the highlight of a month-long festival, taking place in venues across Nevada County and its two California Cultural Districts. 

Keynote Jane Hirshfield will kick off the day. I'm still finding inspiration from a workshop I participated in many years ago Sierra Nevada College led by her. I recommend reading Nine Gates, a collection of essays on creative process along with any of her poetry. 

This poem in particular speaks to my curiosity about the unknowable in poetry:

The Supple Deer by Jane Hirshfield, 1953

The quiet opening
between fence strands
perhaps eighteen inches.

Antlers to hind hooves,
four feet off the ground,
the deer poured through.

No tuft of the coarse white belly hair left behind.

I don’t know how a stag turns
into a stream, an arc of water.
I have never felt such accurate envy.

Not of the deer:

To be that porous, to have such largeness pass through me.

Poet and essayist Ross Gay will be our closing highlight. Gay is author of four books of poetry, winner of the PEN American Literary Jean Stein Award, the National Book Critics Circle Award, and the Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award. He is a New York Times bestseller, and his newest collection, The Book of (More) Delights was released in September of 2023. The Book of Delights is a collection of short essays I give as a gift to friends and that is always on my desk for me to read through, reminding me of how many ways exist to discover delight in the everyday.

Luis Alberto Urrea, another author I met at SNC and author most recently of the wonderful novel Goodnight, Irene, writes, “Ross Gay is a writer perfectly suited to find delight. His eye is so brilliant, it seems to glow from within. When I need hope, I turn to his words. And this collection will remind you how beautiful it is to be alive.” 

I'll see you there!

Tickets are now on sale at https://www.sierrapoetryfestival.org.