The overall goals of my writing workshops, whether working with young writers or adults, are as follows:

1) Create a comfortable, inviting and inclusive atmosphere where participants feel welcomed and encouraged to engage with their own creativity and to share their creativity with others, free of self-judgement.

2) To impart valuable tools and lessons that will support each participant’s growth as a writer, no matter where he or she is in their own growth. (In this way, even within a group dynamic, I take the time to connect with participants individually to be sure they are continuing along their own path and pace.)

3) To encourage consistent, constructive writing habits so participants begin to build a daily writing practice into their lives.

4) To increase and enhance each participant’s literary vocabulary, building their strengths as writers, editors and reviewers. Much of this work comes in the form of constructive critique. To introduce the concept of constructive critique, we generally begin with pieces of literature written by someone not in the workshop. From there, we often critique pieces of my writing. Then we get into critiquing the work of writers in the workshop. This is a safe and supportive way to build toward critique, especially with young writers for who the concepts of workshopping, review and revision are still relatively new.

WORKSHOP SIZES

In the past I have worked with groups as large as 20, and as small as 2 (in addition to 1-on-1 sessions). In setting up a small, parent-driven workshop that occurs at one parent’s home, an idea number would be anywhere between 2 and 6, though if space permits, we could have as many as 8. The smaller the group, the more individualized attention each writer will receive.

For a group of 4 or less, individual sessions will last approximately 90-minutes to 2-hours. For 5-8 students, individual sessions last between two and two and a half hours.

PROPOSED WORKSHOP SCHEDULING & TUITION

When launching a new workshop, I prefer to set parameters around the number of meetings, in order to help us clearly identify and work toward goals within a set amount of time. If, once the workshop is complete, we decide to continue, we can stick to the original design, or we can redesign the workshop to accommodate schedules, goals, etc.

I’ve provided the following example to help you conceptualize how a workshop may run. Again, I’m happy to work with parents to design a model that works for them and their child/children.

• Six group meetings of 90-minutes to 2-hours. Meetings are held in a parent’s home, or at a designated nearby location.
• At-home writing exercises to be completed during the week. The intent of the exercise is to help foster good, consistent writing habits. Students will bring the pieces they generated during the week to the workshop to be read, discussed, reviewed and revised.
• The overall six-week curriculum is a blend of creative writing and fundamental basics designed to enrich what they are learning during the school week. Writers will also be able to bring school-related writing exercises to the workshop for peer review, insight and revisions.
• Costs for this type of workshop generally falls in a sliding scale between $600 and $900 for the group (or, $150 – $225 per student, assuming four students). Parents are free to split these costs in any way they see fit. My goal with these costs is to ensure that parents are able to afford these classes within their family budgets.

PAST AND ONGOING YOUTH WRITING WORKSHOPS INCLUDE THE FOLLOWING

• The after-school writing program at Woodstock Elementary (SE Portland). Now in its fifth year, this program includes three, eight-week sessions throughout the school year for Woodstock’s third, fourth, and fifth grade populations.
• One-on-one workshops. These personalized sessions are designed to build on the strengths of the individual writer while also introducing them to new concepts, approaches and techniques. When working with young writers in one-on-one sessions, parents are invited to participate, share their thoughts and offer their input into the direction the workshop takes.
• Summer Youth Writing Camp at The Attic Institute (2011). The inaugural youth writing camp (Summer 2011) welcomed more than a dozen young writers, ages 11-16, for a four-week, eight-session workshop built around creative expression, writing fundamentals and critique/review. Writers wrote and shared during each three-hour session, and also engaged in at-home writing exercises.
• Winter/Spring Poetry at Depaul Treatment Centers (NE Portland, 2006/07)

AND ONE LAST NOTE . . .

Take a look at this previous post about the Summer 2011 Youth Writing Camp, which delves a little further into my process, thoughts, and drive behind working with young writers.

Thanks for reading!

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RL) Can you talk about process vs. content? What’s the significance of cultivating a process?

DJ) I think we live in a highly content-driven society and it starts affecting us at a very young age. The focus is on the product, the final grade. When I teach at public schools, I tell students that it’s okay to make a mess. Rather than dictating a word count or a due date or a structure, I emphasize the drafting process. When I work with adults, I tell them they need to write 1,000 words to get 100 good ones.

I had a dream once that Hilary Clinton and I were at a conference and had to write a haiku. She insisted on writing the perfect haiku, and I was trying to convince her to write a mess. We went back and forth with battling philosophies.

I maintain you have to trust the mess and trust that you will work your way out of it. Most people become gifted writers over time, with practice. I think of Malcolm Gladwell’s “ten-thousand hour” rule. You have to put in those ten thousand hours. The more you trust process and the mess that comes, the faster you will arrive at the “right words,” if they even exist.

And here’s a link to the interview in its entirety.

Enjoy, and thanks for reading!

I love working with graphic designers for any number of reasons. Their ability to see and translate the world into visual messages and metaphors astounds me. I experienced this recently working with Beth Ford of Glib Communications. We partnered on a messaging and branding project for a growing IT firm. The goal was to keep things minimal, evocative, and light-hearted. Instead of writing dissertations on how they help relieve the frustration of working on a dying machine, we let Beth’s design do most of the talking – a man with his head crashed between two monitors, for instance.

I bring this up because, unlike the IT firm, many micro businesses and sole proprietors are finding it difficult to bring both a writer and a designer in on their projects. And while I love when the phone rings, I’m aware that design is often the default, since the right graphics and images will more often than not stop people in their tracks.

When choosing to allocate your marketing budget toward hiring a designer, it’s crucial that you as the client hone in on your words, to make sure the project is as successful as possible.

“CAN YOU WRITE IT FOR ME?”

Most designers I know secretly cringe when asked the above question. It’s not that they can’t handle it; it’s just that writing moves them out of a place of strength (design) and into an area where, while most likely competent, they’re not always completely confident.

Why do clients wind up asking their designer to pitch in on the words? Often they run into walls around creating “the right words”. Walls come in all shapes and sizes: not enough time, perceived lack of ability, old fears, etc. I’ve had naturopathic doctors, lawyers and architects tell me they still can’t get over negative feedback they received on an essay they wrote in junior high.

The client’s inability to create the words in a prompt fashion sends a ripple through the project. Their inclination is to turn to the designer. Editing and review soon becomes tag line brainstorms and creation, which becomes full pages of content. This can put the designer in a tough spot of having to decide how much time they can devote to writing that stretches beyond the scope of their original agreement.

While the businessperson in me likes to say, “I’ll take care of it,” the writer in me is more inclined offer some tips and tools to help people get started.

BEGIN WITH YOUR THEME

Let’s return to the IT firm from earlier. Our project involved a revised website (words and design); a leave-behind brochure; and a postcard that could be used as a handout or mailer. One of the first challenge they faced was that they’d previously employed an ad-hoc approach to branding and communicating. Every piece was completely different than the last one. There was no continuity in design or message. On their website, their “Services” page was a hodgepodge of features, benefits and philosophies, none of which flowed into their existing brochure. Essentially, they were different people every time you saw them.

Before going forward, we needed to step back, review their materials, conduct interviews, and throw everything into a giant soup pot. From there we would condense, extract, and boil down to their THEME.

As Christopher Vogler writes in The Writer’s Journey, the word theme is closely related to the Latin-based premise, both meaning “something set before” – that is, something laid out in advance that helps determine a future course.

Many business owners approach theme when creating their business or marketing plans; however, an equal or greater number of entrepreneurs don’t get to this place until their business is up and running.

One of the main challenges with focusing on your theme comes down to your ability to take an objective look at yourself and your business. How easily can you step out of your skin, float above the room, and start to see things as if you’re merely an inquisitive, investigative business coach? It’s not easy. But it can be done, as long as you’re able to answer some key questions.

• What is the mission and vision of your business?
• Why are you in business to begin with?
• Who are your core clients?
• Who are your partners?
• How are you different?

If you’ve worked with a business coach or consultant before, or if you are a coach, you’re familiar with these questions. Answering them will not only help spur business growth, but they will guide you through the process of communicating your vision – whether you’re looking for 30 words for a mailer or 30,000 words for an e-book.

MAKE A MESS

Going back to Vogler’s definition of Theme, the questions take business owners back to the source from where their business flows. All things start here. Therefore, all messaging that goes out into the world – whether it’s homepage copy or a relevant blog post – should connect with this core source. When people hire me to write their mission statement, “writing” is the last thing I do. The first thing I do is ask, “What’s your mission?” The first answer I usually get is, “Well I don’t know, that’s why I hired you.”

This is where I tell people to hear with their eyes and see with their ears. In other words, loosen your conventions, avoid form, forget punctuation, and above all else, never apologize for rambling.

Once you give yourself space to let thoughts flow freely, the next task is to allow yourself to WRITE freely. Here we run into those archived fears and judgments we’ve been carrying around since junior high. What people forget is that we’re still on the internal part of the process. The only people who will ever read your Theme document, especially in its raw, nascent, first-draft form, are trusted allies and colleagues. That’s it.

CHECK YOURSELF

Up to now, you’ve focused on conjuring the words that connect with the source of your business. You’ve sifted through your subconscious, worked your first draft into a second, more polished version, and are feeling good about communicating your theme with the world. Now it’s time to see how things reflect the truth of your business in the eyes – and words – of your customers.

If writing was a challenge, then calling up your clients and asking them to speak openly and honestly about your services – and asking yourself to remain objective through the process – can be Sisyphean. The reason it’s important, however, is that the process, as well as the answers you receive, will help you step out of your own bubble.

Returning to the IT firm: one of their core internal philosophies, a concept they reiterated during our first phase, was that people liked them because they were “un-techy.” They spoke plain English, communicated in metaphor, and were real “people people.” They wanted their external message to communicate this as their core selling point.

I took this theme, turned it into a question, and interviewed a sampling of their existing clients and business partners. The results? Everyone agreed that the firm’s people were nice, but the overwhelming reason clients chose and stuck with them had nothing to do with their personalities. Instead, the reasons were quite “techy”: clients reported the firm had great response time, superior capabilities, and were consistently up to the challenge. When I asked specifically whether their personalities played into a client’s choice, the typical answer was, “Our last techs were nice too. They just never showed up on time.”

If you’re gun-shy about calling or even emailing your clients, you can set up a simple web-based surveys through sites like Survey Monkey, Poll Daddy, and Free Surveys Online, then email a link to your clients and colleagues, allowing them to answer candidly and, should they choose, anonymously.

WHY THIS MATTERS

Delving into and discovering your theme, then measuring it against your clients’ perspectives, sounds like a lot of work. While it may be heavy on the front end, it will save you considerable time and energy, not to mention MONEY, when it’s time to create copy and content. Tag lines and headers will come easier. Services pages will read more succinctly. Your postcard will capture the essence of your business in as few words as possible, appeasing your designer’s lust for whitespace. Most of all, you’ll be well on the road to communicating the big Hows and Whys – How you’re different and Why people should trust and rely on your services.