Writing Workshops in Portland

For updates regarding workshops, keep an eye on our Workshops page, and be sure to check the blog to learn about past and upcoming writing workshops in the Portland area.

SUMMER WORKSHOPS FOR YOUNG WRITERS

Summer writing camps

For parents looking to keep their children engaged in the writing process during the heat of summer, we’re offering two workshops in SE Portland, working with kids from ages 10-15.

SUMMER WRITING CAMP for students entering grades 7-9

Students in this open-ended workshop will meet eight times to work on poetry, personal narrative, fantasy, essays, and any other piece of writing they wish. Writers will be heavily engaged in peer critiques, feedback, and revision.

The camp’s overall goal is to help keep teens and pre-teens engaged with the writing process so they are better prepared to utilize their creative skills through junior high, high school and beyond.

Meets: Tuesdays and Thursdays, July 20 – August 12, 9:30 a.m. – noon
Cost: $175, which includes a workshop notebook.
Limited to 12 students.
Meets at: The Attic Writing Workshop, 4232 SE Hawthorne Blvd.

SUMMER WRITING CAMP for students entering grades 5-6

Young writers will work from a series of prompts to generate new pieces (poems, stories, essays, etc.), and will also be able to work with pieces they’ve already started. Students will have an opportunity to explore more in-depth critiquing, workshopping and revision, while also following their own creative thoughts.

The goal of the workshop is for students to grow more confident in their own creative talents and writing ability, regardless of the type of writing they’ll be asked to do in middle school and beyond.

Meets: Wednesdays, July 21 – August 11, 9:30 a.m. – noon
Cost: $90, which includes a workshop notebook.
Limited to 12 students.
Meets at: The Attic Writing Workshop, 4232 SE Hawthorne Blvd.

To Enroll

Email: info(at)davejarecki(dot)com to enroll your child or children today, or to learn more about the workshop. A 10% discount applies for any parent enrolling more than one student (whether your children are in the same workshop, or if you have one or more in each).

Phone 503-544-7462.

Full tuition is due (cash, check or money order) on the morning of the first workshop. Payment plans are available, but we request that parents inquire about these before the first class.

Download our handy-dandy Summer Writing Workshop flier here.

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Previous and ongoing workshops throughout the Portland area

PLANTING SEEDS: A chance for parents and kids to write together

Where does it come from? You know . . . that ability to drill down into an idea and create a story, an essay, a short personal narrative or even a poem? The Planting Seeds workshop is designed to help young writers – and their parents – dig around the fertile grounds of their own mind, cultivate new ideas, and harvest the bounty of creativity waiting to blossom. Students and parents will discover ways to utilize a number of techniques as they formulate fiction, essays, personal narratives, biographies and more. The end result will be more confidence and greater understanding that will set the stage for stronger writing in the future. Parent participants gain their own set of skills that will connect them with writing process, and prepare them to help their kids through writer’s block.

This one-day workshop took place on Saturday, June 26th, at the Attic on SE Hawthorne. Kids and adults walked away with new insight into their stories, not to mention a few well-written pages.

Keep an eye out for this workshop again.

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Poetry from the Personal (2010)

Tap into your personal narratives to launch and craft poems

Working with prompts and “jumping off places,” writers will move from real-life haunts into the fertile ground of imagination as we thread the line between the truth of the truth & into the truth of the poem. We will also include crafting, revision, & critiques of contemporary poems & poets. This workshop is open to poets of all levels, & will be especially useful to writers who currently feel stuck or are looking for new motivation.

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Spring Break Writing Camp for Middle School and Junior High Students (2010)

Students work with a new guest poet each day while focusing on a creating, revising and performing in a variety of forms and styles. Writers also explore various fundamentals of creative and expository writing, including narrative structure, character development, dialogue, setting, and place, as they launch new pieces of writing and work on existing ones.

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OTHERS . . .

Strategic business communications
Strategic business communications micro session
Personal narrative: writing your true myth story

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BREAKTHROUGH COMMUNICATIONS: CREATE WORDS THAT CREATE RESULTS

With budget constraints and a lack of resources, more and more micro businesses, sole proprietors, and organizational leaders are being tasked with creating their own words for their online content, print marketing, and presentations. Breakthrough Communications is designed to help simplify the process by enhancing the skills you and your employees need to create the right words for websites, sales letters, seminars, brochures, blogs, presentations, articles, mailers, mission statements and more.

Breakthrough Communications will focus on how to enhance your written communications and marketing efforts, and is especially geared to supporting:

Owners of micro businesses who wish to cultivate a communications specialist on their team;
Sole proprietors who often dread having to create their own writing and communications pieces;
Senior executives and managers who must communicate on a regular basis with internal and external audiences through blogs and newsletters;
Graphic designers who are frequently called upon to create the words for their clients; and
Writers who wish to expand their professional services and begin doing more marketing and brand-related work.

Breakthrough Communications will center on the specific needs of each participant, while covering a number of topics, including:

How to move beyond blocks that get in the way of your writing.
Tips for getting started and moving through powerful, captivating and effective blog posts, newsletters and online articles
Creating taglines, headers, and short statements that connect with your company’s promise and reflect with the needs of your clients and customers.
Developing a source document from where your core business communications flow.
How to create powerful, meaningful online content that also helps your site’s search engine rankings.
The workshop will also include professional networking opportunities and one-on-one mentoring/review between sessions.

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BREAKTHROUGH COMMUNICATIONS MICRO SESSION

Set for the day after the six-week course ends, the micro session will be a creative introduction for those who are interested in taking the longer course this upcoming winter or spring. In this creative and interactive three-hour session, we’ll focus on stepping out of our boxes in order to break through writer’s block and fashion the words that will truly help our businesses thrive and succeed.

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WRITING YOUR TRUE MYTH STORY

Myth exists at the core of good storytelling, whether it’s a classic tale, a yarn spun around the campfire, your own personal journey. “True Myth Story” will help you create a structure, find a theme, and stay on the path toward writing the memoir or personal narrative you’ve always wanted to write. We’ll discuss how to apply the concepts outlined in Christopher Vogler’s The Writer’s Journey: Mythic Structure For Writers in helping to get your story started and keeping it moving.