An Interview with Sanora Bartels, our Poetry Workshop Leader

As many of you know, Sanora Bartels will be leading a one-day poetry workshop on Sunday (tomorrow!).  This is a special treat for us because she doesn't do this very often.  I had the chance to speak with her about the importance of the poetry workshop experience and how it can help elevate your writing.

Why do you feel that poetry workshops can help improve a writers work as opposed to taking a regular class?

"You, as a writer, get to devote an entire day to your art and really go deep with your writing in order to clear any blocks you might not even know about! The same thing can happen with a weekly group but since you aren't spending the same amount of uninterrupted time writing, it may take longer..."

How else can a writer benefit from a one-day intensive workshop?

"The one-day intensive is a great way to jump-start your creativity and get in touch with your muse with a number of writing prompts instead of the normal three we do in about an hour of writing time every week."

Obviously poetry is a deep passion for you as well as for many other writers.  What's the motivation behind the passion?

"Poetry works the same way an excellent movie does.  It gives you images with which to relate and then either pulls back to give you the bigger picture or telescopes in to the tightest focus and allows you to see a truth that had previously escaped your notice."

What really hits home with you when you write poetry?

"The thing I love about poetry is the economy of language and its ability to really change your point of view with a powerful image."

Any word of advice to aspiring writers reading this?

"Write.  Sit down and write.  Your creative muse is shy and will not come to you unless you are still. The muse reminds me of my cats.  If I'm distracted or moving, they want nothing to do with me.  If I sit in peace and turn my attention to the page or the computer, suddenly I have a cat on my lap. That's how I know my muse must be in the room as well."

Here is the information about our poetry workshop tomorrow if you are interested in participating:

Poetry Workshop

Sunday, December 9th

10:00am - 4:00pm

Glassell Park, CA

Register or get more information about the poetry workshop here

Join our mailing list for first notification of upcoming poetry and creative writing workshops

Tuesday night creative writing workshop in Glendale - Glassell Park

Sanora's doing a rarely offered Tuesday night writers group / creative writing workshop! It starts next week - Oct 2nd.  Sign up by Friday and get early registration discount.   These workshops are open to all creative writers, any level, any genre.

About Sanora Bartels

Sanora has been running writers groups for nearly 8 years and in 2006 graduated with a Master of Professional Writing degree from University of Southern California. She has studied with various poetry mentors, including Cathy Colman (Borrowed Dress), Ron Koertge (Making Love to Roget’s Wife), and Holly Prado (from one to the next). At USC, she studied screenplay writing with Syd Field (Screenplay) and has since completed a full-length screenplay titled “Straying Home” which made it to the Semi Finals of NexTv’s 2010 Writing and Pitch Competition. Her poetry has been published in Wordwrights! magazine and New Millennium Writings. Her full-length poetry manuscript is titled The Order of Things. Sanora is a teacher of Vedic Meditation and has written several pieces on Vedic philosophy and has had over 20 articles published. You can find her meditation schedule on www.VedicMeditationTeacher.com. Sanora is a co-editor on the Meditation page of www.AllThingsHealing.com.

What will you get out of our groups?

• Get constructive, supportive critique on your current writing project in a safe environment from a qualified moderator and your fellow group members, regardless of the type or genre of the project
• Leave the group with a notebook filled with new stories and story ideas
• Reignite your passion for writing
• Connect with other writers in your area
• Create new stories; generate new ideas every week through improvisational creative writing exercises
• Elevate your writing
• Experiment with different voices, different genres

New Valencia writers group scheduled

We've scheduled a new 4-week writing workshop in Santa Clarita.  This is a great and inexpensive way to test out our groups, all while creating new material via creative writing prompts, and getting feedback on projects you are currently working on.  Our groups are open to all creative writers of all levels, no matter what you write.

Date:  Tuesday evenings beginning October 23rd.  Meeting dates:  10/23, 10/30, 11/6, 11/13

Time:  7:00pm - 9:30pm

Group Leader:  Kirby Timmons

Hermosa Beach writers group starts Tuesday night

This is just a quick reminder that the Hermosa Beach writers group starts on Tuesday, April 10th (7:00pm - 9:30pm).

 

Sign up or get more info here

Also the next Writer Monkeys! show is Sunday, April 22nd at 7:00pm at M.i.'s Westside Comedy Theater.

Hello, Santa Clarita!

We wish our Santa Clarita, California charter writers group participants a fabulous and creative first night! Thank you and wishing you many creative writing nights to come!!

January 2012 writing workshops schedule coming soon!

Photo of our West Hollywood writers' group

Our 2012 writing workshops are coming soon!

We've already scheduled the West Hollywood January 2012 writers group.

We are also in the process of restarting our writing craft book club.  Our first meeting will be in early January so be sure to click over to our meetup so you can buy the book and join us either in person or virtually via our message boards!

Miracle Mile / Koreatown Writers Group starts Thurs June 2nd, 2011

Our Koreatown / Miracle Mile writers group starts next Thursday!  Register now to reserve your spot.

Thurs evenings beginning June 2nd
Moderator:  Andrew McFayden-Ketchum
7:30pm - 10:00pm

 Read a detailed description of our writers groups

Register now to reserve your spot

Burbank, Glendale, San Fernando Valley Writers: Writing Workshop Starts May 5th

Hey all you Burbank, Glendale, San Fernando Valley Writers!  Our longest-running writers group starts on Thursday May 5th!

This writers group a combination of writing workshop and critique group.  Our groups focus on getting words on the page and creating new stories / poetry and story ideas through creative writing exercises and also provide the opportunity to bring your current stories, chapters, poetry, memoir, or essay in for critique from your fellow group members and from a qualified moderator.  This writers group is run by Sanora Bartels, LAwritersgroup.com co-founder.

Meet Sanora

Attending a writing workshop with Sanora is a fantastic opportunity.  She only runs four groups per year.  Sanora is known for her supportive and exceptionally astute insights into writing, voice, stories, and prose.  She can jump from giving critique on poetry to fiction to screenplay to memoir with ease and often does in her groups, which attract and welcome writers of all genres and levels.   She is about far more than just story structure, she is about helping you elevate your writing in ways you didn't even know you were capable of accomplishing.  Her writing exercises have actually turned people into poets who never thought of themselves that way.   She will point out things you didn't even know you were doing, and give you solid direction and focus for your work in a way that leaves you excited about the possibilities of your stories.  If you don't live near her, she is worth the drive.

Sanora has been running writers groups for nearly 8 years and in 2006 graduated with a Master of Professional Writing degree from University of Southern California.  She has studied with various poetry mentors, including Cathy Colman (Borrowed Dress), Ron Koertge (Making Love to Roget’s Wife), and Holly Prado (from one to the next).  At USC, she studied screenplay writing with Syd Field (Screenplay) and has since completed a full-length screenplay titled “Straying Home” which made it to the Semi Finals of NexTv’s 2010 Writing and Pitch Competition.  Her poetry has been published in Wordwrights! magazine and New Millennium Writings. Her full-length poetry manuscript is titled The Order of Things. Sanora is a teacher of Vedic Meditation and has written several pieces on Vedic philosophy and has had over 20 articles published.  You can find her meditation schedule on www.VedicMeditationTeacher.com. Sanora is a co-editor on the Meditation page of www.AllThingsHealing.com.

LAwritersgroup.com Writers Groups

Creative Writing and Critique Workshop with Sanora Bartels

Meets on Thursday, May 5th for 8 Weeks

7:30pm - 10:00pm

This creative writing workshop is convenient and easy driving distance from to Glassell Park, Glendale, Pasadena, San Fernando Valley, and Hollywood, and parking is abundant.

Write Your Story: Our New Promotional Video!

This is the first of three new promotional videos we've made! Take a peek!

West Los Angeles Writing and Critique Workshop starts Thursday!

Our West Los Angeles Writing and Critique Workshop begins on Thursday!

LAwritersgroup.com has been running writers groups and creative writing workshops throughout the greater Los Angeles area since 2003. We hire moderators to run these groups who have years of experience giving writers feedback on their novels, screenplays, essays, children's books, short fiction stories, memoirs and even on poetry. Our moderators are chosen because they have experience working directly with creative writers and they understand how to give supportive cross-genre feedback that will leave you excited by the possibilities of your story and hungry to go home and rewrite your project, if it needs rewriting.

We also create new stories / writing in our groups through improvisational writing exercises given as writing prompts by our group moderators that are hand-picked by that moderator based on the needs of individual writers in the group to help elevate your prose, theme, dialogue, character development and much more. Because of this, no two groups are the same, which is why we have so many people who repeat group after group (plus returning writers get the returning member discount!). Our rules for the critique process have been developed over years of working in this group setting in order to keep the critique process constructive and positive.

Critique is not only good for the person receiving critique. It also benefits the critiquer. Listening to our moderators and other members give feedback on various writing styles, stories, and genres, helps those listening elevate their level of critique and their ability to critique their own stories as they write them. While our groups are not writing classes per se, and we have no lecture portion of the evening, a great deal of experiential learning, often customized for the individual group, takes place during our workshops. Even if a writer never brings in a story for feedback, they grow from a craft perspective just by listening and participating in the process.

Please visit http://www.lawritersgroup.com or email lawritersgroup@gmail.com for information or questions about our writers groups.

Writers Group Schedule Update - March and April 2011

Here is a update of our creative writing workshops / writers group schedule:

• Miracle Mile / Koreatown writers group starts March 23, 2011, this Thursday! (Mid-City)
• Rancho Palos Verdes writers group also starts March 23, 2011, this Thursday! (South Bay)
• El Segundo April 2011 writers group is SOLD OUT (South Bay)
• Glassell Park / Glendale April 2011 group is now open to new members (San Fernando Valley, East Hollywood)
• Valencia / Saugus April 2011 writers group is now open to new members (Santa Clarita)

View our creative writing workshop schedule

Read about how we run our writing workshops

Photo by Keith Evans [CC-BY-SA-2.0], via Wikimedia Commons

Advanced Writers Workshop & Retreat in the British Isles

Ron Carlson and Marisa Silver teach WordTheatre®'s Advanced Writers Workshop in Edale July 2-8, 2011 in England's Peak District National Park, Derbyshire.

$2100USD

Please contact:

Genna Walsh

genna[*at*]wordtheatre.com

http://wordtheatre.com/writersretreat/

New Writers Group in Santa Clarita Valley!

LAwritersgroup.com is coming to the Santa Clarita Valley! Our newest writers group is starting in Valencia on Tuesday, April 5th! We are excited to bring our groups to this often forgotten-about valley filled with creative and entertainment folks.

Our moderator will be Kirby Timmons, a versatile and talented creative writer with an impressive list of credits and the kind of cross-genre and supportive leader our groups require.

Kirby's Bio:

Kirby Timmons is a professional writer, trainer and speaker who has written scripts for some of TV's most enduring series, including THE WALTONS, THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GRIZZLY ADAMS, and THE INCREDIBLE HULK. Kirby has also written, produced and directed hundreds of training programs, including THE ABILENE PARADOX, named one of the 5 best business videos of all time by Fortune Magazine; GROUPTHINK, winner of the American Psychological Associations Award for Best Training Program; and TEAMWORK IN CRISIS: The Miracle of Flight 232, now used in disaster programs worldwide, including Columbine High School in Colorado. While he has concentrated in scriptwriting, Kirby is also a published author, and has contributed articles to THE LOS ANGELES TIMES, THE LOS ANGELES DAILY NEWS, THE HERALD-EXAMINER, MARRIAGE & FAMILY LIVING Magazine, among others. Kirby taught Scriptwriting For Informational Media at California State University at Northridge, and has lectured at Los Angeles Valley College. He has also taught high school screenwriting workshops with the Writer's Guild Foundation. After attending Oglethorpe University in his hometown of Atlanta, Kirby studied at USC where he graduated with a B.A. cum laude in Philosophy. He has been a member of the Writer's Guild of America longer than he can remember, and a member of the American Society of Training & Development for less long. Among Kirby's recent writing projects is a teleplay for CSI: CRIME SCENE INVESTIGATION which won scriptwriting competitions at Scriptapalooza and Austin, and Grand Prize in Hour-Long Drama at the WildSound Film Festival in Toronto. Despite being the "best CSI episode ever written" (his words), it is not currently under consideration by producers of the show.

This group is in addition to the groups we already have in:

• LA South Bay - Rancho Palos Verdes
• LA South Bay - El Segundo
• Miracle Mile/Koreatown,
• Pacific Palisades / West LA
• Glendale / Glassell Park

Read more about how our new Santa Clarita Writers Group will work.

View our upcoming writing groups schedule.

Where exactly in Los Angeles do we hold our writers groups?

We currently hold our writers groups in three locations:

• Our Glassell Park 8-Week Writers Group is for writers who want to join a writers group who are coming from or work near Glendale, Burbank, Pasadena, Los Feliz, East Los Angeles, Atwater Village, Hollywood, Silverlake, the the Southwest and Northwest San Fernando Valley (Encino, Woodland Hills, Reseda, Van Nuys, Sherman Oaks, North Hollywood) and surrounding areas. Map

• Our Miracle Mile 8-Week Writers Group is good for writers coming from or who work near West Hollywood, Hollywood, West Los Angeles, Miracle Mile/Fairfax District, Century City, Beverly Hills, Culver City, Hancock Park, Fairfax District, SoFax, Santa Monica, and surrounding areas. Map

• Our South Bay 8-Week Writers Group is good for writers interested in creative writing who are coming from or work near Manhattan Beach, Redondo Beach, Hermosa Beach, Playa Del Rey, Marina Del Ray, Palos Verdes, Torrance, San Pedro, Lawndale, Long Beach and surrounding areas. Map

We currently have two groups scheduled:

• Our Miracle Mile 8-Week Writers Group, starting on May 5th, 2010, from 7:30pm - 10:00pm
• Our South Bay 8-Week Writers Group, starting on Tuesday, June 1st, 2010 from 7:30pm - 10:00pm

Our Glassell Park group just started but we will have another one scheduled soon!

LAwritersgroup.com has been running writers groups throughout Los Angeles since 2003. We run several writers groups / writing workshops throughout the Los Angeles area that are open to writers of all levels and kinds, with an aim toward getting words on the page and providing a safe place for writers to create new work and exchange feedback on works in progress. View our current Writing Workshop / Writers Group Meeting Schedule and or read about our group Moderators.

Whether you write novels, screenplays, essays, songs poetry, journal entries, children's books or whatever, you are welcome in our groups regardless of experience. Our groups are about creating new work and soliciting critique from your peers if you so wish.

If you have any questions about our groups, please email us at lawritersgroup(at)gmail.com. Replace (at) with @.

Writers Group Starts April 1st - No Joke

Hey all you wonderful writing peeps, this is just a reminder that Sanora has a new writers group starting on Thursday, April 1st.

So if you live in Glendale, Los Feliz, anywhere on the Eastside of Hollywood or LA, or out the Alta Dena/Pasadena/La Canada way, this group is for you!

In fact, Sanora's groups are fabulous and creatively inspirational so even if you don't live in those areas, her group is truly worth the drive. It's a Thursday, man, so you can do the drive, because driving home is no problem traffic-wise after group and then you just have to make it through Friday and voila! the weekend is there, ready for you to channel all that creative inspiration you got from Sanora's group and finish up those stories or poems or essays or scenes you wrote on Thursday....

Writers Group Starts Wed Sept 23, 2009!

Wondering what we do in our groups?


Upcoming Los Angeles Writers Groups:
Our groups meet once a week from 7:30 - 10:00pm for eight consecutive weeks.

Wednesday, September 23rd in West Hollywood
Thursday August 20th, 2009 in Glassell Park

What can I expect from the group?

Our groups focus on finding new ways to create new and unexpected material through creative writing prompts. Our tagline, Fill Your Notebook (TM) says it all. We are about filling your notebook with new writing so you can go back, pick the pieces you like best, and refine them. You can either bring works-in-progress into the group for feedback or you can wait until the end of group and go through everything you've written. Our peer feedback process is a constructive and guided process. We have rules we follow that keep the feedback process from degenerating into arguments or defensive posturing and everyone participates in the feedback process, whether you bring work in or not.

What kind of work can I bring in for feedback?

You can bring anything in for feedback. Poetry, essays, non-fiction, chapters from your novel, short fiction, memoir, whatever. We've even had people bring in query letters for feedback. We've had people bring in notes for a project. We've had people bring in segments from a one-man show. Anything you're working on that you think feedback from fellow writers would be valuable, bring it on it.

For even more information on how our groups work, visit these links:

How our writing groups work
LAwritersgroup.com

Two New 8-Week Writers Groups Scheduled

We've now scheduled our Fall 2009 writers groups. Both groups are our 8-Week General Writers Groups that are open to writers of all kinds and levels, including (but not limited to!) fiction writers, essayists, non-fiction writers, novelists, and even screenwriters.

• Nicole's Group 8-Week General Writers Group in West Hollywood on Wednesday, September 23rd (this group is good for writers coming from West Hollywood, West Los Angeles, Miracle Mile/Fairfax District and the Southwest and Northwest San Fernando Valley (Encino, Woodland Hills, Reseda, Van Nuys, Sherman Oaks, North Hollywood) and surrounding areas).
  

• Sanora's Group 8-Week General Writers Group in Glassell Park on Thursday October 15th (this group is good for writers who want to join a writers group who are coming from Glendale, Burbank, Los Feliz, East Los Angeles, Atwater Village, the Northeast and Southeast San Fernando Valley and surrounding areas)
  

See http://www.lawritersgroup.com for further details, or read more about how our Los Angeles writers groups work in this previous blog post.

New Writers Group starting on Thursday

There's still time to join Sanora's group! Learn more about how our groups work:

How the LAwritersgroup.com 8-Week General Writers Group Works

Each Group is Unique
Each of our groups are unique, in that we have new creative writing exercises we use in every group (save for a few oldies but goodies)? So if you've already participated in a group and would like to participate again, you don't have to worry about repeated creative writing exercises.

How the Meetings are Structured
Our groups meet once a week in eight-week cycles.
Each meeting is broken up into two sections: Creative Writing Exercises, and Feedback.

Creative Writing Exercises
During the creative writing portion, we do three improvisational creative writing exercises via writing prompts. This is the major portion of our night: getting words on the page. We do not allow laptops. We write the old fashioned way.

Feedback
The feedback portion of our meeting is something everyone participates in. All writers can bring work in for critique, and all writers are encouraged to give feedback. We have guidelines that we follow for our critique session so that the feedback remains constructive, and we also have guidelines regarding how much work each writer can bring in each meeting.

Who can participate?
We are open to all kinds of writers. Whether you are new to writing, or a seasoned veteran, you will get a nearly full notebook of new material out of the 8-weeks. We've had all kinds of aspiring and published writers participate in our groups: poets, essayists, screenwriters, comedy writers, all kinds of fiction writers, songwriters, journalists, and even attorneys who want to do some creative writing.

Do we Teach Writing?
This is a writers group. A peer-to-peer group of writers who get together once a week to create new work and support each other by giving and receiving feedback on works-in-progress. Although we are not formally teaching writing, you'd be surprised the things you pick up in these groups just by listening to and interacting creatively with other writers. We provide a safe space to tap into your own creativity and generate new work and solicit opinions from your other group members on writing you bring in for critique. We may offer more instructive seminars in the future, though, so keep your eye out!

How We Started
LAwritersgroup.com began five years ago. We started a writers group because we wanted to get creative and write with other writers for an evening once a week, and as some of our members started moving out of town, we put up a website to keep in touch with them. Before we knew it, people found our website, and contacted us, wanting to participate, and we grew from there!

If you have any additional questions about our groups, send an email to nicole@lawritersgroup.com or visit LAwritersgroup.com.

New 8-Week Writers Groups Scheduled

We've added two upcoming 8-Week General Writers Groups to our schedule. These groups are open to writers of all levels and genres.

• Nicole's Group 8-Week General Writers Group in West Hollywood on Wednesday, April 15th

• Sanora's Group 8-Week General Writers Group in Glassell Park on Thursday June 11
  

See http://www.lawritersgroup.com for further details.

Colorado Writers Workshop

We just got an email from the folks over at the Colorado Writers Workshop and they still have a few spots open for the Sept. 19-23 Colorado Writers Workshop at Boulder's Chautauqua, and they asked us to pass the info along to y'all. "This year's fiction event features Janis Hallowell (Annunciation of Francesca Dunn, Pigs & Fishes). Our groups are good, the atmosphere supportive and the lodging is wonderful at Chautauqua's Missions House. For information see www.coloradowritersworkshop.blogspot.com or contact Tara at flanaganatlarge@yahoo.com."