Currently Offered

Note: For the writer, the journey from wishful to virtuoso is one whose alchemical transformations occur entirely within a process of work. In our classes we work very hard. Are you ready to work and have you cleared enough time to do every assignment to the best of your ability? That is the question to ask yourself as you consider taking one or another of these courses. Oh, yes, we do have fun. But we groan too, and we work.

Prose Style: The Art of the Sentence

Held in person at Richard Hugo House, 1634 11th Ave.
Seattle, WA 98122

To register go to: https://hugohouse.org/

4 sessions, Wednesdays, 5–7 pm

Wednesday November 11

Wednesday November 18

Skip November 25

Wednesday December 2

Wednesday December 18

First-rate writers use all the sentence forms, and they use particular forms not at random but to intensify meaning and deepen emotion. This hands-on course in developing virtuoso skills in sentencing and paragraphing is designed for writers of all levels—from beginner to advanced—interested in revising across several short works or a book-in-progress. We’ll scrutinize brilliant sentences and paragraphs and we’ll deepen our craft skill by writing or revising our own. Our new paragraphs will include leaps, turns, flourishes, and, always, transitions. Diction (word choice) is part of it: We’ll explore techniques for gathering language that is more original, more true to our own vision, and more sonorous.

Expect close reading, lively conversation, and a steady weekly practice that meets you where you are, whether you’re a newer writer or someone in the midst of revising a book-length manuscript. To take and love this class you need know absolutely nothing about English grammar.

Required Materials: The Writer’s Portable Mentor by Priscilla Long (Third Edition)

This class focuses on: 

  • Generative Writing: Producing new writing through prompts and exercises.
  • Craft & Technique: Improving writing skills, exploring elements like theme, voice, character, and more.
  • Close Reading & Analysis: Engaging deeply with published texts to examine craft, language, and style.

Winter Seminar 2027

Craft work: This time we will bear down on sentences and fragments and also work fine points, such as the em dash and the chiasmus.

Theme: Nature/Science (to be included somewhere, cooking)

Form: Choose among titled theme, enumeration, or mosaic (this is for one of the pieces).

Required Books

The Writer’s Portable Mentor, 3rd edition.

Walter Mosley, Always Outnumbered, Always Outgunned

Valeria Luiselli, Sidewalks

Held on ZOOM. We now welcome writers who can’t get to Seattle without driving (or flying) for six hours.

Cost: $410

Six Mondays, 1–3. I open the room at 12:30, so come in and chat.

In this seminar we will compose, as usual, two new pieces (can be short fiction or nonfiction) and revise a work-in-progress to completion. We will work on sentences, as we do. We now do all sentence work from week to week. We will also work on five micro (VERY short) pieces in relation to our Here and Now work. Very low bar on these.

Class 1: Monday Jan 11, 1 pm (Zoom Room open 12:30)

skip a week

Class 2: Monday Jan 25, 1 pm (Zoom Room open 12:30)

Skip a week

Class 3: Monday February 8, 1 pm (Zoom Room open 12:30)

Skip a week

Class 4: Monday February 22, 1 pm (Zoom Room open 12:30)

Skip a week

Class 5: Monday March 8, 1 pm (Zoom Room open 12:30)

Class 6: Monday March 15, 1 pm (Zoom Room open 12:30)

Portfolios due postmarked Monday, May 10, 2027.