New workshops for 2024. And other news.
There’s no need to be writing into the ‘void’ as one of my workshoppers described the very solitary journey of writing her novel. For many of us writers, at one time or another, working on our own, without a readership to encourage, critique or in any way appraise your work can be seriously dispiriting. Many writers, let’s be frank, barely even know another writer. Or if they do, it’s not necessarily someone to share work with. Sometimes we’ve found our way into a local writing group, or a festival workshop, but now need a workshop that’s more demanding, perhaps a bit more rigorous and yet incredibly friendly.
That’s where my workshops come in. This year opens with two options and a third on the way.
AUTUMN 24 WRITING WORKSHOP. I’m bringing back by popular demand (so to speak) my regular seasonal writing workshop. This next workshop commences in March and so it’s the ‘autumn’ workshop. Over three months, participants will write and receive feedback on up to 12,000 words of fiction or creative nonfiction. More information here. This is the fifth offering of the workshop and it’s much loved!
CRAFTING POINT OF VIEW. A year or more ago, Varuna the National Writers’ House invited me to contribute to its new series of online, self-paced courses. I’m honoured to have been brought in to this new venture, and loved diving deep into my gnarly topic, ‘Crafting Point of View’. The course combines video lessons, filmed in the beautiful library and living room, with readings for each lesson and writing exercises. There’s also an option to receive feedback from me on the any of the writing exercises participants complete.
MANUSCRIPT MASTERCLASS. Quite a few of the writers who’ve participated in my workshops over the past two and a bit years have finished their manuscripts. They wanted to keep workshopping but with a course that was designed for writers with a completed or close to completed draft. From that I developed a program especially for them. I launched the Masterclass with six wonderful writers in September 2023, and it’s been incredibly enjoyable, personally rewarding and of huge value to the writers. I love the format and will be offering it again. The Manuscript Masterclass combines a full manuscript assessment, individual consultation and extensive workshopping. The costing is based on the initial manuscript assessment plus the fortnightly workshops over six months. It is available to writers who have done workshopping with me previously, either here or at Macquarie or UTS. If we’ve worked together before, and you’re interested, let’s talk about it (ink@janemesser.com) or message me via my Contact page. For anyone new to working with me in a workshop environment, undertaking the Autumn 24 Writing Workshop or my next seasonal workshop is certainly a starting point towards the Manuscript Masterclass.
