NEXT WORKSHOP

How To Make the World a Better Place:
Sign up for 826 Seattle’s How To Write Like I Do 2009 workshops

With last year’s inaugural season of How To Write Like I Do, we discovered that Seattle is full of folks who wish to write like someone else…and they did in writing exercises led by writing luminaries such as John Moe, Kathleen Alcala, Ryan Boudinot and Garth Stein, and even a drawing luminary, David Lasky.

The series was so successful we’re doing it again, and we’re raising the price a teeny bit. Let’s just get that piece of information out of the way. Why are we doing this? Because, well, because people said to us after they had attended a workshop or two, “I can’t believe you are charging so little!” But even more importantly, we’re doing it because 100 percent of the profits from these workshops go to support the work of 826 Seattle.

Yes, let me repeat: 100 percent.

For 2009, we have enlisted the help of some very generous minded citizens (who happen to be very accomplished writers) to donate their time to help you become more accomplished writers, so that 826 Seattle can help young people become more accomplished writers (free of charge*), and in the end what do we have? A world full of accomplished writers – many generations, young and old – making wonderful writing and sharing stories, composing poems, arranging words in a way that was never before considered, or simply keeping diaries. And because writing is therapeutic, all of these people will be calmer and more productive and happier in their lives. If more people were happier with simpler lives that mostly just meant sitting around writing things, there would be less war and pestilence and oil consumption and competition and bad vibes.

So, what all this boils down to is this: by participating in 826 Seattle’s How to Write Like I Do series you are, essentially, doing your part to promote worldwide harmony and to end war. And, during it all, you’ll be enjoying the wit and wisdom of people like John Roderick (songwriter) and Ellen Forney (cartoonist) and Bharti Kirchner (novelist).

Are you game?

Each workshop is only $30 (tax included) and for that you get to spend two hours with local and national writing luminaries, learning their secrets. You also get to have books signed by said luminaries and drink coffee with them. You will be able to say things like, “Oh yes, I’ve had coffee with Elizabeth Kostova, you know, the author of that best-selling novel The Historian. Why, yes, she did fly all the way out from Ashville, North Carolina just for this workshop. I’ll never forget it.”

Sign up now. Just remember: space is limited and last year, most workshops sold out.

All workshops take place at 826 Seattle, located at 8414 Greenwood Ave North - one building south of 85th and Greenwood. Enter through the Greenwood Space Travel Supply Co.

* Yes, we truly mean that. We offer all services to young people free of charge.

WHAT THE FANS ARE SAYING!

"Somehow, fitting in an incredible amount of information and insight into a two-hour workshop, Roderick gave us a refreshingly unpretentious glimpse into the world of a professional songwriter who also knows how to not take himself too seriously." - Greg Franklin, The Pitch

John Roderick - Photo by Laura Musselman, Lauratakespictures.com

Read the entire reivew at The Pitch.

"It was great night. Forney gave a wonderful workshop, particularly because she approached making comics from the perspective of writing...Forney was personable, informative, funny, and cool, and the crowd of a dozen or more lapped it up as she walked us through her process on a few different works." - WalakaNet2.0

The the entire review at WalakaNet 2.0

Peter Pereira amazed me. He gives a great workshop. He would make an excellent regular fixture as workshop leader at 826. - Pamela Carter.