Writing Studio

At AllWriters', we strive to bring you the best! Several times a year, we offer a Celebrity Saturday, which brings in a better-known, better-published author to work with you for one intensive day. Celebrity Saturday authors have included Jane Hamilton, Jacquelyn Mitchard, Michael Perry, A. Manette Ansay, Marilyn Taylor, Ellen Kort, and many, many more!

Celebrity Saturdays run from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. and cost $85.

Participants will bring their own lunch, but beverages and snacks will be provided.


2023 ALLWRITERS’ CELEBRITY SATURDAYS


April 22, 2023

With author Lawrence Tabak

WRITING NONFICTION FROM I TO P (Idea to Publication)

Ever wonder:

Where do writers come up with ideas for nonfiction articles and books?

How does an initial idea evolve into a fleshed-out story?

How do you matching stories with journals and websites?

Should you pitch or submit?

How do you know if a idea is big enough for a book?

When does an agent become advantageous?

Author Lawrence Tabak will discuss and share the basics of article writing, and expansion into a book-length piece. Offering many case studies and personal experiences, Tabak will cover the basics of writing articles and how to put together a nonfiction book proposal, all while being realistic about the economics of professional writing. Handouts will include samples of successful pitch letters, personal essays and a sample book proposal.

LAWRENCE TABAK was born and raised in Dubuque, Iowa, and now lives in Madison, Wisconsin. He attended Northwestern University and the University of Iowa, from which he holds BA and MA degrees. He began publishing nonfiction while still in college, mostly in regional outlets, including The Des Moines Register and The Iowan magazine. World Tennis was the first national magazine to purchase one of his feature stories, but to his dismay, never published it. His essays and articles have appeared in numerous publications, including Salon, themillions, Fast Company, Parenting, Tennis Magazine, American Legion, the in-flight magazines for United, American, Continental, America West and TWA, The Atlantic Monthly and The New York Times. His novel, In Real Life (Tuttle), was commercially published in 2014 and his latest book, Foxconned, an exposé on economic development as seen through the Foxconn in Wisconsin fiasco, was published in 2021 by the University of Chicago Press. It received the best nonfiction book of the year award from the Council for Wisconsin Writers. A paperback edition from the University of Chicago Press is now available. He is married and has two boys, Josh, a tech executive in San Francisco, and Zachary, who died in 2018 in a car/pedestrian accident at the age of 26. This loss is the subject of a Delacorte Review essay published in January, 2022.

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June 3rd, 2023

With author Patricia Skalka

CREATING THE KIND OF CHARACTERS YOUR READERS CAN SINK THEIR TEETH INTO

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Creating a memorable character is like baking a cake; the more layers the better. Complex and compelling characters benefit both writers and readers. Writers have more material to work with and readers more substance to sink their teeth into. Using a step-by-step, layer-cake approach to character development, this interactive workshop provides a tested recipe for adding both depth and breadth to the fictional people in your novels and stories. You’ll leave with a list of the ingredients needed for creating multi-dimensional characters that will stay with your readers long after they finish the final chapter of your book. Come prepared to work on an existing character or to fashion someone new for your next narrative. Sharing is always optional.

PATRICIA SKALKA is the author of the popular Dave Cubiak Door County mysteries, including Death Casts a Shadow, the seventh and final book in the series published in 2022. She’s won both the Midwest Book Award for Best Thriller/Mystery and the Edna Ferber Fiction Book Award. USA Today picked Death Stalks Door County, the first Cubiak mystery, as the book to represent Wisconsin in its special feature: “50 States/50 Books to Read.”

Patricia has lectured about craft and taught workshops at numerous venues and conferences including Write On, Door County, UW-Madison Writers’ Institute, Bouchercon, Murder & Mayhem Chicago, and Magna Cum Murder. Her non-writing claim to fame: interviewing both Gillian Flynn, author of Gone Girl, and Sophie Hannah, author of the new Hercule Poirot Mystery series, before live audiences of mystery writers.

A former President of Sisters in Crime Chicagoland and member of the Wisconsin chapter, she is also a member of Mystery Writers of America, Wisconsin Writers Association, The Authors Guild, and Society of Midland Authors.

Patricia divides her time between her home in Milwaukee and cottage in Door County, Wisconsin.

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September 23rd, 2023

With author/editor Cristina M. R. Norcross

RECLAIMING THE GOLD: FUELING YOUR INNER FLAME THROUGH THE WRITTEN WORD

In this hands-on, exploratory writing workshop, we will focus our energy on reclaiming one’s true, brave self through heart-centered writing prompts, group work, round table discussions, and sharing sessions. This class is open to emerging and established writers. All genres of writing welcome. This one-day intensive workshop will provide a supportive environment where you can re-kindle your love of writing or deepen your writing practice, as we welcome the new beginnings that 2023 has to offer!

CRISTINA M.R. NORCROSS lives in Wisconsin and is the founding editor of the online poetry journal, Blue Heron Review (www.blueheronreview.com). Author of 9 poetry collections, a multiple Pushcart Prize nominee, and an Eric Hoffer Book Award nominee, her most recent collections are The Sound of a Collective Pulse (Kelsay Books, 2021) and Beauty in the Broken Places (Kelsay Books, 2019). Cristina’s work appears in: Visual Verse, Your Daily Poem, Poetry Hall, Verse-Virtual, Lothlorien, Muddy River Poetry Review, Of Rust and Glass, Silver Birch Press, The Ekphrastic Review, and Pirene’s Fountain, among others. Her work also appears in numerous print anthologies. Cristina’s poem “Jellyfish Olympics” was included in the Poem-A-Day series for the Academy of American Poets (https://poets.org/poem/jellyfish-olympics). She has helped organize community art/poetry projects, has led writing workshops, and has hosted many open mic readings. Cristina is the co-founder of Random Acts of Poetry & Art Day. Find out more about this author: www.cristinanorcross.com.

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