Choosing a Writers Workshop

Finding the right writing workshop isn’t as easy as picking one off a list.

I was scheduled to attend the Big Sur Children’s Writing Workshop this weekend thanks to my Indiana Arts Commission grant, but their registration process had a few glitches and they had no room for me after all. After dealing with the disappointment, I set out to find a conference or workshop to replace it.

It wasn’t as easy as I expected.

First, because I’m paying for it with grant money, it needed to be a comparable workshop. Second, I’m moving overseas in July, so a June conference would be extremely difficult.

The Highlights Founders Workshops on non-fiction and magazine writing looked interesting, but weren’t compatible with my fiction-oriented grant project. Typical weekend conferences didn’t give me the hands-on work that I wanted. The Iowa Summer Writing Festival isn’t until June.

I finally called Highlights to ask about a novel writing workshop in May which seemed geared to beginners. They answered questions and even had the instructor call me personally. The workshop is actually geared for people like me, who have been writing a long time but have yet to publish a novel. Total costs are about the same as Big Sur, so I’ve spent the last few days writing and rewriting the application.

It took some asking and looking to find the workshop that would meet my writing goals and match my schedule and budget, but I did it. Take the time and you can, too.