Writing Workshops: Springboard into your Summer Writing

Facilitated by Dr. Hallie Wells and Dr. Karīna Vasiļevska-Das, this supportive writing community will establish a daily morning practice for accountability, during a time of the year when you may be more able to focus on your writing.

If you’ve attended a workshop with us before, this will be a new opportunity to put into practice the tools we’ve shared in prior workshops. If this is your first workshop with us, this workshop will provide you with the tools we find most useful for developing your own sustainable writing practice.

Each session will include a writing prompt and dedicated time for working on your own project, as well as a group discussion — and, of course, a dance break. We look forward to seeing you, whether this is your first workshop with us or your fourth!

Facilitators:
Dr. Hallie Wells is a multi-disciplinary writer, editor, and writing coach. She holds a PhD in Sociocultural and Linguistic Anthropology from UC Berkeley, and her academic work bridges anthropology and poetics. She co-authors a Substack writing newsletter with Karīna and their colleague Rima, called “Write What You Like!,” and is currently working on a novel.

Dr. Karīna Vasiļevska-Das is an anthropologist who primarily studies the interplay of children’s health and citizenship practices in the former Soviet Union. She holds a PhD from the UC Berkeley/UCSF Joint Program in Medical Anthropology. Karīna uses acting, walking, and singing to enhance her life as a writer and a mother of two children. She is committed to infusing academic writing with creativity and individuality.

Session Topics:
1. Reflecting
Theme: We begin by taking stock of the past semester and where the writing project currently stands. Participants will reflect on what their writing practice has looked like this past semester, and will identify what they want to stop doing, start doing, and continue doing over the summer.
Takeaway: An honest appraisal of the project’s current state, and at least 3 goals for the summer writing practice.
2. Planning
Theme: Participants will determine what resources they need to accomplish the 3 goals identified in the previous session, and will assess how this may look different during different phases of work (e.g., reading vs. analyzing data vs. drafting new text).
Takeaway: A list of resources needed to accomplish the summer goals, tailored for each phase of the writing project.
3. Prepping
Theme: We will discuss 1) how to prepare one’s writing time and space (making concrete plans, blocking time in one’s calendar, communicating these plans to others), and 2) how to organize one’s writing (reviewing older drafts/folders and organizing everything to enable a smooth entry to the summer writing practice).
Takeaway: A list of steps (some may be completed during the session) to prepare the workspace and delimit the spatial/temporal boundaries of the writing practice.
4. Practicing
Theme: Participants will do a rehearsal of their writing practice during the workshop session, matching as closely as possible the ideal writing conditions they’ve outlined in the previous sessions. This is an opportunity to closely examine and fine-tune their practice.
Takeaway: An embodied rehearsal of the envisioned summer writing practice, and notes on what did and didn’t work.
5. Launching
Theme: We close the week by identifying potential adjustments to the envisioned summer writing practice. This will ensure that adaptability is built into the plan, enabling participants to be flexible if/when roadblocks arise.
Takeaway: A list of adjustments to the writing practice, to be implemented now or in case of future roadblocks (e.g., an unexpected illness, a planned vacation, etc.)

When: May 12-16 from 9:00-11:00am ET

Registration is required: Register