Creative Writing

Writing When Life Gets In the Way

Writing When Life Gets In the Way

by Co-Director Michelle Cameron “Life is what happens while you are busy making other plans.” – John Lennon Once upon a time, back when I worked for a digital agency, we were asked to explore a list of life events for a corporate client. No…

The Summer of Eras!

The Summer of Eras!

by Rebecca Kilroy, former Summer Intensive Program Coordinator, moving on to brand new things It’s the summer of Eras! I’ve lost count of the number of Eras tour t-shirts our students wore to the Intensive. Not a single Wednesday special event passed without at least…

On Journaling

On Journaling

by Christina Kapp, TWC Instructor & Outreach Coordinator I wish I could say that my journal was any less cluttered than my desk, my closet, my attic, but it’s not. I aspire to order in so many things and fail miserably. There are plenty of…

Joyously Difficult: Finding Delight in the Creative Work of Poetry

Joyously Difficult: Finding Delight in the Creative Work of Poetry

by Jared Harél, TWC Poetry Instructor “The craft of poetry is not easy. It is better than easy. It is joyously difficult.” – John Ciardi As a kid, I was lazy. Really lazy. It wasn’t a decision so much as a fundamental disposition—something innate and…

Tandem Writing: Two Writers, Two Friends, One Purple and One Green

Tandem Writing: Two Writers, Two Friends, One Purple and One Green

by Samantha Simeone and Lillie Hannon* It’s with just a touch of embarrassment we admit that we met online, specifically at Archive of our Own, which is a hub for fan-works, exchanging comments on each other’s stories about a children’s movie we both felt was…

Wrestling with So-Called Process

Wrestling with So-Called Process

by TWC Memoir Instructor Jill Smolowe There’s a piece of advice commonly offered to people stymied by the tendency to procrastinate: focus on the process, not the outcome. This can be wonderful advice for writers when it’s understood to mean that you should concentrate on…

Getting in the Game: All About Writing Contests

Getting in the Game: All About Writing Contests

by Christina Kapp, TWC Outreach and Development Coordinator When I was in high school I won a sweater in a raffle. Long-sleeved and cropped, it was made of white angora on one side, black wool on the other, with a braided seam down the middle.…

Settling into Stillness

Settling into Stillness

by The Writers Circle’s Founder/Director Judith Lindbergh 2022 has been a busy year for many of us as we return to life IRL. We are back to commuting to our offices, at least a few days each week. Kids are back in school and life…

Expect the Unexpected: The Wild and Wacky Challenges of Running TWC’s Summer Creative Writing Intensives

Expect the Unexpected: The Wild and Wacky Challenges of Running TWC’s Summer Creative Writing Intensives

by TWC Co-Director Michelle Cameron We were understandably nervous as we planned our very first Summer Creative Writing Intensives. What if the teens were bored after the first hour? What if someone burst into tears at a critique? How would we manage those kids who…

Where It All Began – celebrating the Summer Creative Writing Intensives’ 10th Anniversary

Where It All Began – celebrating the Summer Creative Writing Intensives’ 10th Anniversary

Reminiscing with TWC Directors Judith Lindbergh and Michelle Cameron After nearly a decade of running the Summer Creative Writing Intensives, The Writers Circle’s completely out-of-the-box, super-fun, creative writing program for teens, TWC directors Judith Lindbergh and Michelle Cameron got together to recall about how it…

How We Get to Where We’re Going and Why it Matters by Kathy Curto

How We Get to Where We’re Going and Why it Matters by Kathy Curto

TWC creative nonfiction instructor Kathy Curto discusses process and product, chaos and vision The book weighs a little over eight pounds, contains 472 pages and is about the size of those classic briefcases seen in old movies. It’s what some consider a coffee table book.…

Crumbling Blocks into Sandcastles: How I Am Tackling Writer’s Block

Crumbling Blocks into Sandcastles: How I Am Tackling Writer’s Block

By TWC Founder/Director Judith Lindbergh  For years, I’ve been saying that I don’t believe in writer’s block—that I prefer to call it writer’s challenge. Well, I’ve been experiencing a whole lot of writer’s challenge during these last few weeks.  According to my research, it’s not…