Registration is currently open for Midwest Writing Center’s sixth Fall Writing Workshop Series; this year’s focus will be on the novel. The series will be held from 6:00 p.m.-8:00 p.m. on September 8 and 22, October 13 and 27, and November 10 and 24 (all Tuesdays). Larry Baker, award-winning novelist and educator from Iowa City, will serve as the instructor for this workshop. Here is the full workshop description for “From Preparation to Publishing: The Craft of Novel-Writing”:
“Writing is not inspiration. Writing is a craft. Writing requires thought, preparation, perseverance, and a commitment to self-criticism; revision requires a writer to go through those same steps again.
In six intensive sessions, critically acclaimed writer Larry Baker will use his own writing as well as the writing of his students to illustrate the process that leads to a publishable novel. Students should be prepared to critique their instructor, their fellow students, and themselves. Each student is thus expected to submit a sample of their own work.
Baker will focus on how placing a particular character in a particular “situation” will lead to a compelling plot. However, students are encouraged to ask any question, or offer any insight, about any issue related to the writing process.”
Cost to attend will be $200 for MWC members and $225 for non-members, which includes a copy of Baker’s novel The Education of Nancy Adams. This is quite a bargain considering that a comparable workshop at the Summer Writing Festival at the University of Iowa would cost significantly more (weekend workshops $280, week-long $560—the MWC workshop meets six times over three months for a total of 12 hours), and a conventional class through the University would cost significantly more than that per credit hour. While there may not credit hours at the end of this workshop, the dividends will pay off in the participants’ writing.
Class size is limited. Interested writers can register online via PayPal on our website, by sending a check in the mail to MWC at 225 E. 2nd St., Ste. #303, Davenport, IA 52801, or via phone by calling MWC at (563) 324-1410. All sessions will be held at MWC on the 3rd floor of Bucktown Center for the Arts at 225 E. 2nd Street in Downtown Davenport. For more information, call MWC or email mwc@midwestwritingcenter.org.
Larry Baker is the author of five novels: THE FLAMINGO RISING (Knopf, 1997), which was one of three finalists for the Barnes and Noble “Great New Voices” award for 1997, a Los Angeles Times “Top 100” book for 1997, and chosen by the Iowa Center for the Book to represent Iowa at the 2010 National Book Festival in Washington. It was also adapted for a Hallmark TV movie in 2001; ATHENS/AMERICA (First Coast Books, 2005); A GOOD MAN (Ice Cube Press, 2009), which was nominated for “Book of the Year” by the Southeast Independent Booksellers Association in 2010; LOVE AND OTHER DELUSIONS (Ice Tea Books, 2012); and THE EDUCATION OF NANCY ADAMS (Ice Tea Books, 2014). Early buzz for that book was enough to get Baker selected as the “Writer on Tour” by the Florida Literary Arts Council. Baker was included on the Iowa Literary Walk of Fame in 2010; joining other writers such as John Irving, Marilynne Robinson, Kurt Vonnegut, and Flannery O’Connor, et al. He is currently an adjunct instructor of American History at Kirkwood Community College in Cedar Rapids. For more information on Larry Baker, please visit: http://www.writinguniversity.org/writers/larry-baker
Support for this program generously provided by the Riverboat Development Authority, and the Illinois Arts Council Agency through federal funds provided by the National Endowment for the Arts