Instructor: Jenny Bitner
Maybe you have an idea you have had for years or a vague story starting to form. You keep thinking you want to start a booklength project, but something stops you; still, there is a little flame of something that wants to come alive, something inside you that needs to be written. In this workshop, we will help you fan the flames of your ember. You will start by developing your story idea and then write an outline. A messy outline, probably one that will change, but a starting point! And then you’ll write an admittedly messy first chapter and get feedback in a supportive group. Come with your idea and an urge to go deep. Lean into your obsessions, your weirdness, and your passions, and leave with a book or long essay underway.
Jenny Bitner is a writer, teacher, and certified hypnotherapist whose work explores the imagination, the unconscious mind, and the creative process. She is the author of the novel Here Is a Game We Could Play (Acre Books, 2021). Her fiction and poetry have appeared in Fence, PANK, The Sun, The Fabulist, and Mississippi Review, and her work has been selected for Best American Nonrequired Reading, among others. Her creative nonfiction and memoir writing has appeared in Utne Reader, San Francisco Bay Guardian, and Men’s Health. Jenny holds an MFA in creative writing from the University of Virginia and has taught writing for more than 20 years in community and academic settings. Her teaching integrates craft, intuition, and the psychology of creativity—helping writers access deeper layers of imagination and stay connected to the joy of writing.