Participants will read one book-length manuscript over the course of a month, and come to the workshop prepared to provide feedback on the strengths and the areas in need of improvement. Participants do not need to submit pieces of their own to the workshop to participate. All pieces should be unpublished and the writer’s own original creation. Writers of all levels, beginning and advanced, are welcome.

To participate:

1. Sign up for this workshop.

2. This month’s manuscript and an optional feedback rubric will be downloadable via a dropbox link listed on the sign up confirmation page. Read the manuscript (or as much of it as you can) and take notes on any and all feedback you have for the writer.

3. Attend the zoom meeting (link will be provided) to share/receive feedback.

To Submit a Manuscript:

After signing up, email Arien Reed (he/him) at [email protected] with the manuscript you would like to submit to the workshop attached to the email. 1 manuscript is workshopped each month. Manuscripts are workshopped in the order in which they are received by the organizer. Manuscripts should be a .doc, .docx, or .rtf document that is not password-protected. If there is special formatting, please send a .pdf version as well so readers can see what the correctly formatted document looks like. Please do NOT include any personal information (addresses, phone numbers, etc). Word counts are not necessary. Please include a list of content warnings (excessive profanity, violence, domestic abuse, sexual abuse, kidnapping, drug use, etc.) on the first page of the document along with the author’s name and the manuscript’s title.

Online/virtual workshops are open to all, regardless of your physical location, nationality, origin, race, ability, gender, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, writing history, etc.

Workshop Rules:

1. Respect and sensitivity. Many writers feel their work is intensely personal and experience anxiety about sharing it. Writing workshops, like any educational environment, should be inclusive, safe, and supportive at all times without exception. Offensive or disruptive behavior/speech, building your own ego at the expense of others’, and biased conduct of all kinds are forbidden (homophobia, transphobia, racism, ableism, sizeism, body-shaming, slut-shaming, sexism, misogyny, trans-misogyny, religious discrimination, etc.).

2. Try to provide feedback. Participants are expected to read and provide feedback on all work whose content warnings are not concerning to the participant. It’s okay if you couldn’t finish reading the piece; some feedback is better than none.

3. Use Zoom etiquette. If you are in a noisy environment or need to take a phone call or have a conversation with someone in your environment, mute yourself. Disruptive participants may be muted or removed by the host.

4. Participants should be available and able to meet via Zoom on the date and time specified. If something comes up, though, simply let us know and we will arrange for your feedback to be shared (in digitally written form) with the writer.

***By signing up for this workshop, you are agreeing that you understand, and will abide by, the above rules.***

Workshops are conducted in spoken English. If you are in need of an accessibility accommodation, please notify the organizer at the time of RSVP. In the event of one or more Deaf/Hard of Hearing (DHH) participants, the workshop will be conducted entirely in written English and participants will not be told which individual(s) is DHH.