Writing Group

The WIN Writing Group has three goals:  

    * to allow members make writing a more regular part of their daily lives
    * to help members improve their writing, both by submitting their own pieces and by reading and discussing each others’
    * to support each other as a community of writers, sharing resources, energy, support, and stories!

 The WIN Writing Group workshops creative nonfiction, defined broadly as any writing that is intended to be read as true. This could encompass anything from your blog posts to your law school personal statement to a memoir chapter, journal entry, personal essay, travel writing, first-person poem, piece of journalism, and beyond.  

Still feeling fuzzy on the genre of Creative Nonfiction?

More information here: http://creative-non-fiction-writing.suite101.com/article.cfm/what_is_creative_nonfiction_writing or here http://writingmemoirs.suite101.com/article.cfm/what-is-creative-nonfiction.  Or, more scholarly but more definitively, here http://www.creativenonfiction.org/thejournal/whatiscnf.htm.

Please email writing@winonline.org with any questions.

Meetings:

WHEN: The WIN Writing Group meets every other Wednesday at 7 pm (unless announced otherwise on the WIN list) for about an hour

WHERE: We rotate through different cafes, bars, and parts of the city – keep an eye on the WIN list for our next spot, or let us know your favorite

WHO: Anyone is welcome – no requirements in gender, age, writing background, publishing experience, etc. Our group is a community, so come prepared for an honest but constructive discussion in a safe space. There is no commitment necessary – come once, come back in 6 months, you’re always welcome.  

WHAT TO BRING: Nothing. The Network Chair will provide paper and pens to those who do not have their own notebooks, as well as copies of the discussion piece.

STRUCTURE: Meetings are informal and facilitated by the Network Chair. Each meeting begins with an icebreaker, followed by a 5-10 minute free write on a given prompt. Members are invited to read what they’ve written as a casual exercise for the group and just for fun. Then the Network Chair will distribute the discussion piece for the evening, and the group will read the piece aloud and discuss in an open workshop format for about 30 minutes.

Submissions:

Each meeting’s discussion piece has been submitted by a group member. All members are encouraged to submit pieces and can chose to do so anonymously if they prefer. Submissions should be 5 pages or less of creative nonfiction writing. Submit pieces to the Network Chair at writing@winonline.org, who will schedule pieces for each meeting, maintain the author’s anonymity if requested, and collect hard copies of the piece with members’ notes for the author’s reference.

Resources for Creative Nonfiction writers:

Poets & Writers Magazine http://www.pw.org/magazine

Writing Tips from The Guardian  http://www.awpwriter.org/contests/series.htm

Creative Nonfiction Magazine http://www.creativenonfiction.org/thejournal/articles/issue38/index.html

The Fourth Genre Journal  http://msupress.msu.edu/journals/fg/index.php?Page=home

Teachers & Writers Collaborative http://www.twc.org/resources

Writing Contests:

http://writingcontests.wordpress.com/
http://www.newpages.com/literary/contests.htm
http://writingcontests.wordpress.com/
http://www.manuscriptediting.com/contests.htm
http://www.awpwriter.org/contests/series.htm
http://www.pw.org/grants?sort=asc&order=Deadline&apage=%2A&filter0=%2A%2AALL%2A%2A&filter1=37&perpage=6

Journals & Magazines taking Creative Nonfiction Submissions:

The Fourth Genre http://msupress.msu.edu/journals/fg/index.php?Page=subguide
-Travelers’ Tales, www.travelerstales.com
-Traveling Stories Magazine http://www.traveling-stories-magazine.com/
-Transitions Abroad http://www.transitionsabroad.com/
-World Hum www.worldhum.com  
-The Gettysburg Review http://www.gettysburgreview.com/sbmssns.html accepts btw. Sept-May
-Sonora Review http://w3.coh.arizona.edu/sonora/submit.html btw. Sept-May
-Manoa: A Pacific Journal of International Writing http://www.hawaii.edu/mjournal/
-The Creative Nonfiction Reader http://www.creativenonfiction.org/
-Quarterly West http://www.quarterlywest.utah.edu/
-Granta magazine http://www.granta.com/
-Hunger Mountain http://www.hungermtn.org/
-River Teeth http://static.ashland.edu//riverteeth/
-Orion http://www.orionmagazine.org/
-Terrain http://www.terrain.org
-Ecotone
-Flyaway
-Hawk & Handsaw
-Alimentum: The Literature of Food
-The Iowa Review
-Threepenny Review

Do you have resources to share or to request? Please email writing@winonline.org.