This three-day workshop, beneficial for both emerging and seasoned writers, offers techniques and tips for strengthening your writing. You will learn how to find the heart of your story, how to structure it to connect emotionally with a reader, and how to know which parts of your life experiences to foreground and which parts to background.
The Content of this workshop will include direct instruction, some in-class writing, discussion of professional writing, and sharing of drafts and revisions, as desired. Instruction is designed to help you fully grasp the elements of first-person essay writing, then employ them to develop an essay or book-length chapter.
An advance registration fee of $475 includes:
Three morning sessions of instruction, two to three afternoon sessions of writing, reading and guided feedback.
The benefits of joining a community of like-minded writers who will learn to respond supportively to one another’s writing.
A one-on-one consult with the instructor for feedback on revised drafts
Delicious catered breakfasts, lunches, and dinners on site.
Beautiful indoor and outdoor space for inspired writing
To register or find out additional information on workshop content, please go tohttps://www.kathrynabajian.com/california
This Workshop is limited to 8 participants.
Participants are invited to stay on site at the Retreat Center in a private room ($95), or a shared room ($50/person).
Space is limited to only three to four available bedrooms, so make your reservations early by going to www.vrbo.com/746217 and indicating that you are registering for this Memoir Writing Workshop to receive our discounted rates. United, Delta, and Alaska Airlines fly into Glacier National Park Airport in Kalispell. We offer transportation to and from the airport the day before and the day after this workshop.
Please also contact us for nearby lodging referrals. We recommend the following:
As a college professor, Kathryn Abijian learned the basics of instruction: teach less and teach it well. She acknowledges:
“There are few principles of writing, few rules, but as in the case of learning grammar, it pays to know the basics and to grasp them soundly so that your writing can soar beyond the commonplace.
Writing is often hard work. It requires the writer to be an observer and a frequent reader. It requires the writer sitting in the chair for hours on end. It requires a writer who is willing to draft without the inner editor criticizing. It requires a writer who is willing and, more to the point, eager to let the writing take her where it wants.”
After teaching high school English for twelve years, Kathryn Abijian earned an M. A. in English at San Francisco State University and soon began teaching composition, literature and creative writing for Diablo Valley College as a tenured faculty. She was honored by the San Ramon Valley Chamber of Commerce as the Educator of the Year in 2008.
During this time, Kathryn Abijian researched the art and life of a Utah landscape painter, resulting in the publication of First Sight of the Desert, Discovering the Art of Ella Peacock, a biography of the desert painter blended with a story of her own life changes over her decade of research.
Kathryn Abijian resides on California’s Central Coast where she is occupied with her second book project, while also working as a writing teacher and developmental editor. She holds writing workshops throughout California, as well as writing and cultural retreats in Italy annually.
Her travel, food, memoir, and arts essays have appeared in various publications, including the San Francisco Chronicle, American Art Review, Salon, and Travelers’ Tales anthologies.