Cary Tennis

Writing workshops, podcasts, and verbal creations from the world-famous advice columnist

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Latest stories

I do two kinds of online workshops

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On Sundays I host a two-hour online Amherst Writers and Artists workshop on Zoom from 9am to 11am West Coast time, 12 noon to 2pm East Coast time (18.00–20.00 CET at my location in Italy). On Mondays I host a one-hour online Finishing School workshop on Zoom from 9am to 10am West Coast time, noon to 1pm East Coast time (18.00–19.00 CET at my location in Italy). The workshops are...

Refresh your writing spirit and create your best work in 2024!

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Hello friends! It’s Tuscan Writing Workshop time! I’m pleased to announce our long-awaited spring 2024 writing workshop May 11 to 19, 2024, at the Residence Le Santucce in the Tuscan hill town of Castiglion Fiorentino! It’s gonna be great. We will gather to deepen and enrich our writing practice in supportive company with other writers at all levels, from novice to veteran...

Generic Holiday Blog Post: It was like this in 2022 and it’s pretty much the same in 2023!

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We’ll be in Italy of course because we live there. That’s always weird but less weird every year and this’ll be Year Seven EIGHT! Our first year living in Italy we went to Venice for Christmas and got ripped off at some supposedly great restaurant. C’est la vie, live and learn. This year we local americani will have Thanksgiving dinner with some likewise Americans etc. at...

The Amherst Writers and Artists Method: Sites, Videos, Practitioners

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Hello everybody, I have been leading Amherst Writers and Artists workshops since 2007. Doing so has changed my creative life in profound and lasting ways. I hope this compendium of links will help you find an Amherst Writers and Artists workshop in your area or online. Maybe after you’ve done it for a while and discovered its benefits, you will decide to lead workshops yourself. The Method...

Finishing School: Guiding Principles and Practices

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In Finishing School we meet once a week to help each other finish creative projects, using the method outlined in the book Finishing School written by me and Danelle Morton. We work together in a structured way that protects individual creative freedom and supports personal insight. At our first session, we ask you to tell us about your dream. That is, we ask you to describe the project you are...

Finishing School: The story behind the workshops … and the book

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[Note: This is pretty much a literal transcription of the podcast.]–ct Good morning, or evening, this is Cary Tennis, it’s Thursday, April 29, 2021, and today I’m going to do things slightly differently because this is the story behind the workshops and the book, that is, the Finishing School workshops. So how it really began is like this: In 2004 I was finishing up an article...

Leaving San Francisco

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We didn’t know for sure what their lives were like before they came to our town. We watched them from afar, from high buildings, from shadowy cafes across the street. We watched them in the rain as they lined up for their buses, with their backpacks and their sensible shoes, their skinniness, their soft hands, their way of walking which was arrogant in its sloppiness, as if they could barely...

Check this out, folks! The Psychedelic Madness of Covid-19: A Personal Journey

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Dear Reader, I wrote “The Psychedelic Madness of Covid-19” for David Talbot, founder of Salon.com, and I think it’s the best piece I’ve written about my recovery from Covid-19. Read and enjoy! The podcast started out as an honest homage to David Talbot, but ended up being all about me, me, me! How I ended up working at Salon.com, how I learned everything I needed to know...

Learning from Covid-19 Delirium: How I went Crazy in the ICU and Lived to Write About it

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Hi Folks! Wow, was I insane! This week’s podcast dives deep into the fantastical delirium I experienced in the intensive care unit of San Donato hospital in Arezzo, Italy. I’ll be publishing a longer prose version soon and will let you know when that is available. Also, this is the January 12, 2021 Smithsonian Magazine article I mention at about 1:20 into the podcast. But for now...

Finding the Faith to Act on Conscience

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How do you reach a point where your conscience is overwhelming and you must make the leap?
How do you get to that point?
… where the conscience … blooms, and all the fear subsides, and the conscience floods the spirit, floods the mind, floods the brain, and gives one the courage to just do the right thing. Just fucking do the right thing!”
Full podcast:

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