The Method The Amherst Writers and Artists Philosophy Workshop Events Calendar, in-person, online, worldwide Find a workshop in your area Pat Schneider, founder of AWA Pat Schneider on Wikipedia Pat Schneider bio on the Poetry Foundation website A really good poem: Pat’s “Instructions for the Journey” Pat Schneider: “We send the children of the poor to fight the children of the poor.” (In...
Hey there! Curious about the writing workshops? You can join at any time by clicking on the lovely picture of me below: [email protected] email write “Workshops” in the subject line. WhatsApp is better: +39 334 725 8715. Maybe try the U.S. number: 415 340-9108. The best time to call me from America is when you wake up in the morning. Because I live in Italy. The background: I...
we sold our house and came to Italy I almost tossed the laptop but changed my mind went to see Sy in North Carolina came back and kept writing did a workshop in the Mission District came back and kept writing laughed with Pat Schneider in Connecticut came back and kept writing spent time in a French chateau came back and kept writing Now taking reservations for the May 16-23, 2026 “How To...
Quickly sign up for one session $42 US Worldwide. Via Zoom. Scheduled Times: Sundays: 9am–11am PST–West Coast 10am-12 noon MST–Mountain 11am-1pm CST–Central 12 noon-2pm EST–Eastern 17.00-19.00 GMT–UK, Ireland 18.00-20.00 CET–Italy, Europe Powered by Or take it one month at a time at $149.00 USD Or try a drop-in session to see how you like...
I have learned a lot in the last seven years about caring for the writing self and the creative soul. Some of the things I have learned have helped other people, too. Doing the Amherst Writers and Artists method has become a way of life. Many people I have met while doing this have become dear friends whose occasional appearances are now cherished events in the week. The role of teacher is one I...
[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...
Break barriers and find fresh insights in a safe, relaxed setting Unlock powerful creative ideas and unleash deep emotions in a weekly online workshop led by acclaimed columnist, author and teacher Cary Tennis Every Sunday online at these times (I will send you the link): USA West Coast 09:00 am USA Mountain Time 10:00 am USA Central Time 11:00 AM USA East Coast Time 12:00 noon London Time...
Back in 2008, I had the good fortune to be introduced to Cary Tennis. I was trying to make sense of a novel length story I had been working on for two years. I was self-conscious and insecure about what I had produced, and those insecurities were all but squeezing the life out of my creativity. I didn’t believe I qualified as a writer, but a story came to me with such compelling force that I...
by Kyoko Ide Revolution. I feel such resistance towards it. Why? I feel fear, I get tense, I feel like I have to find the right, proper words and expressions that wouldn’t offend anybody, so that my revolutionary self wouldn’t get criticized. But that’s not revolutionary at all. How come I feel like I have to protect myself and guard myself when I try to let my revolutionary...
The world turns, and as it turns, people who could once keep to their feet and balance their weight against the motion, who learned to drink and dance and cook a meal while effortlessly poised against the turning of the world, these people suddenly found themselves thrown down to the ground, their plates and cups dashed from their hands, their feet hopelessly tangled, their heads broken and their...
Lucy Hilmer has been a regular at Cary’s writing practice table at Café La Boheme in San Francisco, for the past 2 ½ years. Lucy is a fine art photographer, documentary filmmaker and poet, who spends most of her time working alone in her home studio. But every Friday at noon, she heads to the Mission to sit with Cary’s pop up community of creative people for an hour, where she and others fast...
Happy New Year! After slowing down for the holidays, Cary and I are back working at full speed. The “Featured Person of the Week” is back, as are more columns and creative writing from Cary. A note: because many commenters have mentioned that they would like the ability to edit their comments after they post them, we’ve changed our method of posting comments. You now need to log in to our...
We first met Brian Herrera at our first-ever Creative Getaway. An exceptionally talented and inventive writer, he amazed us all during our evening reading sessions by one moment reading us the most deeply moving piece, and the next reading something that would leave the entire room in tears of laughter. Here’s what Brian has to say about himself, the Creative Getaway, and his new project...
Chloë Delafield has been a regular at Cary’s writing workshop for a number of years and went on to publish one of her pieces in the Sun magazine. Chloë is on the board of directors for Green Branch, a mobile children’s library dedicated to social justice and the environment. Green Branch has existed as a pop-up reading room for the past year and is now raising funds for a bookmobile...
Books I checked out of the library and read and enjoyed in 2013: Lisa Cron’s Wired for Story. Vivian Gornick’s The Situation and the Story. Rober Olen Butler’s From Where You Dream. and Patricia Highsmith’s Plotting and Writing Suspense Fiction. Kind of an end-of-the-year thing. I read lots more books than that, but these stood out. (The below is verbatim from my San...
To begin without knowing how to do it: That has been my approach, and I have agonized like a man sitting in a field with many ingredients of a house laid out before him and a panicked feeling that he has begun before he is ready. He has begun without a plan. He has no blueprint. He simply got it into his head that he could dredge up many interesting things from the well and the lake and the river...
Cary first met Michele Crockett at his Amherst Writers and Artists-style online workshop and since that time Michele has gone on to receive her own AWA certification. In May 2013 Michele was certified by the fabulous Maureen Buchanan Jones, Executive Director, AWA. Although Michele is currently working as Graduate Faculty at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, she is also working to...
Kathy Dolbow Doran was ‘present at the creation’ at Cary’s first Creative Getaway and attended two others which she claims to be among the best times of her life. She has a full-time writing position, but is in the midst of starting a movement for displaced Baby Boomers called 50 Plus Reinvented. Kathy was horrified to learn about the 50% increase in Baby Boomer suicides from...
Dear Cary, What a delight that you are continuing. Bravo! The quality of the world dipped there for a moment, but now it is leveled up again, thank, goodness. I’ll be sure to do my part to spread the word so that everyone I know can enjoy your column. On another note, I do want to ask you a few related questions about my writing. Some background: On a deep and sweet level, I am an...
Our featured person for this week is Amy Souza. Not only is Amy a talented writer, but she is a visual artist as well. In 2008 Amy founded Spark, a quarterly call-and-response project in which artists, writers, and musicians have ten days to create something new using another person’s art or writing as inspiration. Here’s what Amy has to say about herself and the Spark project: I have...
Over the six years Cary’s been leading writing retreats and workshops, we have gotten to know an impressive number of people working on some truly intriguing projects. Many of these projects are creative, some just simply improve life on this planet. This wonderful community has grown so large that we’ve decided to feature a person each week to highlight their creative or other...
Here are some of the links I mentioned in the 2013 Santa Barbara Novel Mentor workshop, about dialog, pitches, queries and beginnings of novels. dialog Writing Dialog by Tom Chiarella. I lent this book to somebody and have to get it back. It’s a good book. Useful. Interesting. 12 Exercises for improving dialog by John Hewitt. Some of these are pretty good. You can’t go wrong trying...
I find it hard not to work. It’s a Sunday afternoon, Norma and I did brunch at Zuni with Karen, then hung out at Green Arcade Books, enjoying the poetry and the cool local books and talking with Dave about labor history and how the minute there’s a museum about your movement you know you’re in trouble (“Fossilized Bongos in the Haight!”) and about the business of...
Reading a story in the New Yorker and fighting thoughts of jealousy and class resentment, thinking, how did I end up doing the workshops and getaways and publishing the books in addition to writing the column and thinking, if I had enough money, would I be preparing for the workshop–vacuuming the floor and straightening the furniture and getting ready for folks to come into the living room...