Confession Of A Workshopaholic 

Anyone who has read past entries on this blog or checked out my writing history on this site knows that I am a writing workshopaholic.  Every year I attend at least one workshop, and quite often two.  My first was the Maritime Writers' Workshop in Fredericton, NB in 2004.  I have participated in the Great Blue Heron Writing workshop at St. F.X. every year since 2005 and I have applied again this year.

I go to workshops for various reasons.  Since I never took any kind of creative writing course, I consider these workshops a form of continuing education where I can bring an early draft of a story, poems or even a film script that would benefit from some outside feedback to help bring it to the next level.  Workshops have also been one of the few places where I meet other writers, and I have kept in touch with some of these folks long after the workshops are over.  At their best, workshops are like summer camps for writers, a rare opportunity to work and socialize at the same time.  

Having benefitted from being in workshops with some of this country’s best writers, I often wondered how I would do as an instructor.  Well, this year it looks like I am going to get my chance and frankly, I'm pretty nervous about it.  

In June I will be reading at the Jewish Literary Festival in Hamilton, Ontario. The organizers, Lil Blume and Ellen Jaffee, are putting together an anthology of Jewish writing called From Sinai To The Shtetl And Beyond, to which I have contributed a poem.  The invitation was originally for me to read at the launch for the anthology during the festival.  In the course of my communications with Lil and Ellen, I was informed that some of the other writers would be giving workshops and was asked if I would like to do one too.   Although it was by no means mandatory, I figured this was my chance to see what a workshop would be like from the other side.

The big question was what would my workshop be about and did I really have anything to teach other writers?  After a little more back-and-forth with L & E, I found out that my workshop should take the form of a talk that might lead to a writing exercise, depending on how many actual writers were in my audience.  My publisher had suggested to me that I expand my repertoire by working on my ability to talk about my writing as well as giving readings.  I recognized here was a good opportunity to do just that.  It was decided between myself and L & E that I would read a story from Fatted Calf Blues called The Two Annes, which is about an artist who uses his talent to deal with personal loss, and talk about that process.  I would then move the talk to my own experience by discussing the novel I am working on, which uses some of my family history.  For a big finish I would ask the participants to turn a true event from their lives into a piece of fiction.

It all sounds easy enough, but on the inside I'm biting my fingernails to the quick.  Will anyone actually show up?  Will I be able to deliver the goods?  All will be revealed in June, if I don't die of nervousness first.