0

Note: Below is the prior, 2023 Schedule and class topics/titles (but with 2024 dates). 

 2024 will be similar in structure. But note the Early Bird offerings for this 2024 Workshop! 


Pre-Workshop Task

 

May 20, 2024         Participants submit their workshop submission. (See UPDATES page for details.)


NOTE: Participants who register shortly before or later than May 20 are NOT TOO LATE. Just submit your material for the Workshop Groups as soon as possible, and we'll connect you with the best workshop group for your genre. 

2024 Early Bird Sessions

Early Bird Sessions are focused, advanced writing classes offered Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday mornings from 7:15-8:20 AM. These are open to registrants who have also registered for the regular Workshop (priced at $925), and you will be able to register for the workshop and an Early Bird at the same time. Enrollment is limited (8-10 per class). Yes, that's early! Bring your coffee/tea mug and we will provide "muffins". 

2024 Early Bird Options with Scriptoria registration:

1. Gary Schmidt: Writing for Middle School    = $95

2. Kevin Washburn: Advanced Editing Skills   = $95

3. Vinita Hampton Wright: Advanced Fiction Craft  = $95

SCHEDULE 

NOTE: The schedule below reflects 2023 classes and sessions.  Watch for updates in mid-Fall, 2023.

The Workshop Week

 

Lectures through the day serve different purposes:


Monday, June 10

 

7:30 a.m.      Registration Opens/

                     Sign up for scheduled time slots with publishing experts

 

8:30 a.m.      Welcome & Overview with Gary Schmidt/

                 Morning Prayers with Aquinas College

 

9:15 a.m.      Coffee Break/

 

9:30 a.m.      Workshop 1: Peer Review Master Class/

Participants attend assigned workshop class

        

11:00 a.m.    Coffee Break/

 

11:30 a.m.    The Writer’s Life with Hugh Cook/

“Miss Morley’s Parrot: Mining Your Life for Writing Gold”

 

12:30 p.m.     Lunch Break

 

2:00 p.m.      Craft Application with Linda Nemec Foster/

                     “Prose or Poetry? The Unique World of the Prose Poem”

 

Craft Application with Vinita Hampton Wright/Classroom 

  “Balance & Nuance: Taking the Basics Further and Deeper” 

        

3:00 p.m.      Coffee Break/

 

3:15 p.m.      Craft Applications with Michael Stevens/Classroom 

“Thoreau’s Attention to Detail: How America’s Greatest Nature Writer Saw & Described the Wonders of the   Everyday World”


 Genre Focus in Poetry & Fiction with L.S. Klatt/Classroom 

 “Imagination as Place: What Wendell Berry & Settlers of Local Leave Out”

                                                                    

4:15 p.m.      Time to Pause, to Write, to Reflect

Scheduled One-on-Ones

                

5:30 p.m.      Dinner (Participants on own)

 

7:15 p.m.      Readings with L.S. Klatt, Michael Stevens, & Leslie Leyland Fields

  


Tuesday, June 11

 

7:15 a.m. Early Bird Advanced Workshop/Limited Enrollment

 1. Gary Schmidt: Writing for Middle School  

 2. Kevin Washburn: Advanced Editing Skills 

 3. Vinita Hampton Wright: Advanced Fiction Craft 


8:30 a.m.      Morning Prayers with Cornerstone University/

                 News & Updates

 

9:00 a.m.      Workshop 2: Peer Review Master Class/ Classrooms

        

11:00 a.m.    Coffee Break/

 

11:30 a.m.    The Writing Life with Vinita Hampton Wright/

  “Spirit, Care, & Creative Work: Allow Your Work to Be Spiritual”

                    

12:30 p.m.     Lunch Break

 

2:00 p.m.       Genre Focus in Nonfiction & Fiction with Elizabeth Vander Lei/Classroom 

“Mastering Metaphors”

 

                     Genre Focus in Poetry with Linda Nemec Foster/Classroom 

                     “Beyond the Straightjacket: Form as a Liberating Poetic Device”

 

Genre Focus in Fiction with Michael Stevens/Classroom 

“Old Narrators Looking Back: Wendell Berry’s Revisionist Visionaries in the Novels Jayber Crow & Hannah Coulter”

 

3:00 p.m.       Coffee Break/

 

3:15 p.m.       Genre Focus in Fiction with Jason Stevens/Classroom 

  “Wrestling with Vocation: Writing as a Spiritual Discipline”  

 

Editor’s Chat with Andrew Rogers/Classroom 

“Developing Your Nonfiction Concept”

  

Genre Focus in Fiction & Nonfiction with Patrice Gopo/Classroom

“Exposing, Expanding, or Changing the Narrow Narrative: Honoring One Another as We Write Across Culture &   Race” 

  

4:15 p.m.       Time to Pause, to Write, to Reflect

  Scheduled One-on-Ones

 

5:30 p.m.       Dinner

                

7:15 p.m.       Readings with Jason Stevens, Linda Nemec Foster, & Patrice Gopo

  

                     Open Mic for Participant Readings


 

Wednesday, June 12 

 

7:15 a.m. Early Bird Advanced Workshop/Limited Enrollment

  1. Gary Schmidt: Writing for Middle School  

 2. Kevin Washburn: Advanced Editing Skills 

 3. Vinita Hampton Wright: Advanced Fiction Craft 



8:30 a.m.      Morning Prayers with Calvin University

                 News & Updates

 

9:00 a.m.      Workshop 3: Peer Review Master Class/ Classrooms

 

11:00 a.m.    Coffee Break/

 

11:30 a.m.    The Writing Life with Jon Sweeney/

  “You Can Be a Part of the ‘Greatest Conversation’”


   Genre Focus in Nonfiction with Patrice Gopo/Classroom 

“Elevating Your Essay”


12:30 p.m.     Lunch Break

 

2:00 p.m.       Genre Focus in Fiction with Hugh Cook/Classroom 

  “Point of View in Fiction”

 

  Genre Focus in Poetry with L.S. Klatt /Classroom

  “Kenneth Koch: Poet at Home & Not at Home in His Hometown”

 

  Genre Focus with Leslie Leyland Fields/Classroom 

        “Losing & Finding Your Voice”

 

3:00 p.m.       Coffee Break/

 

3:15 p.m.       Writing Recess (Find a writing nook or wander the Calvin Ecosystem Preserve)

 

4:15 p.m.       Scheduled One-on-Ones

                     Optional: Creative Arts session with artist Anna Greidanus/Spoelhof Center Rm. 120                   

        

5:30 p.m.      Dinner (Together)/Behind the Prince Conference Center

 

7:15 p.m.       Readings with Gary Schmidt, Jon Sweeney, & Vinita Hampton Wright/

                     Open Mic for Participant Readings

 


Thursday, June 13

 

7:15 a.m. Early Bird Advanced Workshop/Limited Enrollment

  1. Gary Schmidt: Writing for Middle School  

 2. Kevin Washburn: Advanced Editing Skills 

 3. Vinita Hampton Wright: Advanced Fiction Craft 



8:30 a.m.      Morning Prayers with Cornerstone University/

                 News & Updates

        

9:00 a.m.      Workshop 4: Peer Review Master Class/ Classrooms

 

11:00 a.m.    Coffee Break/

 

11:30 a.m.     The Writing Life Panel Discussion/

        

12:30 p.m.     Lunch Break

 

2:00 p.m.       Genre Focus in Nonfiction with Terri DeBoer/Classroom

 “Writing Devotionals 101”

 

  Craft Applications with Leslie Leyland Fields/Classroom 

  “Inside the Outer Story: Discovering the Heart of Your Memoir”

 

  Craft Applications with Elizabeth Vander Lei/Classroom 

  “Capturing & Keeping Your Reader’s Attention with Sentence Slots”       

 

3:00 p.m.       Coffee Break/


3:15 p.m.       Editor’s Chat with Jon Sweeney/Classroom 

  “Twenty Mistakes Authors Make Again & Again”

 

  Craft Application with Jason Stevens/Classroom 

  “Writing & Place and the Place of Writing”

                    

4:15 p.m.       Time to Pause, to Write, to Reflect

Scheduled One-on-Ones

 

5:30 p.m.       Dinner 

                    

7:15 p.m.      Readings with Dan Mancilla, Cynthia Beach, & Hugh Cook


Open Mic for Participant Readings

 

Friday, June 14

 

8:30 a.m.      Morning Prayers with Aquinas University/

                     News & Updates      

        

9:00 a.m.      Workshop 5: Final Peer Review Master Class/ Classrooms

        

11:00 a.m.    Coffee Break/

 

11:30 a.m.    The Writing Commission with Gary Schmidt/Recital Hall

  The Scriptoria Awards

  Lunch (Together)/