SHUT UP & WRITE! Our premier craft and motivational workshop. Judy Bridges $345 ($100 deposit) NEW 3-day Session Thurs - Aug 13, 6:30-9:00 pm Fri - Aug 14, 6:30 - 9:00 pm Sat - Aug 15, 9:30 am-3:00 pm

FOR BEGINNERS AND PROS
Develop your skills
Build confidence
Get moving!

Do you want to write fiction, nonfiction, an article, a play? Have you been talking (and thinking) about it for a long time, but just can't seem to get it done? Here's help for you - a seminar with a writing coach who just won't take No for an answer. Judy has heard every excuse (and tried most of them!) and knows how to give you the nudge you need.

Shut Up & Write! is a highly individualized program in which Judy focuses on your particular goals and finds ways to help you meet them. She's had a lot of experience doing this, so be prepared to make progress.

The first few sessions include a fair amount of stand-up teaching about the craft. Whatever your level or area of interest, you'll learn more about writing - fiction and nonfiction, characters, dialogue, scenes, setting, structure, point-of-view, language, project management and publication.

As you learn helpful techniques, you will apply them to a project of your choice. If you don't have a project in mind, Judy will help you find one. By the end of the course, you will have completed a number of pages and gained confidence and skills you can use to reach the goals you set.

Plan on having homework and on sharing your enthusiasm with others in the group.

"I am absolutely loving the class - it's going by much too fast! I'm writing, and learning more than I ever have, and that includes writing classes taken in college in the distant past." ~ Mary Montgomery, about Shut Up & Write!

Prior to founding Redbird, Judy Bridges earned her living writing articles, stories, plays and business communications. She holds a bachelor's degree in writing and a master's in adult education.

JEANNEE SACKEN, Ph.D., was a professor of writing and literature for twenty years at the University of North Carolina and Rochester Institute of Technology, where she also directed the writing program. She published A Certain Slant of Light: Aesthetics of First Person Narration (Garland) and numerous articles on women's and post-colonial literature. In 2000, she decided to return full-time to her first loves - creative writing and photography. She now travels the world photographing women and is working on a YA novel set in Zimbabwe.

LAUREL LANDIS has been a prolific member of Redbird Studio for over five years. She is a gifted writer with an interest in many genres and an ability to step outside herself to help others achieve thier goals. As one writer said of her: "Laurel is full of energy and is able to encourage and guide other writers with good humor and helpful suggestions. Many times, she's helped me to just keep going; not give up." Laurel's energy and discipline are infectious and a boon to the Studio.

ROBERT VAUGHAN has 25 years experience teaching and writing plays, poetry and fiction. His plays were produced in New York, Los Angeles and San Franciso. His poetry was included in an anthology of Best Poems and Poets of 2004. Robert also writes fiction, and has been leading adult and young author groups at Redbird for several years. He is a keen motivator, respected by writers of all ages.

FRIDAY MORNINGS
9:30 to 12 noon with Robert Vaughan
Early Spring Session: Mar 13, 27, Apr 10, 24
Late Spring Session: May 15, 29, Jun 5, 19 (filled)

                   
How to Get the Most Out of the Roundtables

• Attend whether or not you have work to share. You  will learn much from trying to help others.
• Bring 1-10 pages (double spaced, large type, wide margins) of your manuscript to share with the group. Bring extra copies so the others can give you added feedback by writing notes in the margins.
• When you arrive, put your name on the reader's list, noting the number of pages you wish to read. If you want to use your time to discuss a writing problem, write "talk" instead of a page count.
• Write your name on a tent card. Pour a cup of tea and settle in to enjoy the space and good company.
• When others read, notice what you like and how you think the writing might be improved. Try to focus on the craft rather than the content. Make notes on the manuscripts.
• Join the discussion when you want to. Remember that no one is expected to do as you say, only to consider your suggestion.
• When you read, try to skip explanations and defenses. Listen carefully during the feedback session. Decide later which suggestions you will and will not use.
• During the session or by appointment, you are welcome to use the studio market guides and resources.
• Bring rewrites in when you feel it is appropriate. We never tire of seeing how a writer improves.

Critique Services

Registration Information

• Register early. Workshops fill quickly.
• Returnees get first dibs in wait listed classes, then "Shut Up" grads, then new friends.
• Send registration and fee to Redbird Studio.
• If you cancel more than two weeks before class begins, your fee will be refunded, less a $25 processing fee.
• If Redbird cancels your class, you will receive a full refund.
• Acknowledgments are sent on request.
• Please refrain from wearing scented products into the studio.
• We are located in the Marian Center, formerly St. Mary's Academy, in the Bay View area of Milwaukee. The Center is on the Lake Michigan shoreline, two blocks south of Oklahoma Avenue.
• The studio is upstairs in an historic building. Sorry, there is no elevator.
• The view is great. The atmosphere is casual.

Click here to print Registration Form

Click here for map to Redbird Studio