Hi There! I’m the current Chair of AWA and this year I’m on a mission to try and let as many writers as possible know about this radical workshop model of AWA. To that end, an article I did was featured in Bianca Marais’ substack: The Shit No One Tells You About Writing. I’ll be on her podcast in April (handily, just before our yearly “Write Around the World”).
You can read the full article at this link. Here’s a taste of it:
Turning the Writing Workshop Model on its Head
Strengths-Based Feedback is Crucial for Your Authentic Writer’s Voice
by Sue Reynolds
What if I told you there was a magical workshop for writers where, every time you wrote something new—even the roughest, messiest first draft—all the feedback you received would be about the places where your new offering showed craft and promise? Your colleagues would immediately share with you what was vivid and memorable in what you had just written. What’s more, their feedback would be sincere.
If you think this sounds like fairy dust and unicorn farts, I understand. But I’m here to tell you it’s true—and to tell you where to find this supportive space.
This is the Amherst Writers and Artists Method (AWA), a way of holding workshops with a 40-year history that focuses on developing craft and voice, leading writers from initial experimentation to publication.
If you have trouble with the Substack link, you can read the full text here: Turning the Workshop Model on its Head