2023 FALL WRITING WORKSHOP
I was surprised when I was asked to be president of the Chattanooga Writers Guild again after a few years absence from their leadership team. I am delighted that the departing and continuing leaders leave the organization in great shape. I take no credit for any of the things described in this post.
October 21 from 11 AM until 5 PM.
For the first time since the onset of Covid-19, we have an in-person Fall Writing Workshop. That is exciting news. I you are a member, you have seen publicity for this event, but I like to see the big picture, so this is my attempt to put all of the information in one place.
I am pleased to thank the retiring officers and directors, particularly President Kate Landers and Treasurer Chris Wood, for planning and organizing this event. The newly elected officers and directors, including me, are helping with the event, but those who served before the election organized, the event, including writing the text I used in this document. Thank you. – Ray Zimmerman, President
Please use this Registration Form by October 16 if you want the lunch.
WORKSHOP LOCATION
Second Presbyterian Church, 700 Pine Street, Chattanooga
Check-in is from 10:30 - 10:55 AM Eastern
The church's parking lot is across the street from their front doors on Pine Street and is marked by a small sign. Parking will be free that Saturday (the church will handle any erroneous tickets.)
Anyone needing disability access must use the church's back door, located in the city parking lot on 7th Street. They will enter through the Fellowship Hall and need to use a motorized lift to access the stairs to the main floor.
The check-in desk will be located in the Elmore Room, up the stairs and to the right as you enter the front doors.
PRESENTER BIOGRAPHIES AND SESSIONS
EARL BRAGGS - poetry
Edward Earl Sherman Braggs II is a UC Foundation Professor of English and Battle Professor of African American Studies at the University of TN at Chattanooga. Earl Braggs is the author of 15 poetry collections and the memoir, A Boy Named Boy. Braggs’ prizes include the Anhinga Poetry Prize, Cleveland State (Ohio) Poetry Prize (Unable to accept, the same manuscript won the Anhinga Prize), C&R Press Soup Bowl Poetry Prize, Gloucester County, MA Poetry Prize, Jack Kerouac International Literary Prize, and the William Matthew Poetry Prize. His latest poetry collections are Cruising Weather Wind Blue, Obama’s Children, and Moving to Neptune, New and Selected.
He will be presenting The Zen of Seeing: The art of looking at how the “Language of Everything” looks at us and informs us as we compose. This workshop offers an in-depth examination into how the "unintended" becomes the "intended."
SARAH EINSTEIN - nonfiction
Sarah Einstein teaches creative writing at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. She is the author of Mot: A Memoir (University of Georgia Press, 2015) and Remnants of Passion (SheBooks, 2014). Her essays and short stories have appeared in the Sun, Ninth Letter, PANK, and other journals. Her work has been reprinted in the Best of the Net and awarded a Pushcart Prize and the AWP Prize for Creative Nonfiction.
She will be presenting The Triptych Flash Essay: A Generative Workshop: The triptych form, borrowed from the world of visual arts, presents the reader with three small pieces that, put together, create an understanding larger than its parts. In this generative workshop, participants will take a look at two flash triptych essays, Poster Children by Sandra Lambert and Fish by Nicole Walker, and then work with prompts to generate ideas for their own triptych flash essays.
PAUL LUIKART - fiction
Paul Luikart is the author of the short story collections Animal Heart (Hyperborea Publishing, 2016), Brief Instructions (Ghostbird Press, 2017), Metropolia (Ghostbird Press, 2021), and The Museum of Heartache (Pski’s Porch Publishing, 2021.) He serves as an adjunct professor of fiction writing at Covenant College in Lookout Mountain, Georgia. He and his family live in Chattanooga.
His session will be called Point of View: Movement Through What Our Characters See. He will discuss the first and third-person POVs and the ways they can be expanded, contracted, and sustained as we write fiction.
AARON QUINN - publishing
Aaron is a Chattanooga-based writer and a former Literature Major at UTC. He has published a comic, two novels, one poetry collection, and miscellaneous other poems. Aaron is inspired by the mad, rad off-kilter moments of life. His works are all about creating a snapshot that lingers and haunts. Inspired by Flannery O’Conner, Wiley Cash, and Harry Crews, Aaron’s mind constantly wades in the dark hope of the South. Massive contradictions and bigger questions drive his narratives while he asks his reader one question: “Will you stay with me until the end?”
Aaron's presentation will be “Reimagining Publishing as Community Building.” In an ever-changing environment that can be unfriendly to independent publishers, how can an independent publisher reimagine their interactions with authors and community? The talk will focus on the following points and include plenty of time for a Q&A:
Who is Walnut Street Publishing?
How does one reimagine publishing in a post-COVID world?
How to get involved with WSP.
Generative Idea sessions
Chris Wood is a lease maintenance manager and writes to balance her left brain with her right. She holds a bachelor’s degree in accounting and recently served as Treasurer of the Chattanooga Writers’ Guild. Her work appears in several journals and publications, including Salvation South, Black Moon Magazine, and Three Line Poetry. She won second prize in the 2016 CWG Spring Contest for her poem, Thus Your Life Grows. Her work also appears in two anthologies: Adult Children: Being One, Having One, & What Goes In-Between (2021) and Nothing Divine Dies, The Poetry of Nature (2021).
Her session will be called: Writing with Numbers: Generative Ideas. Most of us have several memorized numbers in our heads, whether it be a password, PIN, or even our social security number. We are always asked for our phone number, home street address, and in many cases even our date of birth. As writers, many of us do not consider ourselves numbers people, however, you might be surprised that you use them more than you think. Counting the cost of things, balancing your bank account, and keeping track of time, just to name a few. This session will offer several writing prompts to get you thinking in terms of numbers and how you can incorporate them into your writing.
Natalie Kimbell grew up in Sequatchie County, Tennessee. She has spent forty years teaching English and theater arts at her alma mater, Sequatchie County High School. She is a mother, grandmother, and lover of all things that sparkle. Her work most recently appears in Pine Mountain Sand and Gravel, Mildred Haun Review, Anthology of Appalachian Writers, Artemis, and 23 Tales: Appalachian Ghost Stories, Legends, and Other Mysteries. Her first poetry chapbook, On Phillips Creek, will be published by Finishing Line Press in 2024.
She will jumpstart the morning with a series of prompts to trigger pieces of writing be it fiction, non-fiction, or poetry. Prompts selected by participants will sometimes be based on chance as not every participant will write to the exact same prompt. If you believe in serendipity this might be the generative workshop for which you have been searching.
Sherry Poff writes in and around Ooltewah, Tennessee. She holds an M.A. in writing from The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and is a Board member of the Chattanooga Writers’ Guild. Her work has appeared in various publications including Speckled Trout Review, Raconteur Review, Heart of Flesh, The Chattanooga Pulse, Artemis Journal, and Number One.
In her workshop, each participant will create a Personal Universe Deck. This tool is a word bank that can be used to generate ideas and inspire work in any genre. The process makes each PUD unique to the individual. As time allows, participants will practice using the deck.
Please join us. This workshop will be fun and productive.