Summer Announcements
~ From My Writerly World ~
write around the world
In May I joined 60+ workshop leaders, offering a 2-hour donation-based session for Write Around the World. This annual fundraiser, serving 600+ writers, benefits Amherst Writers & Artists (AWA) and its mission: to support the voices of established & emerging writers, to free silenced & marginalized voices, and to promote respect for the artist in all writers through the use of the AWA method. Proceeds helped raise $10,700 to support AWA scholarships for leadership training. I received the following survey feedback from one participant in my group:
“I was especially impressed by the quality of writing produced by attendees, and Nicole's rapid turnaround with very pertinent, ‘real,’ and encouraging feedback.”
Check the AWA blog for Voices Around the World with entries written by workshop participants.
writing from memory or imagination
I completed my 13th & 14th women’s workshop series in early June. Since becoming a certified AWA workshop leader two years ago, I have welcomed a total of 45 women! Many have returned for another series, including a few who have continued writing with me since the start (Feb. 2020).
Here’s a recent testimonial:
"Your workshop helps hesitant people like me with no creative writing experience dive into the pool and swim (or dog paddle!) for the first time. Something I could never have done on my own. I am really grateful for and appreciate your approach and style of guiding the workshop. I loved that you used so many different kinds of prompts, including pictures. So creative. Plus the approach of only positive feedback is inspired. It was so welcoming and deeply encouraging and empowering. Lovely in every way. I hope to take the workshop again." — Sheila R.
I’m taking the summer off, but I plan to offer a new 8-week series in the fall (probably around mid-September), most likely on Zoom and perhaps in person at The Sitting Room (if their renovations are complete and pandemic restrictions lifted). If you’re one of some 35 additional prospective participants who have expressed an interest in my workshops, stay tuned.
Learn more or inquire at https://www.nicolerzimmerman.com/workshops/.
summer offerings with emily stoddard
Tending the Work, begins July 8, $225
Do you feel a mix of curiosity and anxiety about publishing your work? Receive guidance and tools to publish with confidence. Emily Stoddard, an AWA workshop leader and writing coach, offers this 4-week online workshop on how to submit your writing while honoring your voice and feeding your creative spirit. Learn the nuts and bolts, from cover letters to tracking submissions.
Throughlines, begins July 22, $125
Do you have bits and pieces of writing hidden away in piles or forgotten files? Wondering what to do with your raw material, rough starts, or writing from prompts? Throughlines is a 7-day kickstart with techniques and tools to help you find a path forward toward a clearer, stronger draft. Participate at your own pace, in any time zone, with videos available to watch for one month.
student spotlight: poetic achievements
LynneAnne Forest “shares her complex emotional experience of taking off the mask” with an entry in Pandemic Diaries, a Passager Books publication that began online in March, 2020. Her poem, “Haven,” was accepted by Willowdown Books for publication in Human to Human. This paperback anthology consists of 46 selected poems from 28 poets, to be published in August.
Basha Hirshfeld was published in Beyond Distance, the 2021 poetry anthology of Redwood Writers, edited by Les Bernstein and Fran Claggett. Now available for purchase.
Kathy Guthormsen will read from a piece recently published in the anthology The Write Spot: Musings and Ravings From a Pandemic Year. Wednesday, July 7, 6:30 pm on Zoom. For details, see the 2021 schedule at Writers Forum.
The Sitting Room’s annual publication received nearly 100 contributions of poems, essays, and artwork on the theme of Home. Alongside my own essay excerpt, “Solitary in King Salmon,” were selections from half a dozen writing workshop participants (Karen Fitzgerald, LynneAnne Forest, Basha Hirshfeld, Marie McNaughton, Clarice Stasz, and Rebecca Webb), some of whose writing I recognized from my AWA prompts. Contact boxcar@sonic.net for a copy ($10). [Sitting Room photo by Paige Green]
publication news
My short essay, “The Distance Between,” was published in the Spring 2021 issue of Mason Street, the literary magazine of Newark Public Library. It’s an honor to have my work appear in one of a few online lit mags run by public libraries. I’m thrilled to be published alongside Marge Piercy, who shared a poem and also recalled the libraries of her youth for the series, My Library Memories.
read with pride
Speaking of libraries… My own Sonoma County Library celebrated Pride in June as “a time to promote the self-affirmation, dignity, equality, and increased visibility of the LGBTQ+ community."
"With the increase of anti-trans legislation across the country this year, it is more important than ever that libraries make the effort to show the LGBTQ+ community that our space is one where they will always be welcomed and celebrated, not just during Pride Month but every day."
Check out their shared reading list of LGBTQ+ books for adults. This year I read In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado and I recently finished On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong — both gorgeous!
pride of place
I’m proud to share new Pride travel resources from two companies I’ve written for: Viator/TripAdvisor Experiences (for 6+ years) and Hipcamp (for the month of March). First, in this Travel with Pride series at Viator, Executive Editor Emma Knock put together 7 Insider’s Guides to the world’s major LGBTQ cities, from San Francisco to São Paulo: (the city of my birth!)
In this series, we speak to the people behind our top LGBTQ experiences in an exploration of LGBTQ history, culture, and Pride.
You'll find “12 LGBTQ+ Outdoor Leaders Making a Difference” published in Hipcamp Journal:
While there are still many obstacles to overcome for all queer people to feel safe in the backcountry and be better represented by the outdoor industry, an influential set of leaders take on the task. [Here] are 12 of those in the queer community who are putting in the work to make the outdoors, nature, and the outdoor industry more inclusive to all.
Tomorrow, Kristen and I head to Salt Point State Park for camping and hiking over the 4th of July weekend. This national commemoration of the Declaration of Independence — stating we are all created equal — certainly holds nuance for populations historically denied equality in this country. Coincidentally, July 3 marks the 8th anniversary of our signing a legal marriage certificate, a few days after our wedding ceremony and reception, as queer couples like us weren’t granted federally recognized marriage in the USA until 2013. That same week, the Supreme Court had legalized our union by overturning DOMA, the Defense of Marriage Act (passed by President Bill Clinton in ‘96), and striking down California Prop 8, which had banned same-sex marriage in the state since '08.
May all people enjoy unalienable rights to Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness!
writing residencies
I recently applied for a 2-week writing residency fellowship at the Wellstone Center in the Redwoods, a wonderful retreat located in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Meanwhile, Macy Chadwick, a printmaker and book artist, offered me a 1-week stay at In Cahoots Residency in September. Alana Ilan Fichman, another AWA workshop participant and a recent resident, said they were “loving every moment.” Ilan shared the following poem from the writer’s studio pictured here.
The Writer’s Studio
(prompt from Lois Klein)
Morning hits the window of the studio
and I climb inside the heart
keyboard typing beating
next door roosters sing
wooden body moving with the wind gentle
screech of creeping door
silent sleep of a kitten
curled on a chair in the corner.
Sometimes it smells like the inside of
a chicken coop and I am enclosed
my poems eggs nestled in sawdust
Today the air is clear and gentle carrying
moisture and the noise of some machinery while
the studio crafts quiet.
I ask: what should I write?
and the floorboards answer:
write the story of my wood and tables
the feel of wind on wall and rooftop
first rains and the pelting of hail.
I am in good company inside this body
of words and light
where the gentlest parts of me,
fluttering and landing on a beam to roost,
are safe.
~ Be well. Stay healthy. Be safe. ~
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