Greetings Writers!

I'm really pleased to announce that the Transformative Writer's Forum is now up and running. Members can subscribe to the Forum through the Walkabout level subscription. Members can sign up by clicking the Subscriptions tab on their Member's Profile page.  Non-members can sign up by clicking the Join button on the home page.

What's the Writer's Forum about, you might ask?

Well, it's a natural progression of this site whose mission is to foster a supportive and collegial online writer's community.

What makes the Forum different from the rest of the site?

There are two answers to that question.

#1- On the Forum, you can join all sorts of technical and non-technical discussions about your writing.  You can seek focused critique, find writing partners and listen in on interesting writing conversations.  By interacting on a regular basis with your writing peers, you will learn how to identify the problems in your work and figure out how to fix them.  You will be able to talk shop with writers working in different genres and at different levels of expertise.

#2 - The Forum will be what we make of it.  You can think of it as your online Cafe (you bring the coffee and muffin) or Salon but, in order for it to work, you have to show up on a regular basis.  Just like with your writing.  Hmm.... what an interesting parallel.

How much does it cost?

The monthly subscription to the Walkabout which includes the Forum and Downloadable writing exercises is $7.50.

What happens after I join?

After you've signed up using the Paypal link, you'll have access to the Forum.  Read the Orientation tab first.  Then visit the Forum area.  You'll see four general discussion topics.  I've tried to encompass the various areas of workshop discussion but this list is by no means complete -- it's a starting point for Forum discussion.  You can create a new topic for discussion to match your particular concern.  There are also forums for your suggestions on improving the forum and technical questions about using the forum.

What else can I expect from the Forum?  (Glad you asked)

Sometime in January 2012, I will announce the first Open Salon -- a specific date and time when you can log onto the Forum for a live chat with me and other writers on the forum.  During this Salon, we will discuss (up to six) pre-submitted member selections.  A 'sign-up' forum will be posted one week ahead of the Salon and selections will be included on a  first-come basis.   There will be one Open Salons each month.

Anything else I should know?

Yes.  Just like your writing projects, the Writer's Forum is a work-in-progress.  Based on your use of the forum and active feedback, we will be making adjustments to the overall format, updating the content on the Downloads section and adding additional features.

The first step is to sign for the Walkabout subscription (either through your Member Profile or via the Join button).  After that, read through the Orientation and familiarize yourself with the Forum and Downloads areas. Think about which of the Discussion topics apply to your own writing, what questions you might have or what challenges you would like to examine. After you've given it some thought, post a new discussion topic in one of the forums.

And don't worry about making your question or comment perfect.  That's not what the Forum is about.  The Forum is for working out the creative and technical aspects of your story. You're not expected to show up with all (or any) of the answers.  You just need to show up -- regularly -- and allow your own creative process emerge within a supportive environment.

In Creative Spirit,

Dara

www.Transformative-writing.com

June 26, 2011

I said this recently to a writer in workshop reacting spontaneously to the wonderful story I could see trapped behind the bars of overly condensed description.

This kind of thing happens a lot.  Rushing to make our point, we summarize and condense the life out of our stories.  Instead of allowing our language to expand and transport us somewhere unexpected, we harness it for our predetermined goals. This approach works well for reports, memos and academic papers but not so well for literary writing.

May 15, 2011

At the recent Red Hook Community Arts Network (CAN) launch party, I explained that I write memoir because the characters and stories from my lived experience have been more compelling than anything I could dream up.  If, as Stephen King says in his memoir, "On Writing," fiction happens when the writer asks herself "What if?" then memoir, I believe, is born when the writer asks herself "What now?"  In other words, how can the writer of memoir understand and illuminate the experiences she or he has lived?

April 20, 2011

A number of years ago, I brought a writer's retreat to the Rainforest in Costa Rica.  I had visited this locale a year earlier and felt that it inspired a wonderfully contemplative state of mind; ideal for a writer's retreat.  My plan was that the group  would meet for a 3 hour workshop in the morning then have the rest of the day open for exploration and writing. What actually happened was quite different.  My group of writers, as the week progressed, became more interested in exploring the lush tropics