Words in Bloom

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Words in Bloom Writers' Conference 2011 has been cancelled
Please check back for future spring conferences

The Experience
Join nationally known poets and authors, respected editors and agents and featured area writers for a weekend of inspiration as you create new work and new writing relationships. Begin Friday evening with faculty readings at Time Tested Books in Sacramento. Spend Saturday and Sunday mornings with the author or poet of your choice as you draft new writing and discuss craft issues with your workshop leader and peers. Readings and panel discussions with published authors, emerging writers, agents and editors fill the afternoons; evenings feature faculty readings and book signings.

A special note to UC Davis Extension Creative Writing Students: Are you in the process of completing UC Davis Extension's Creative Writing Certificate Program? Or, perhaps you are considering completing the certificate? If you are, Words in Bloom can fulfill a portion of your elective requirements. For more information, see the Creative Writing Certificate Program.

Conference takes place in Sacramento: Time Tested Books, 1114 21st St., and the Sutter Square Galleria, 2901 K Street. To view the tentative conference schedule, click here.

The Workshops—Enroll in one Workshop per participant

To view workshop instructor biographies, click on that instructor's workshop at the bottom of the page.

Poetry: Digging Out the Diamonds—Strategies for Inspiring, Developing and Strengthening Poems with Dana Levin

How do we dig out the diamond moments—moments of linguistic, imagistic and musical intensity—from our free-writes, journal entries, abandoned, "failed" or resistant poem drafts? How can such "diamonds" help us intuit the developing shape of a poem-in-process and help it on its way? In this workshop we will look at some poetic strategies in sample poems, then turn to serious play—via exercises, collaborative collage, working with speech acts, Japanese Renga and more—to generate our own fields in which to start digging.

Fiction: Into the Deep End (Without a Kickboard)—Plunge Straight into the Good Stuff Without Boring Yourself to Death First with Pam Houston

The blank page is one scary s.o.b. Sometimes we are so afraid of it that we fill it up with a whole lot of throat clearing that (in the best case scenario) we end up cutting later, or (in the worst case scenario) derails whatever energy sent us to the blank page in the first place. In this class we will talk about and practice getting the good stuff down first: the most salient image, the most memorable bit of dialogue, the white hot story moment that we are most terrorized by.... We will worry less about trying to keep everything under control and more about getting all those electrically-charged particles on paper.

Fiction: Beginnings—So Much Depends with Ehud Havazelet

So much does indeed depend on beginning, the way we first introduce readers to the world we are creating in their minds, whether it be William Carlos Williams looking out the window, or the Bible, or even, as John the Apostle might have it, God. Where we start counts.

We will begin by taking a look at several opening lines, trying to analyze how quickly and how well we are immersed in the created world, and what, right off the bat, we are taught. Perhaps even more interestingly, we will look at what compromises, concessions, what arrangements we enter into without often realizing it as the author begins working her magic on us. We will then turn to the work of writing our own beginnings.

Nonfiction: The Pen and The Bell—Writing as a Contemplative Practice with Brenda Miller

Memoirist Lawrence Sutin writes, "The truth of writing is the discovery of one's voice—a voice that is unimpeded by anger, the desire for praise or the fear of self-disclosure. This is the voice that knows more than we do, that manifests itself only in the act of writing." Together, we will court this sense of discovery through intensive writing sessions that generate rich and unexpected work, and we will practice different contemplative exercises that will help us navigate toward the core of self from which the true voice emerges. Often our best writings emerge from that "still point" within us—a stillness difficult to achieve in a world filled with distractions.

My aspiration for this workshop is to provide you with ways to gain access to the creative mind in the midst of everyday life. Be prepared to check your critical mind at the door, and put on your play clothes instead!

Program Director
Kate Asche, M.A., a graduate of the UC Davis Creative Writing Program, is a poet/essayist and creative writing teacher. She received two Elliot Gilbert Prizes in Poetry and an Academy of American Poets Award. She was nominated for University of California Poet Laureate and for Best New Poets 2006 (Meridian magazine). She is associate director of Arts, Humanities and Writing at UC Davis Extension, where she coordinates The Tomales Bay Workshops, and is a Sacramento Poetry Center board member.

To Enroll in Words in Bloom
Enrollment in Words in Bloom costs $595 ($745 if postmarked after 03/14/2011). Enrollment fee includes entrance to all scheduled afternoon and evening events as well as participation in morning workshops with one instructor. Academic credit is included in the enrollment fee for all students choosing full enrollment; students can choose to participate on audit (non-credit) status for the same enrollment fee. Paperwork to file for audit status will be available at conference registration on April 29, 2011. Lodging, meals and transportation are not included in the enrollment fee.

Please note: Morning workshops are scheduled concurrently; students meet with the same workshop instructor and group on both Saturday and Sunday mornings. Choose only one instructor (e.g. one section number) when enrolling in Words in Bloom. UC Davis Extension may not be able to provide full refunds to students who enroll in more than one section.

Enroll online by clicking the "Enroll Now" button for one workshop of your choice below, or enroll by phone at (800) 752-0881.

Please do not hesitate to call us if you have any questions regarding how to enroll in Words in Bloom.

Professional Consultations Participants have the opportunity to confer privately with publishing industry professionals. These sessions are available on a first-come, first-served basis. There is a $100 fee for each 30-minute consultation. Consultation fee may be paid at time of enrollment or anytime thereafter as long as the desired consultant is available. Multiple consultations may be booked by a single student as long as availability remains. Consultant names and biographies will be available at this website soon. To book your consultation(s), call (800) 752-0881. Consultations cannot be booked online at this time.

Partial Enrollment Option
A partial enrollment option will become available on a limited basis after the March 14, 2011 early enroll deadline. This partial enrollment option will be non-credit (it will not apply to the Creative Writing Certificate Program) and will include access to all conference events *except* the morning workshop. The partial enrollment option fee is $395. Add your name to the waitlist for section number 104WRT300 if you are interested in this option. For the best conference experience, enroll early as a regular, full-participation attendee as described in the section "To Enroll in Words in Bloom," above.

Discounts
Attend Words in Bloom with your writing group of three or more members, and each of you will receive $100 off the price of enrollment. You must enroll as a group, and all registrations must be submitted at the same time and fees paid with one check, credit card or purchase order. The group discount is not retroactive. For more information, please call (800) 752-0881.

Refund Policy
Withdrawal requests received by March 14, 2011 will result in a refund less a $30 processing fee. Request may be made in person, by phone, fax or in writing (email or U.S. mail). Withdrawal requests made after the refund deadline are contingent upon filling your place and may be made only if your place is filled. In the unlikely event that we must cancel a workshop and you do not wish to transfer to another workshop, you will receive a full refund.

Courses open for enrollment

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