You know those amazing people who seem to be a walking catalog of phenomenal ideas? They rock, right?
Well, not only do I know one of these people, but I know one who transforms her spectacular ideas into the best writing workshops north of Antarctica.
Her name is Marj Hahne, and we originally met in New York City poetry circles. She has since moved to Denver where she continues to write, teach, amaze and create an ongoing slew of workshops all year long.
All levels of writers are welcome, as are people who may not even fancy themselves a writer (although I vote that everyone is).
You just need someone to help you get the words out of your soul and onto paper. Marj Hahne is just the gal to do it!
She gave me permission to post her latest email as a guest blog since she’s ramping up her marketing and aiming to spread the word as far and wide as possible.
Do something creative for yourself – or a pal. Or with a pal! Sign up for one (or more). You get the videos of each session if you can’t make it live.
Here comes the verbatim email so you get a good feel for Marj’s style and personality.
And here’s to attending a fantastical Marj Hahne writing workshop.
I Need Your Help
| Dear Writer, I know: Sooo dramatic. But I do: I need your help. I consider myself “a teacher who writes,” not a “writer who teaches.” I’ve been devoting my resources to learning more and more about writing so that I can become a better writer so that I can become a better teacher of writers. It’s been challenging to expand my visibility as a writing teacher because I don’t have name recognition in the larger literary community. Thanks to you, I’ve been able to stay professionally afloat, but my whole enterprise is becoming unsustainable, financially and, more alarming to me, psychoemotionally. Since April 2019, when I launched my webinars, I’ve kept the registration fees super-affordable, with a stubborn aim to generate income by volume of registrants, not per registrant. I’ve also regularly offered free events. I have no desire to charge more than what I myself can afford or am willing to pay; and, anyway, we writers are famously rich in personality 😉 Here’s where I need your help: I need more writers who want what I offer. I need more “butts in seats,” more bright faces in my Zoom-room cubbies. Would you be game for forwarding this email to your peeps who are passionate or curious about writing? So they can observe my style, please share with them this recording of my free POET AS WITNESS OF A MOMENT webinar: https://us02web.zoom.us/rec/share/paokjiYJcNC-iYi5oY9Tm1ETdTFZ08s2jz3hEWhDtLWhq0rgEX_EZzbTqLLTceUr.mHteDwdCvTpKWqiU [8-digit passcode: x7s5g^A= ]. In the meantime, I’ve been rallying, upping my game: conceiving brand-new webinars, scheduling more webinars per round, meditating and mantra-ing to shift my mindset, consulting with my creative-biz coach at the local Small Business Development Center, and meeting weekly with an accountability partner to finish the book I’ve been writing/not-writing since 2015, so that I might publish it, earn some “street cred” in Literary Land, and, ideally as a result, attract more students. All of these upcoming webinars, fyi, can serve the beginning or seasoned writer: HYBRID LIT: 5 two-hour sessions exploring literary forms that bend, blend, blur, or bust genre (!) [Sept–Oct] POEM À LA MODE: 1 three-hour session distinguishing the various poetic modes—lyric, narrative, dramatic—and their continuum, including a possible fourth mode (!) [Sept] LEARN & LAUNCH: 12 one-hour *all new* generative sessions, each featuring an instructive poem or prose excerpt, rich discussion, and literary response [Sept–Dec] SEE & SAY: 12 one-hour generative sessions, each featuring a contemporary artwork, reflective discussion, and literary response [Sept–Dec] Scroll down for more info. CLICK the titles above or below TO REGISTER. NOTE: All sessions will be recorded, and each session’s replay video will be sent within 24 hours post-session, so you won’t miss anything if you can’t attend “live.” |
| HYBRID LIT: To Genre-Bend/Blend/Blur/Bust for Truer Narratives When: 5 Thursdays September 7, 14, 21, 28, October 5 12:00–2:00 PM Eastern / 9:00–11:00 AM Pacific Cost: $149 “Emotional truth is the reward of digging deeply enough to find the truth about how one really feels, but in order to convey this truth with any force, or artistry, one needs to create a form of expression, and this form determines its own genuine information,” says poet Philip Schultz, in a 2008 interview (Five Points, Vol. 12, No. 2). We’ll explore the prose poem, flash fiction, flash nonfiction, haibun, zuihitsu, the lyric essay, surreal memoir, and the graphic poem and essay to elicit fresher ways of seeing and saying the scenes and stories that compose your life. POEM À LA MODE: Choosing the Best Voice for Your Subject and Speaker When: Tuesday, September 12 12:00–3:00 PM Eastern / 9:00 AM–12:00 PM Pacific Cost: $59 Lyric. Narrative. Dramatic. What defines and distinguishes these poetic modes? What does each mode effect? Likely, we naturally write our poems on a continuum between lyric and narrative, with the occasional persona poem asserting itself; but bringing more consciousness to a poem’s voice will strengthen our drafts and revisions. In this workshop, we’ll discuss successful models of each mode, plus hybrids, plus a plausible fourth mode; and we’ll investigate our own poems’ modal characteristics and composition, possibly generating new work, too. Plus, an optional supplementary session: POEM À LA MODE Open-Discussion Group When: Tuesday, September 26 12:00–2:00 PM Eastern / 9:00–11:00 AM Pacific Cost: $29 This supplementary session is open to anyone who attended the Friday, June 2nd (through IWWG) or the above Tuesday, September 12th POEM À LA MODE webinar. Attendees will cold-read the submitted poems (one 1-page poem per attendee, generated from the webinar’s exercises; submission not required), though I will advance-read to heavily facilitate our group discussion, which will focus on how the poem at-hand demonstrates (or not) its modal intention and how it might be strengthened, extended, decluttered, etc., toward a more harmonious version of itself. LEARN & LAUNCH: A Generative Break When: 12 Wednesdays September 6, 13, 20, 27, October 4, [skip 11, 18], 25, November 1, 8, 15, [skip 22], 29, December 6, 13 12:00–1:00 PM Eastern / 9:00–10:00 AM Pacific Cost: $129 LEARN & LAUNCH is an instructional discussion and (fast) writing session for writers of all genres. Together, we will read and discuss a contemporary poem or prose excerpt, interrogating aspects of craft and content, then draft our own poetry or prose with an exercise designed from that piece of writing. You will leave each session with a solid draft of poetry or prose. This weekly hour is for you if YOU: Learn and write better in community and with a structure.Loved our daily POEMUNIZE sessions at the beginning of the pandemic.Enjoy being introduced to gooood writers and gooood writing.Want to build or strengthen or jumpstart your writing practice.Don’t have a ton of time.Need a midweek jolt of creative inspiration. SEE & SAY: Visual Art as Spaces for Literary Expression When: 12 Mondays September 11, 18, 25, October 2, [skip 9, 16], 23, 30, November 6, 13, 20, 27, December 4, 11 12:00–1:00 PM Eastern / 9:00–10:00 AM Pacific Cost: $129 John Berger said, “Seeing comes before words.” How may we see (experience) a painting, drawing, collage, such that we can locate our unrealized poems and build them beyond mere description of the visual art? After grounding the series in the varying degrees of response, we will view, per session, one artwork by a contemporary or traditional painter, then draft our own poetry or prose with some optional guided prompts. You will leave each session with a solid draft of poetry or prose. This weekly hour is for you if YOU: Learn and write better in community and with a structure. Want to build or strengthen or jumpstart your writing practice. Don’t have a ton of time. Need a midweek jolt of creative inspiration. Love to access your imagination and memory via the visual arts. OMG, I found the perfect poem for my request above: Gregory Orr’s “Beggar’s Song.” Thank you for your support. Writing better together, Marj |
