Availability:

Workshop Sessions Available for Writing Conferences
Workshops include Protecting the Inner Writer, Structural Decision-Making for Fiction and Memoir, Using the Dreaded Synopsis to Aid the Writing Process for Your Novel or Memoir, Making Decisions Around Self-Publishing, and Letting Go of Your Manuscript.
(link goes to PDF with workshop descriptions and contact info)

Upcoming Gigs:

Map Book Release Reading and Celebration
Friday, October 16th 2009 at 7:00 PM
Spiegel Auditorium, 56 Brattle Street (Blacksmith House), Harvard Square, Cambridge MA
co-sponsored by the Cambridge Center for Adult Education
FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

Novel Development Workshop
this fall at the Cambridge Center for Adult Education, 8 THURSdays, beginning 10/1/2009, 5:45-7:45 PM
One of the most challenging parts of novel writing, even for experienced novelists, is holding on to both the big picture and the page-by-page detail. Stories abound of writers throwing away even a hundred or more pages of their novel-in-progress, and it doesn't help that we rarely encounter full drafts of others' manuscripts in workshops or writing groups. This course will look at both pieces of the puzzle together as we review a first chapter alongside a whole-book synopsis for each student. You will develop a much deeper understanding of novel structure, including the impact of choices such as point-of-view and tense, and be able to identify and address related issues early on in your own novel's development. We will also discuss pacing, character development, and how to hook your readers and hold their interest. Please bring the first two pages of your novel-in-progress to the first class, and be prepared to bring the first chapter and a complete 1-3 page synopsis (you don't need to have finished the book itself) to the second class.
(sign up online or get more information at ccae.org - course code NODE)

Memoir Workshop
this fall at the Cambridge Center for Adult Education, 8 TUESdays, beginning 9/29/2009, 5:45-7:45 PM
Tell your story honestly, and tell it well. This workshop will help you achieve these two goals through facilitated peer critique, in-class and take-home exercises, and discussion of the emotional terrain of writing memoir (grappling with fear, sharing one's work with loved ones, and so on). Participants will write and revise every week, experimenting with various techniques in a supportive environment, developing useful revision habits and strategies, and sharing constructive feedback with each other. Suitable for both new and seasoned memoirists. Please write at least 3 new pages of something you've been burning to write about and bring them to the first class. Limited to 12.
(sign up online or get more information at ccae.org - course code MEMM)

Fall 2009 CCAE Writers Conference
I will be leading a session called Structural Decision-Making for Fiction and Memoir
October 25, 2009
(SOON - sign up online or get more information at ccae.org - course code WCON-1)

Winter 2010 term: I will probably be teaching Novel Development Workshop II

Previous Readings, Workshops, and Speaking Engagements:

A CCAE Faculty Reading, Cambridge Center for Adult Education
6/5/2009

Novel Development Workshop II: A 7-week original workshop at the Cambridge Center for Adult Education
Spring 2009

Novel Development: An 8-week original workshop at the Cambridge Center for Adult Education
Fall 2008, Winter 2009

Memoir Workshop: An 8-week original workshop at the Cambridge Center for Adult Education
Summer 2005, Fall 2005, Winter 2006, Winter 2007, Fall 2007, Winter 2008, Spring 2008, Fall 2008, Spring 2009

Borderlines: Writing on the Border of Fiction and Non: A 7-week original workshop at the Cambridge Center for Adult Education
Spring 2007

Protecting the Inner Writer: An original workshop for the Cambridge Center for Adult Education's 9th Annual Fall Writers' Conference, Balancing the Inner and Outer Writer
11/5/2006

Writing Compelling Essays: An 8-week original workshop at the Cambridge Center for Adult Education
Spring 2005, Summer 2005, Fall 2005, Summer 2006

Writing Jewish Experience: An original workshop for Temple Beth Avodah's Women's Kallah
3/25/2006

Nonfiction Revision Mini-Workshop: A 5-week original workshop at the Cambridge Center for Adult Education
Spring 2006

Banking on Our Future: A 4-week financial literacy class at English High School
Fall 2005

Taking the Risks of Publishing: An original workshop for the Cambridge Center for Adult Education's 7th Annual Fall Writers' Conference, Taking Risks as a Writer
11/6/2004

THESIS READING at the Emerson College Graduate Reading Series
11/8/2002

Emerson College Graduate Reading Series
3/1/2001

A Night of Thanks: Benefit for Boston's Queer Agenda (formerly Hannah's List) and celebration of The List's Fifth Birthday, Midway Cafe
11/17/2001

National Writers Union Coming Out Reading, Boston University Barnes & Noble
10/28/2001

Guest Speaker, Experiments in Writing class, The Taft School
5/18/2000

That Promising Seadog Media Benefit House Concert
Split bill with Eddy Dyer, Summer Pierre, and Nathan Pyritz, 4/1/2000

Emerson College Graduate Reading Series
11/19/1999

An Evening of Student Readings, Cambridge Center for Adult Education
12/9/1997

National Coming Out Day Rally, Tufts University
10/1998

Panelist, Symposium: "What a Jew Makes?!" for Jewish Creativity Week at the Writers House
A symposium discussing Jewish expression, identity, and artistic community, 4/6/1997

Open Mic at The Writers House, featuring Professor Lorene Cary and Her Creative Fictioneers
4/5/1997

Awards Presentation, American Jewish Cultural Project
Excerpt from my award-winning story "God Saved the Fish" read by Nate Bihldorff in my absence, Spring 1996

Hebrew University of Jerusalem Hillel Reading Series
Spring 1996

Vespers, The Taft School
Spring 1993

Other Previous Sightings:

Summer Whole-Book Writing Group
Founder and Organizer
Summer 2007

Novel- and Memoir-Focused Prose Writing Group
Founder and Organizer

Story Street Fiction Workshop
Founder and Organizer
Spring 1998 - Summer 1999

GenerationJ.com Poetry Rave
Led to the publication of "Have You Ever Had a Red Man" in GenerationJ.com
Summer 1999

Amazon Slam (second place) and Amazon Super Slam
Fall 1998

Open Mics at Club Passim, Writers House, Spontaneous Celebrations (GenderCrash), Out of the Blue Gallery (Dire Reader), Ryles (Amazon Open Mic), New Words Bookstore (Kvetch), and other fine venues

Outside Macy's, Downtown Crossing
Earned two bucks performing original songs, St. Patrick's Day 1999

Tom Thumb's Carriage, P.T. Barnum Museum
Filmed for a TV commercial, age 5