Poetry Under Pressure: Finding the Freedom in Constraints
Sunday, June 22, 2025, 9:30am-11:30am PT
Online, Hudson Valley Writers Center
Constraints can help us shake off our usual writing habits, nudge our poetry in a new direction, or find language for what seems unspeakable. We’ll write using several playful and poetic constraints—such as lipograms, acrostics, and bout rimés—to discover what happens when we write our way through tricky restrictions. Find more details and registration info here.
Contents Under Pressure: Using Constraints to Stretch Your Creativity
Saturday, September 13, 2025, 1pm-4pm PT
Downtown Library, Bend, Oregon
Putting constraints on writing can feel like a challenge, but sometimes pressure is what’s needed to unearth new ideas and inspiration. We’ll write through extreme constraints inspired by everything from music to math, from dictionaries to daily walks, and invent our own constraints to help us when we’re feeling stuck. Limited to 20 participants. Register in advance here.
Assembling Your Poetry Manuscript
Saturday, October 18, 2025, 9:30am-1:30pm PT
Online, Hudson Valley Writers Center
How do you move from individual poems to a chapbook or book manuscript that you’re ready to send to publishers? This class will offer methods for assembling a poetry collection, including exercises to help you identify themes, experiment with sequence and structure, and recognize opportunities for further development. You’ll also have an opportunity to ask your questions about publication, and you’ll leave the class with a list of additional steps you can take before hitting “send” on your manuscript. Find more details and registration info here.