Let’s all gather around pie and discuss our stories.

Big Picture Manuscript Workshop

Current dates: Email me about May 17 & 18, 2025

This workshop is for serious writers who've completed at least 100 pages of a manuscript draft and are ready for a critique. We will read up to 200 pages, but you don’t have to be on your last draft to submit. After all, what’s the last draft? While working on longer works the opportunity to get input on the big picture is often rare. That’s what we provide in this one-of-a-kind workshop.

Limited to 6. By acceptance and referral only. Email me for further information. Our goal is to create a strong and supportive group dynamic. Your work does not have to be Pulitzer-Prize winning to get accepted, but your personality and work ethic does. 

We’ve seen success for years running with these deliverables every time:

·      Focused and committed writers who can accomplish 100 to 200 pages.

·      Critique sessions with devoted readers

·      Small groups (limited to 6)

·      Intensive TWO 5-hour sessions

·      Structure, character, POV, and pacing craft lessons

·      Big Picture review

·      Q&A session re revision, publishing, etc.

·      2 professional authors’ critique

Success also means acknowledging the published authors whose books have passed through our workshops: Susan Henderson, Rachel Groves, Patty Santana,

Let me introduce the headliner of the workshop who co-teaches with me:

David L. Ulin is the author of Sidewalking: Coming to Terms with Los Angeles, shortlisted for the 2016 PEN Literary Award. He’s authored eight previous books, including The Lost Art of Reading: Why Books Matter in a Distracted Time (just re-released September 2018) and the Library of America’s Writing Los Angeles: A Literary Anthology, which won a California Book Award. A 2015 Guggenheim Fellow, he is former book critic and book editor of the Los Angeles Times.

This workshop is by acceptance and referral only. If you are interested in attending, please email me for instructions.

To have a professional editor review your manuscript costs thousands more.

Cost: $2200 for two-day intensive workshop in a comfortable setting (no cold metal folding chairs, just big comfy couch and chairs. And pie!).

Striving for Imperfection,

Seeking Perseverance

I’m in need of a kickstart this year. Let’s fine-tune our writing together. Let’s believe in the next steps, push through rejection, feel part of a supportive group of others persevering together. I’ve got some generative exercises, talks on metaphor, organizing your brain, gentle critique, new perspectives, camaraderie, laughs, and a whole lot of everything to keep you motivated. A few guest speakers will share ideas on metaphor, how to focus, and adding movement to your characters. This is a mixed genre workshop (fiction, nonfiction, short or long), which means you’ll learn see new perspectives on how to apply techniques to your genre. One of our guest authors will be Sue William Silverman whose current book (released Jan 2) Acetylene Torch Songs: Writing True Stories to Ignite the Soul will be gifted to you when you enroll.
When: Tuesdays Jan 30 - Apr 2, 2024 11am - 1pm (10 meetings)
Cost: $360.
Where: Hybrid-On Zoom and In Person. I’m in the midst of a home renovation, so I have only a small space for a few of you, so I thought I’d try a hybrid. I’ll have some of you on the computer, and some in my tiny rental cottage sun room. The downsides of Zoom are that you can’t meet my dog Hazel, and it’s a little less personal. The upside is that you can call in from Halifax, if you are so inclined. My kitchen is scheduled to be completed before our workshop ends, so there may be pie served.

Email amyliz@amywallen.com for more info and to get the zoom link.
Illustration by Emil Wilson @emilwilsonart