Writing Workshop: Words You Can Taste!

First we eat, then we do everything else.”

— M.F.K. Fisher

A special food-writing workshop with author and university writing teacher Laura Lynn Brown.

Begins August 28, 2017. Limit 10 participants. Register by August 21 to avoid a $10 late registration fee.

It’s hard to imagine an aspect of life where food isn’t important. Besides the daily demands and delights of nourishing ourselves, we use food to celebrate, to comfort, to woo.

Food is part of our familial and cultural identities, and arguably the most sensory-laden of our memories. Foods can pinpoint historical periods as much as hairstyles, cars, and fashion.

And there’s a seemingly bottomless appetite for good food writing, whether it’s a food memoir, a themed cookbook we read for vicarious pleasure without intending to prepare a single recipe, the annual Best Food Writing anthology or the latest issue of Milk Street.

In this workshop, you’ll read and discuss good writing about food and work on your own writing, drawing on childhood memories, yesterday’s moments with friends, and more.

You’ll have a chance to look at popular favorites (potatoes, bread, cakes, anyone?) and a rainbow of foods you may or may not have ever developed a love for (eggplant, olives, sugar-coated rose petals?). Of course no meal would be complete without choice, so you’ll have plenty of it—that you can season or sweeten to taste.

Writing prompts and journal entries, activities, and mind-inspiring readings and videos will be part of your regular fare—all with the goal to help you take your writing to a place of unexpected promise.

8-week course includes

• Weekly readings (nonfiction and occasional poetry) from writers like M.F.K. Fisher, Bee Wilson, Calvin Trillin, Tamar Adler, Laurie Colwin, Michael Pollan, Ruth Reichl and others, and from publications like The New Yorker, The New York Times, Lucky Peach, Alimentum, the Best Food Writing series and elsewhere, to help inspire and shape your own writing

• Writing prompts, assignments, and activities to help you tell your stories through the lens of food

• A food of the week to explore, taste, and/or write about

• Six asynchronous discussions that you can participate in at your convenience and two live Zoom video chats (recorded, in case you need to miss)

• Pairing with a peer for weekly individual feedback and/or critique

12-week course also includes

• Four more weeks of lessons and hand-selected reading assignments related to food

• Four more weeks of exercises and prompts to help you grow as a writer

• Three more asynchronous discussions that you can participate in at your convenience and one more live Zoom video chat (recorded, in case you need to miss)

• Professional critique of one article or poem you hope to get published

• Continued access to the private classroom space after the course is completed

For You

• Private online group setting that includes a free digital copy of Delicate Machinery Suspended, (because, among other things, you just have to read the pomegranate poem)

• Besides the regular lessons and activities, each week will also include an optional link to something about food—an article, a YouTube video, and so on

You Will Need

A computer or mobile device with an Internet connection capable of accessing our interactive online space, clicking on documents, and participating in Zoom chats. And you’ll need your favorite writing devices: computer, pencil, pen, crayon, notebook paper, Moleskine, spiral, or other creative tool. We also recommend that you bring an appetite (and maybe a few kitchen tools).

Your Workshop Leader

Laura Lynn Brown, a writing teacher at the University of Pittsburgh, is also an author, editor and writing coach who honed her writing and editing talents at The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Her work was named as a Notable Essay in the 2013 Best American Essays. Laura has an MFA in nonfiction from the University of Pittsburgh and is the author of Everything That Makes You Mom. Writing about food and beverages is one of her great loves.

A Little Inspiration, Right Now

From Past Tweetspeak Workshop Participants

Sharon Gibbs: Thank you for making Tweetspeak Poetry such a rich area of living and learning. The workshops are not only life-changing, but they have blessed me with friendships and community outside the classroom(s).

Darrelyn Saloom: I signed up for the fiction class at a crazy/busy time. What was I thinking? With all the chaos in my life, I am so happy I did. I would NEVER have completed a 3-thousand word short story without Anthony. It was wonderful to have his guidance and feedback. And I am so pleased with the result.

Brad Grout: I am personally getting so much out of this memoir workshop…you people are AMAZING!

Lane Arnold: I struck gold. An afternoon session of writing poetry is good for the soul. The poetry workshop is a catalyst for creativity.

Lexanne Leonard: The most important step I’ve taken is to join Tweetspeak’s Poetry Workshop with Anne Doe Overstreet. I cannot begin to thank Tweetspeak, Anne, and my fellow students for this journey.

Darlene S.: I don’t think I can put into words both the overall value of the lessons learned and the encouragement I got.

Sandra Heska King: This was absolutely the single best whim I’ve followed.

Register by August 21 to avoid a $10 Late Fee

8 week • BUY NOW $350 + $10 Late Registration Fee = $360

12 week • BUY NOW $420 + $10 Late Registration Fee = $430

Photo by Meal Makeover Moms. Creative Commons, via Flickr.