Demystifying Editing: The Voice You Didn't Know You Had

What are you really trying to say?

Beyond generation, the real writing happens in the editing process. Depending on who you ask, editing can be a writers favorite or most anxious part of creating work. Editing is about discovery: what does the poem want to be and what are you really trying to say? A lot of editing is getting out of your own way to let the poem become its truest self and discovering a voice you never knew you had.

This course aims at pulling back the veil on revision and giving writers tangible practices that they can put in place to edit their own work and elevate their craft. Over the course of 4 sessions we will create new work, edit for content, edit for form, group workshop the piece, and culminate with a finished product writers can look back at and pinpoint the its evolution.

Writers will walk away with practical tools and exercises they can implement with any poem they have already written or will produce in the future, as well as gain a community of writers they can always look to for feedback and inspiration.

Expect to walk away with:

• A newly developed poem from start to finish
• Practical tools and exercise to revise any poem and get to the heart of its meaning
• Different angles at which to approach the editing process
• Knowledge of form, how to use it to a poem’s advantage, how to use it as an exercise for discovery, and when to break the rules
• Direct feedback from the instructor and fellow workshop attendees
• A community of writers with whom a relationship can continue outside the workshop for further development of their work