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• Goldie Goldbloom - Sforzando ~ Suddenly Very Loud: The Role of Dynamics in Writing

  • When
    May 14, 2026
  •  
    9:30 AM - 12:00 PM
  • Location
    ONSITE - 620 Lincoln Avenue, Winnetka, IL /REMOTE

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  This session examines the dynamics of writing, the way some moments have tremendous weight and volume, and others are so tiny and quiet that they slide right past, barely noticed.

  Goldie will explore stories as if they are a piece of music that we are all learning to play with the assistance of a good conductor. How can we learn to use masterful dynamic phrasing in our own work? This craft talk will demystify some of these skills of  make them accessible to all of us.

  GOLDIE GOLDBLOOM is a writer, teacher and editor, author of four internationally award-winning books of fiction, most recently On Division (winner of the Prix des Libraires in France), and many articles, short stories and essays that have appeared around the world. For more than fifteen years, she was on the faculty at Northwestern University and/or the University of Chicago. She currently runs a developmental editing service for best-selling authors, celebrities and talented writers from all walks of life. She is the mother of eight children and an LGBTQ activist.

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• JP Solheim - Chicago: Writing Setting

  • When
    May 21, 2026
  •  
    9:30 AM - 12:00 PM
  • Location
    ONSITE - 620 Lincoln Avenue, Winnetka, IL /REMOTE

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  In poetry, lyric, and sloganeering, Chicago is often described as a town of swagger and bluster, violence and blight. But in storytelling, whether fiction or nonfiction, Chicago often appears to be a place of subtle contrasts, ever changing, and the city setting is often baked into narrative like character, influencing action and plot.

  In this class we’ll look at some examples of Chicago as setting, and write from prompts inspired by our readings to generate our own settings.

  JP SOLHEIM has been published in Bellevue Literary Review, MQR: Mixtape, Midwest Weird Audio Literary Magazine, The Pinch and The Southampton Review. They hold a PhD in French from the University of Michigan and an MFA in Writing and Literature (fiction) from the Bennington Writing Seminars, and taught at the University of Michigan, Université de Paris VII  and University of Illinois at Chicago, as well as writing centers across the United States. They serve as the Associate Director of the BookEnds novel revision fellowship at The Lichtenstein Center of Stony Brook University. 

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• Michael Zapata - Revision for Artistic Vision and Publication

  • When
    May 28, 2026
  •  
    9:30 AM - 12:00 PM
  • Location
    ONSITE - 620 Lincoln Avenue, Winnetka, IL /REMOTE

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  As the musician, actor, painter, and all-around artistic vagabond John Lurie once said about making art: “See what it gives you.” In this class, we’ll go through and discuss the process of revision for publication. We’ll cover and discuss wholeness, cohesiveness, exactitude, clarity, excavating material, and, perhaps most importantly, staying true to your artistic visions and the possibilities they may still contain.

  Additionally, we’ll consider and discuss what various editors have to say about the endlessly exciting, if occasionally sticky, matter of putting your work out into the world. The class will also include a Q&A.

  MICHAEL ZAPATA is a founding editor of MAKE Literary Magazine and the author of the novel The Lost Book of Adana Moreau, winner of the 2020 Chicago Review of Books Award for Fiction, finalist for the 2020 Heartland Booksellers Award in Fiction, and a Best Book of the Year for NPR, the A.V. Club, Los Angeles Public Library, and BookPage, among others. He is on the faculty of StoryStudio Chicago and the MFA faculty of Northwestern University. As a public-school educator, he taught literature and writing in high schools servicing drop-out students. He currently lives in Chicago with his family.

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• Christina Clancy - How to Optimize Feedback You Give and Receive

  • When
    June 04, 2026
  •  
    9:30 AM - 12:00 PM
  • Location
    ONSITE - 620 Lincoln Avenue, Winnetka, IL /REMOTE

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  Sharing creative writing with friends, mentors, editors, and writing groups is an act of extreme vulnerability. It's hard sometimes to separate criticism of the work from criticism of ourselves, since it's our thinking and perspective on the page.

  In this session, we'll discuss the role of feedback at various stages in a manuscript's journey, and cover some artist-centered strategies that don't demoralize the writer, but help make the writing less wobbly and more emotionally impactful. We'll go through the various types of feedback and ask: what sorts of comments and line edits truly help? What should you tune in and out? Who should we listen to? How is your writing influenced by your fear of criticism? How do you find a writing community? And once you're published, how should you respond to ratings and reviews?  

  CHRISTINA CLANCY is the author of The Second Home, Shoulder Season, and The Snowbirds (out Feb. 4, 2025). Her stories and essays have appeared in The Sun Magazine, The New York Times, The Washington Post, the Chicago Tribune, Lit Hub, The Minnesota Review, Hobart, and elsewhere. She has a PhD in English from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. She lives in Madison. 

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• Peter Hoppock Presents - The Wind: Lauren Groff

  • When
    June 23, 2026
  •  
    9:30 AM - 11:30 AM
  • Location
    REMOTE

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  Peter Hoppock launches the summer series with a discussion of Lauren Groff's  short story The Wind,  a haunting story of a single harrowing day in a family's life which was first published in the New Yorker in January 2021.

  Lauren Groff creates a riveting picture of a woman's escape from an abusive husband. The key to drawing the reader into this all-too-common situation are the craft choices Groff has made in point of view and an almost surgical objectivity that melds syntax, diction, tone and voice into a distinct whole. Such stories are too easily sensationalized by either an extremely close —usually raw and ugly—third person narration, or an equally disturbing first person account. Groff eschews both options and has found a compelling solution. 

  Hosted by: Sam Farler

  DOWNLOAD DISCUSSION MATERIALS HERE:

  • The Wind
  • Lauren Groff New Yorker Interview
  • Jonathan Duelfer Review of "The Wind"

  BIO: Peter Hoppock has been published in a variety of literary magazines, both online and in print including The Write Launch, Adelaide, Curbside Splendor, Dillydoun Review and more. Palasatrium chose Blues For Rashid for its June 2023 featured story. His novella Mr. Pegg to You was a finalist in the 2013 Press 53 Novella contest, and his novella Precipice won an Honorable Mention in the 2024 Black Orchid Novella Awards. He has co-edited two OCWW anthologies of short stories and creative non-fiction: Turning Points (2021), and Meaningful Conflicts (2023), with a third to be released in Fall of 2026.   

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• Beth DeSchryver Presents - My War with the Ospreys: The Funny Side of Steinbeck

  • When
    July 23, 2026
  •  
    9:30 AM - 11:30 AM
  • Location
    REMOTE

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  Elizabeth DeSchryver will lead a discussion of John Steinbeck's essay My War with the Ospreys, originally published in 1957.

  “My war with the ospreys, like most wars, was largely accidental and had a tendency to spread in unforeseen directions…. Spring may open new hostilities, although I can find in my heart to wish for peace and even friendship, I hope the ospreys, wherever they may be, will read this.”

  Thus begins John Steinbeck’s My War with the Ospreys, a piece of writing that is hard to classify. Is it an essay? Creative non-fiction? Autobiographical short story? Whatever we call it, it’s a great study of narrative voice, of how to selectively use real-life details, and of what can happen to even the best of writers when they are desperate for an excuse not to write.

  Hosted by: Anne Beall

  DOWNLOAD DISCUSSION MATERIALS HERE:

  • My War with the Ospreys
  • John Steinbeck's Advice for the Writer
  • John Steinbeck Chronology
  • Steinbeck Discussion Topics

  BIO: Elizabeth DeSchryver (Beth) is an award-winning short story author, playwright and poet. Her short plays have been performed throughout the Midwest. Her first full-length play, An Unbuilt Life, had its world premiere at the Washington Stage Guild in April 2024, where it received a Helen Hayes Award Recommendation. Her short stories have been included in three of the OCWW anthologies.  A long-time supporter of OCWW, Beth is a member of the Chicago Dramatists Network Playwrights, the Dramatists Guild, and a founding member of the Telling Humans Playwright Studio.  

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• Anne Beall Presents Nobody Knows: Rebecca Solnit

  • When
    August 27, 2026
  •  
    9:30 AM - 11:30 AM
  • Location
    REMOTE

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  Anne E. Beall, Ph.D., will lead a discussion of Rebecca Solnit's essay Nobody Knows,  published in Harper's Magazine in March 2018.

  Nobody Knows, by Rebecca Solnit is an essay that begins with a personal experience and then expands into a cultural lens to explore the relationship between power and knowledge. She shows how power shapes what we see and whose voices we hear. Through personal experience and notable examples from the media, the essay reveals how some are heard while others are silenced. We will discuss several craft techniques Solnit uses and how you can apply them to your own writing. 

  Hosted by: Paula Mikrut

  DOWNLOAD DISCUSSION MATERIALS HERE:

  • Nobody Knows
  • Discussion Questions for Nobody Knows

  BIO: Anne E. Beall, Ph.D. is an award-winning author and social psychologist who writes about the emotional undercurrents that shape our lives. She’s written nine nonfiction books. Her most recent book, The Compassionate Writer, was awarded the International Impact Book Award in the self-help category. Anne is the founder and editor of Chicago Story Press, a literary journal publishing true stories that invite readers to see something in a new light. She holds a Ph.D. in social psychology from Yale. 

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