Virtual Workshop Offerings
Virtual VorTEXT Intensive
Our VorTEXT intensive retreats suit writers at different levels of experience and phases in the writing process. The day begins with a chance for community connection during the half-hour Coffee Chat before the live writing workshop via Zoom. Writers are then encouraged and inspired to continue their writing on their own or in accountability groups, and the day wraps with a group share and structured feedback session facilitated by Hedgebrook staff. Writers also enjoy lovingly prepared care packages, mailed to your doorstep.
Current Offering:
The Octavia Notebooks: A Workshop on Change and Hope with Sherri L. Smith
Saturday, November 2nd
9:30 am - 4 pm PM (PT)
Description: Change. Every great story deals with it – how it happens, and how we– for better or worse– respond to it. But what makes for powerful fiction can also be a challenge in the real world. If you are like many writers, the constant change of the past few years, from the pandemic and the social/political landscape, affected your writing. Maybe it fired you up and changed the direction of a work-in-progress. Maybe it left you reeling and unable to write. Maybe a bit of both! We are still on the rollercoaster ride of our times, raising the question: how do we write in the face of constant change?
In 1993, Octavia Butler grappled with the specter of Change in her speculative fiction masterpiece Parable of the Sower. Set in 2024, Parable series proved prescient. In the face of mass unrest and a presidential candidate running under the slogan, “Make America Great Again,” Butler's protagonist, Lauren Olamina, develops a new belief system around a simple idea: God is Change. Through a series of journals, Lauren explores her belief that one can shape Change and thereby shape God.
In this generative workshop, we will tap into the idea of shaping Change. By gathering our worries, and tapping into our hopeful imagination, we will use journal keeping, dream tending, and utopian thinking to inform our writing, protect our hope, and plot to create better world. Using quotes from more Lauren Olamina’s journals, as well as Octavia Butler's own inspirational journaling, this workshop will offer you tools to support writers through the upheaval of the election season, the rising worries of the global landscape, as well as your own character’s journey within your writing. Suitable for all levels and genres.
Online Classes
Our self-paced offerings started out as live Hedgebrook webinars, led by inspiring Hedgebrook alumnae. We recorded the webinars and have made them into online classes for more writers to access and enjoy at their own pace. These pre-recorded classes are open to the general public. After you register, please check your email confirmation for log-in instructions.
Please see the FAQs below for answers to many of your questions.
Current Offerings:
Pulling Yourself Out of Writer Quicksand (Forever) with MK Chavez
Complete at your own pace now through November 2024.
Class Description:
This workshop is a quick and dirty dive into literary coaching.
Craft helps us to write, and inspiration gets us to the table, but literary coaching supports writers in exploring and dismantling patterns and beliefs that have us wrestling with a myriad of barriers to getting our work in the world.
In this workshop, attendees will explore their personal quicksand, engage in writing values clarification exercise, and leave with a toolkit for addressing writer’s block, book inertia, and other writing crises while they build a sustainable writing practice.
Whether you are an established writer looking for some new ways to approach your writing practice or an emerging writer looking to build a solid foundation, this workshop has something for you. All genres are welcome.
Class length: 108 minutes (broken up into 6 parts and includes participant sharing).
Videos offer closed captioning.
Online Class Sliding Scale
$80 Regular (Reflects true cost of running this program)
$120 Supporter (Registration at this level helps allow us to offer classes to all, regardless of ability to pay)
$20-$40 Pay-what-you-can (pay-scale based on your capacity during this uncertain time)
Online Class FAQs
How do I access the class?
Once you have registered you will receive an automatic email confirmation that includes the link and passcode to access the class. Please do not log into Wild Apricot as it is our registration site, not our online class site.
How does the class work?
This online class is a series of pre-recorded video sessions, divided into chapters in chronological order. Some classes feature the instructor and a small group of students in a cottage at the Hedgebrook retreat. Classes that began as live webinars feature just the instructor and voices of some of the webinar participants. Each class includes lectures and writing exercises. You may start and stop the video at any point. Most chapters end with a writing exercise.
Is there homework?
The class is one continuous session that you can take at your own pace (or over several days or a few weeks), with writing exercises woven in. The teacher will prompt you in the video when there is a writing exercise. After you’ve completed the writing exercise, simply play the next class video when you’re ready. There is no homework.
How much time will the class take?
This is totally up to you! Different classes are different lengths, and all are designed so you can move at your own pace. Once you register, you are welcome to return to the class as often as you like until the last day it’s offered. The classes in our Online Writing Series range anywhere from around 60 minutes to around 90 minutes of total recorded video time. The writing prompts will extend the total length of the class, depending on how many prompts there are. Each class is broken down into chapters, varying in length from around 5 to 20 minutes. Most of the chapters end with a writing prompt or exercise, which you can do on your own time simply by pausing the video and then coming back and starting with the next chapter. If not specified by your teacher, you might want to plan to spend 5-15 minutes on each of the writing prompts, in addition to the recorded instruction.
What types of classes do you offer?
We offer classes in a diversity of genres designed to ground your writing practice and hone your craft. The classes can be taken all at once or over the course of time it is offered. You can take each class you register for as many times as you’d like within the timeframe.
Is there a Discussion or Chat Room?
Once you log into your class, you will find a link to our Hedgebrook Online Learning Community Facebook group. This was created to build connection and community for our online class and webinar participants. Additionally, We have shared elements of Hedgebrook’s retreat experience to inspire your writing, such as recipes from our Farmhouse kitchen and chefs, images from our land to print or use as a screensaver, and messages to energize your process.
Will the teacher review my work?
No, the teacher are not available to review your work. These are pre-recorded classes.
Can I take the class on my phone?
No, you’ll need a tablet or a computer with a fast internet connection to access class videos. You may find that having a notebook and pen or your computer to do the exercises will be helpful.
Is there a discount if I take more than one Hedgebrook online class?
When you register, you will see options to pay anywhere from $120 (support others to take the class) to the regular rate of $80, as well as a range from $15 – $60. For some who are not in a position to pay for the class at this time, there is also a free option. Each time you register for a class, you have an opportunity to decide how much you can pay. These classes are providing much needed income for Hedgebrook, at a time when many of our in-person classes have been canceled. However, we believe everyone should have access to these classes regardless of ability to pay, so we will leave it up to you to decide what you can afford.
Please send other questions to programs@hedgebrook.org