a grassroots manuscript workshop for the trans, queer, Crip, & sick
a grassroots manuscript workshop for the trans, queer, Crip, & sick
WHAT TO EXPECT
The backbone of this workshop will be weekly calls where we’ll share our successes and hurdles then get to the meat. Crit work is care work in my estimation, so we’ll centre each other as we offer critique. It is here, as a cohort, that we’ll flex our constructive crit muscle: asking questions, sharing insights, and learning each other; what hurts and what spurs us each back to the job. As we work across cultures, and genres, we’ll have the opportunity to reflect on an ideal audience; our roles, and limitations, as critique readers; and how to responsibly, and effectively, have each other’s backs.
In addition to these weekly meetings, bi-weekly meetings will take on specific topics of process or craft
Craft Sessions*
Who is a Workshop & How is Critique?
Text: Craft in the Real World: Rethinking Fiction Writing and Workshopping by Matthew Salesses
Lyrical Wordscapes: Uncovering the rhythm of body and voice
Text: Wrestling With Cadence: Essays on writing and intuition by Dennis Lee
Internal Continuity in World Building aka King William would NEVER say that!
Texts: Prince Faggot by Jordan Tannahill, The Last Dragonslayer by Jasper Fforde & Query by Zilla Novikov
Reality Check: In which we talk about money & get mad about art
Texts: How Artists Make Money & How Money Makes Artists by Dave Berry
& The Future of Truth by Werner Herzog
Whitespace & Wonder aka Books aren’t 8.5 by 11 and neither should you
Texts: How I Bend into More by Tea Gerbeza, Cyclettes by Tree Abraham, & We Need A Breathing Tongue Between by Katarina Gotic Damiani
Okay, But, Is It Working? aka Are we going to need eagles to get us out of this jam?
Texts: Interesting Facts About Space by Emily Austin & Heads You Lose by Lisa Lutz & David Hayward
Subject to change.
Selection Process
As the application period closes, all applicants will receive an email with the same series of questions regarding availability, expectations, access needs, and hopes and anxieties about receiving critique. We’ll take these responses along with the writing samples and statements of interest, and cobble together a compatible team. Ideally, we’re looking for a group that can meet at the same time, but we’re human, you’re human, we’ll figure it out. Genre, subject, and state of completion will not factor in. A short list, and waitlist, of participants will be assembled by February 15th. We’ll start holding sessions in the third week of March (16th-22nd).
Access Information
If you have access needs during sessions or require text alternatives or adaptations (voice recordings, large/friendly fonts, screen reader accessible files, etc) and are unsure if we can meet them, please get in touch. Likewise, if you have safety concerns or privacy concerns, I want to hear them. Should you want to use a pseudonym, stay camera off, and/or communicate by text only, you won’t be alone.
wim blair
(no pronouns)
writer · reader · mother · hungry · scared [reversed]
founding editor of kith books
co-eic of corporeal & en*gendered alongside cora hermes
TESTIMONIALS
“wim brings such a fresh perspective to my writing and gets me to think about my stories in a way I never would’ve considered, consistently elevating my work. If wim is editing your stuff, it’s sure to shine.”
— Alice Scott, author of The Practical Man’s Guide to Cheating Death
and You Are Not Your Bones & Lesser Misfortunes
“wim has the ability to look at a raw, totally unpolished work of emotion that's little more than an unfocused rant, and zero in on its themes and resonant symbolism with a prospector's eye. Without wim's editing process and advice, I'd have four pages of venting and the continued belief I'm solely a fiction writer; instead, the world has
'Simulacring Myself.'"
Danielle Tamara Schatten, MFA
"wim provides a fresh perspective that makes the editing process constructive for the text and the author. I was intimidated about editing my first novel, so I'm all the more thankful for wim's patient, detailed feedback."
Rosalyn L
(Novella forthcoming!)