BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
PRODID:-//Litseen - ECPv6.15.11//NONSGML v1.0//EN
CALSCALE:GREGORIAN
METHOD:PUBLISH
X-WR-CALNAME:Litseen
X-ORIGINAL-URL:https://litseen.com
X-WR-CALDESC:Events for Litseen
REFRESH-INTERVAL;VALUE=DURATION:PT1H
X-Robots-Tag:noindex
X-PUBLISHED-TTL:PT1H
BEGIN:VTIMEZONE
TZID:America/Los_Angeles
BEGIN:DAYLIGHT
TZOFFSETFROM:-0800
TZOFFSETTO:-0700
TZNAME:PDT
DTSTART:20200308T100000
END:DAYLIGHT
BEGIN:STANDARD
TZOFFSETFROM:-0700
TZOFFSETTO:-0800
TZNAME:PST
DTSTART:20201101T090000
END:STANDARD
BEGIN:DAYLIGHT
TZOFFSETFROM:-0800
TZOFFSETTO:-0700
TZNAME:PDT
DTSTART:20210314T100000
END:DAYLIGHT
BEGIN:STANDARD
TZOFFSETFROM:-0700
TZOFFSETTO:-0800
TZNAME:PST
DTSTART:20211107T090000
END:STANDARD
BEGIN:DAYLIGHT
TZOFFSETFROM:-0800
TZOFFSETTO:-0700
TZNAME:PDT
DTSTART:20220313T100000
END:DAYLIGHT
BEGIN:STANDARD
TZOFFSETFROM:-0700
TZOFFSETTO:-0800
TZNAME:PST
DTSTART:20221106T090000
END:STANDARD
END:VTIMEZONE
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20210119T090000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20210309T110000
DTSTAMP:20260419T215433
CREATED:20210113T172842Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210113T172842Z
UID:61359-1611046800-1615287600@litseen.com
SUMMARY:Rise & Shine: Winter 2021 | Series of Odes
DESCRIPTION:Rise & Shine is a generative poetry workshop presented by Surprise the Line\, hosted by Nancy Lynée Woo. Started in April 2020\, Rise & Shine began as a daily writing group in response to the pandemic and NaPoWriMo. Now\, the morning meetings rotate throughout the year with different series. \nAbout This Group:\nThe purpose of this space is to generate new words on the page together. We welcome anyone who would like to start their day with an invigorating poetry writing prompt in a communal setting. Rise & Shine will stay free and donation-based to allow anyone access to this generative writing group. \nThe first hour is spent writing\, and whoever would like to stay and share is welcome to read their draft (not a critique space). Invite surprise onto the page! Discover what wants to be written on that particular day without judgment. Lean into the process. \nOdes:\nThe Winter 2021 series will meet Tuesday mornings at 9 am PST\, starting January 19 and ending March 9 (8 weeks). Our focus will be writing odes! \nAn ode is traditionally a lyric poem written in reverence to a particular object or thing. Modern odes allow a lot of room for exploration. For the purposes of this workshop\, writing an ode simply means “paying particular attention to.” We will practice writing close details of a specific object or thing\, with plenty of room to discover what else there is to see underneath. \n“Remember that all description is an opinion about the world. Find a place to stand.” Anne Enright \nEach week\, the prompt will include an example ode for inspiration and some starting points\, including a broad topic for focus\, if you choose to take it. Like all Surprise the Line workshops\, you do not need to write to the prompt. Follow your own inspiration wherever it leads. \nFor the comfort of participants\, these sessions will not be recorded.
URL:https://litseen.com/event/rise-shine-winter-2021-series-of-odes/
LOCATION:Virtual
CATEGORIES:Classes and Workshops,Free,Virtual
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://litseen.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/rise-shine-header-winter-2021.png
ORGANIZER;CN="Surprise the Line":MAILTO:nancywoowriter@gmail.com
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20210120T180000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20210311T210000
DTSTAMP:20260419T215433
CREATED:20210113T234204Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210113T234216Z
UID:61368-1611165600-1615496400@litseen.com
SUMMARY:Sharpen Your Pencil: Elements of a Poem in Revision
DESCRIPTION:Do you want your poems to sing more sweetly? Resonate more deeply? Read more beautifully? \nIn this 8-week craft workshop\, you will learn structured techniques for writing and revising poems in a small-group setting. Each week\, we will focus on one specific element in poetry\, and use that topic as a guiding principle for revising our poems. \nOften\, we’re given feedback on our work but might not know exactly what to do next. This class will combine theory with practice. The goal is to equip you with the tools to revise your own poems with grace and ease in order to take your work to the next level. \nWhat You’ll Get Out of This Workshop:\n\n8 lesson packets to help you revise poems\, each focused on a different poetic element\, with example poems and short essays\nMANY prompts for revising poems that you can use any time\nSmall-group witness of your revised poems to encourage positive learning\nA fun\, supportive environment with other awesome poets\nSensitivity and integrity toward your voice and process\nReal-time inspiration and feedback from the group\n\nWhat You’ll Need:\n\nA handful (4-8) of written drafts that you feel have some promise\, but aren’t quite “there” yet\, and you’re not sure what they’re missing or what to do next\nSome time each week to practice a revision technique outside of class (30 minutes minimum)\nAbility to detach from the work so you can revise (and create anew!) with pleasure\nDesire to make your poems the best they can be at this moment in time without judgment\nA beginner’s mindset (no matter how long you’ve been writing)\nA sense of adventure and openness to discovery\nNon-attachment to a specific outcome (this is the magic!)\nRespect\, integrity and playfulness with your peers (we are all learning\, writing and practicing together!)\n\n8-Week Schedule\nWorkshop A will be offered on Wednesday evenings from 6-9pm PST starting January 20 and ending March 10. Workshop B will be offered Thursday mornings from 10am-1pm PST starting January 21 and ending March 11. Please see the calendar for full dates. \n\nWeek 1: From First Draft to Finished – How to approach revision\, editing\, and the creative flow.\nWeek 2: Lines Lines Lines (& Stanzas) – Line breaks\, line lengths\, units of meaning on the page.\nWeek 3: Exploding the Image – Sinking deeper into metaphor & meaning.\nWeek 4: Word Choice & Diction – Words are pretty important to poems.\nWeek 5: Repetition & Patterns – Let’s investigate how refrains can change the game.\nWeek 6: Sound & Rhythm – Poems are music! Can you make them siiiing?\nWeek 7: Titles & Endings – Let’s not overlook these important bookends!\nWeek 8: Final Workshop – Recap and Review\n\nWorkshop Structure:\nWe’ll spend some time in the first meeting talking about what revision is\, how to do it\, and what our blocks/goals are. You’ll be invited to bring a working poem in to share with the group to introduce your work and receive productive feedback. Then\, at the end of the first class\, you’ll receive the prompt for the week to try out some revision techniques for that poem. When you return next week\, bring both the earlier draft and the revised version to share! \nBecause the focus is on revising our work\, each week you will be given the opportunity to revise a piece\, and then share both versions. The purpose of this is to get feedback from the group about how the poem has evolved to reinforce what you are learning. If the poem feels “done\,” great! If not\, we celebrate a step in its development. \nBONUS: For anyone writing toward a manuscript right now\, this class provides a great opportunity to revise your 8 poems toward a specific theme\, topic\, narrative or question\, if you choose to\, with a bonus prompt for guidance. \nCritique Style as Witness:\nIn this style of workshop\, we practice “witness” as our mode of giving comments on each other’s work rather than “criticism.” This means that we speak from our personal viewpoint (own your “I”)\, make observations rather than criticisms (what we notice rather than what’s “wrong”)\, ask productive questions\, and give all feedback with the intent of helping the writer learn more about their own process of writing that poem. \nWriting poetry is an act of discovery\, and it is a privilege to be able to take part in each other’s discovery process. In this way\, we cultivate an atmosphere of trust\, respect and integrity. We never tell another writer the “correct answer” to their poem; rather\, we act as believing mirrors for each other’s work and help each other recognize nuggets of beauty to be explored. \nMotivating Philosophy:\nStructure allows room for experimentation. Add elements of craft to your unique aesthetic\, stir\, and see what happens. Taking our work seriously doesn’t mean taking ourselves too seriously! Invite surprise onto the page. Have fun! Poetry is discovery. What else is there to do but create? \nLimit 6 per group
URL:https://litseen.com/event/sharpen-your-pencil-elements-of-a-poem-in-revision/
LOCATION:Virtual
CATEGORIES:Classes and Workshops,Virtual
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://litseen.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/elements-of-a-poem-revision-header.jpg
ORGANIZER;CN="Surprise the Line":MAILTO:nancywoowriter@gmail.com
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20210306T100000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20210410T120000
DTSTAMP:20260419T215433
CREATED:20210301T014642Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210301T014714Z
UID:62423-1615024800-1618056000@litseen.com
SUMMARY:Using Invented and Foreign Languages as Tools for World Building: A Fiction Workshop with Rita Bullwinkel
DESCRIPTION:A dynamic Fiction Workshop facilitated by author\, Rita Bullwinkel. This workshop will be held every Saturday 10 AM – 12 PM from Mar 6 – Apr 10.\n\nCLA WRITERS WORKSHOPS are open to individuals of all backgrounds–including those who are exploring creative writing for the first time–as well as aspiring writers who want to prepare their work for publication. Workshops are modeled on graduate-level creative writing courses\, and may include short in-class writing assignments to jumpstart the writing process\, as well as work outside of class that will entail reading the work of select published writers\, critiquing the work of other workshop participants\, and writing a piece to be workshopped by the class. Each participant will receive written comments from the instructor. Workshops are led by accomplished local authors\, including students and alumni of the San Jose State University Creative Writing Program.\nTuition $250 // Eventbrite\n\nCOURSE DESCRIPTION:\nOne of the big things that makes us\, as readers of fiction\, read on into a book is mystery and\, very often\, that mystery comes in the form of a word or idea we don’t yet understand. As a writer\, one way to rope your readers in is to deliberately use words that you know your audience might not understand\, and then\, through context\, teach your readers the meaning of those words. This is a tool used frequently in fantasy as well as literary writing. In this workshop we will explore several examples of this invaluable literary tool and learn how we can best deploy this strategy in our own fiction.\nRita Bullwinkel is the author of the story collection Belly Up\, which won the 2018 Believer Book Award. Bullwinkel’s writing has been published in Tin House\, The White Review\, Conjunctions\, BOMB\, Vice\, NOON\, and Guernica. She is a recipient of grants and fellowships from The MacDowell Colony\, Brown University\, Vanderbilt University\, Hawthornden Castle\, and The Helene Wurlitzer Foundation. Both her fiction and translation have been nominated for Pushcart Prizes. She is an Editor at Large for McSweeney’s and a Contributing Editor for NOON. She lives in San Francisco and teaches at the California College of the Arts.
URL:https://litseen.com/event/using-invented-and-foreign-languages-as-tools-for-world-building-a-fiction-workshop-with-rita-bullwinkel/
LOCATION:online
CATEGORIES:Classes and Workshops,South Bay,Virtual
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://litseen.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/142308044_4217588954936449_3219415922055430691_o.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20210306T130000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20210306T153000
DTSTAMP:20260419T215433
CREATED:20210114T010048Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210114T010048Z
UID:61365-1615035600-1615044600@litseen.com
SUMMARY:Poemscaping: Trim. Write. Repeat.
DESCRIPTION:Surprise the Line presents a special one-time guest workshop led by experienced writers on a topic of their choosing every first Saturday of the month. This month\, you will learn a bold and effective strategy to revise your working poems! \nThis revision workshop helps poets create new horizons for their work by creating a no-pressure environment where trimming a poem leads to its rebirth. \nWhat We’ll Do Together:\nIn this workshop\, participants will learn how to systematically revise a poem that they have been struggling with. They will do this by first pointing out and letting go of details they have become attached to so they can look at the piece with a fresh perspective. Then they will trim the poem to find what shines. Finally\, they will elaborate—turning that shiny poem even into something even more radiant. \nWhat You’ll Get From This Workshop:\n• A comprehensive toolkit for revising poems \n • A fresh perspective on a poem you’ve been stuck on \n • Tangible suggestions on how you can revise your poem  \nWhat You’ll Need:\nA poem you have been working on that you are willing to play around with. \n*** \nAbout the Teacher:\nMatthew Feinstein is a poet\, educator and editor who holds a BA in English – Creative Writing from California State University\, Long Beach and is pursuing an MFA at Randolph College. He has served as a supplemental instructor in English at California State University\, Dominguez Hills. His poems have appeared or are forthcoming in Drunk Monkeys\, Rejection Letters\, Heavy Feather Review and elsewhere. He is the founding editor of Plum Recruit.
URL:https://litseen.com/event/poemscaping-trim-write-repeat/
LOCATION:Virtual
CATEGORIES:Classes and Workshops,Free,Virtual
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://litseen.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/poemscaping-header.png
ORGANIZER;CN="Surprise the Line":MAILTO:nancywoowriter@gmail.com
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR