October, 2003
Workshops with Nerissa Nields to Continue
Songwriting Wednesday Night
Do you write songs? Do you sing them into the proverbial "sound hole and your knee"? Do
you regale just a few close friends? Your cat? Or are you beginning to play gigs, burning
CDs, working with collaborators?
Wherever you are in the songwriting process, we invite you to join us. We are a group who
meet once a week to write, share finished or partly finished songs and to encourage each other
in the songwriting journey. Led by Nerissa Nields of The Nields out of her very cool house
in Northampton, we are learning how to practice the craft of songwriting and how to overcome
our inhibitions and procrastinating tendencies to demystify the songwriting process and actually
get the tunes out there. And we have a lot of fun.
Join us. Sessions begin every four weeks. Next session starts October 15. Cost per four
week session is $120.
Writing Workshop Thursday Nights
Thursdays from 6:30-8:30pm in Northampton, MA from Sept. 18-Dec. 4. This is a ten week session, costing $300 payable the first day. (We'll take Thanksgiving off to stuff our faces and be grateful.)
Modeled after AWA and some of the principles of Artist's Way, this is a workshop where we will write together for 45 minutes and then share fresh material with each other for the rest of the evening. There will also be opportunities to bring previously written material in for more critical editing, but fresh material will be treated with gentleness and respect. I believe in this method of workshop. I wrote the entire first draft of my young adult novel in the writing group I belong to over the course of a summer. It is amazing what comes out of a person when she is sitting in a roomful of like-minded, earnest, scared, confused but determined fellow writers.
Both of these workshops will be held at my house. I regard these as a means to fellowship, creativity, laughter, joy and perseverance. Together, we will explore the amazing world of the word and the tune and the muse. Join me. All levels of writers are welcome, and all styles: poets, short story writers, journalists, memoirists, novelists, columnists, doodlers, you name it.
Writing Workshop for Teens
Mondays from 4-6pm. First session starts Nov. 3. Eight weeks, $300.
This is a creative writing workshop for young people. We will spend part of the workshop
time writing fresh material, and then the remainder sharing with each other. All kinds of
writers are welcome, poets, songwriters, short story writers, journalists of all kinds, novelists,
playwrights. Structured exercises will be given, but participants may write about whatever
they choose. You must be between the ages of 13 and 19 to be a participant of this group.
About the leader:
Nerissa Nields has been a member of the band The Nields since 1991. She has toured North
America, been on major labels, minor labels, had big fat publishing deals and moderate but
very gratifying successes. Between the Nields and her duo with sister Katryna Nields, she
has twelve CDs out. Her work has appeared in many compilations, magazines and movies. Her first novel, This Town Is Wrong, is being published by Scholastic Press in 2004.
She is an honored graduate of Yale University and holds a BA in English. She has taught creative writing, songwriting and guitar for her entire adult life and is passionately in love with what she gets to do for a living.
Contact Nerissa at email NFNields@aol.com to be added to a workshop list. Space is limited, and students will be accepted on a first come, first serve basis. 50% deposit in advance, 50% on the first day of classes. |