workshops ~ in person
I facilitate in-person writing workshops in Almonte, Ontario. I have designed the workshops for anyone, whether they consider themselves a writer or not. If you would like to know more, please sign up for my newsletter or send me a message.
Upcoming workshops
PLAYING WITH FORM II - a 6-week Writing Workshop
What is this writing series about?
We all have stories. It is a fundamental part of being human. Sharing our stories can create understanding and connection. Perhaps you have the urge to write your stories, but you don’t know where to start. Or, you already know how writing can transform us, but are in a lull in your writing practice. Starting (or starting again) is often the hardest part. In this series, our goal is to break open structure and find new ways of telling a story. Together, we will read examples of writing and consider how the authors approached their stories. We will also try these forms on in our own writing. This can make a story that we want to tell approachable and not nearly as overwhelming. Often, this allows us to tell a story in a way where we even surprise our self. In this way, we will hone different tools in our writing skills and also reignite delight in our writing practice.
Beginning on Tuesday, March 17th, I will be starting a 6-week writing workshop called Playing with Form II*. This series is for any level of writer. We will be reading examples of published writing as well as creating new work. What I love about studying structure is that, as writers, it gives us or reminds us of different ways of approaching our stories. And finding new ways to tell stories and surprising ourselves with our writing is where the delight lives.
* If you have taking a Playing with Form workshop in the past, these are all new prompts and readings.
Dates: March 17, 24, 31, April 7, 14, and 21, 2026
Times: 6pm – 8pm each day.
Cost: $240.
Location: Almonte (location to be shared upon registration)
To register, please email jesscarson@gmail.com. Payment can be made by e-transfer to jesscarson@gmail.com, or email to make alternative arrangements.
What will we do in the series?
- Read 1-2 short examples of writing per week
- Discuss the examples – what is the aboutness of the story? What effect does the story have? What tools did the writer use to create this effect?
- Generate four new pieces of writing that you can keep in a short form or grow into something longer
- Share one new piece of writing (produced for the workshop) with group
- Give/receive supportive feedback on the shared piece of writing
- Rediscover your delight in writing!
Who is this series for?
Everyone is welcome. These exercises can be done for those writing non-fiction or fiction. This workshop can help you create new work or approach old stories that haven’t quite worked in the way that you have tried to tell them. This series is especially for anyone who is looking to (gasp!) have fun with their writing practice (again).
PAST WORKSHOPS
For the Love of Lists - a 6-week Writing Workshop
What is this writing series about?
A list can be more than something we take to the grocery store or a tool we use to prioritize our day. In creative writing, lists can do much heavy lifting, giving order to chaos, condensing and prioritizing large swaths of information, aligning our purpose, giving boundaries to what we want to share with our readers, providing a starting point, and making us feel a sense of accomplishment. Using list-structures can also make writing a novel-length project or a chapter or a poem more accessible. The simple structure of a list does not lessen the depth of a story, but can often enhance it. Here is one of my favorite list-structured books: I Am, I am, I Am: Seventeen Brushes with Death by Maggie O’Farrell; and poems: The Soils I Have Eaten by Aimee Nezhukumatathil, Things you Didn't Put on Your Resume by Joyce Sutphen.
Sometimes the tool of using a list in creative writing can be overt. Other times, it is embedded as a story within a story. A list can also be ninja-like: readers may not always pick up on the fact that they are reading a list. A list structure is one of the containers that holds space for a good story and sometimes, as a writer, a container is all we need to know is how to begin.
Beginning on Thursday, September 18th, I will be starting a 6-week writing workshop called For the Love of Lists. This series is for any level of writer. We will be reading examples of published writing as well as creating new work. What I love about studying structure is that, as writers, it gives us or reminds us of different ways of approaching our stories. And finding new ways to tell stories and surprising ourselves with our writing is where the delight lives.
Dates: September 18, 25, October, 2, 9, 16, and 23, 2025