Lyzette Wanzer, MFA

**  DEADLINE EXTENDED TO MAY 6, 2024! **

The Muses & Melanin Fellowship application is now open!

Muses & Melanin is a fully funded eight-month cohort-based professional development course for 30 talented San Francisco Bay Area African American, Afro Latina, and multiracial women creative writers who aspire to become professional authors. The fellowship is designed for women who do not yet have a lengthy list of publishing credits, are not under a publishing contract, and don't have literary agent representation. A Bachelor's degree is required. Participants will complete a comprehensive learning and support curriculum that equips them with the strategies they need to transition from creative writing students or hobbyists to professional authors. The fellowship launches attendees into the literary profession with a series of professional development workshops, writing workshops, and co-working sessions. After writing an Op-Ed article, extended personal essay, or paper in professional manuscript format, fellows will submit their work to publications and contests during the last four months of the program. All fellows will learn and apply the MLA citation style.

The fellowship consists of the following components:

• two in-person Weekend Intensives (July 19-21 and July 26-28; Fridays start at 5pm)
• five-week in-person weekly writing workshops (Tuesdays, 5pm-7pm, July 23 - August 20)four monthly 3-hour online co-working sessions (one per month from September-December 2024. Time TBD)
• a public graduation and reading ceremony at the San Francisco Public Library for qualified participants (February 8, 2025, 12:30pm)

Note that all in-person program components occur in San Francisco.

The application deadline is MAY 6TH at 6pm Pacific time. Learn more about the program's scope and apply at https://forms.gle/KeY9P9YGJZzCtmMz6

Good luck!

This seminar is geared for writers who want to apply for literary grants and fellowships to support a creative writing project. The tools you need for this level of monetary support are considerable and critically important. We'll discuss how to locate legitimate funding opportunities, application strategies, and how best to position yourself to land one. Enroll at https://grubstreet.org/seminar/applying-for-grants-residencies-fellowships-undefined

As a writer in the twenty-first century, you will need some incarnation of an artist statement for grant, fellowship, and other funding applications; your residency applications; and your author website. The statement is your opportunity to demonstrate that you are a thoughtful, deliberate writer who takes their literary career seriously. In this class, we'll read statement examples, learn how vetting committees use them, and then craft, workshop, and revise several drafts of your own statement until it is ready to impress! This workshop is open to writers of all genres, including fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, prose writing, essays, and graphic novels. Registration is now open!

This two-week, six-hour writing bootcamp is open to writers of all genres including fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, songwriting, essays, and graphic novels. As a writer in the 21st century, you will need some incarnation of this statement on your grant, fellowship, and other funding applications, your residency applications, and your author web page. This statement serves as your opportunity to demonstrate that you are a thoughtful, deliberate writer who takes their literary career seriously.

You'll learn how to cast your work in its strongest, most evocative light. You will read several statement examples, learn how vetting committees use them, and then craft, workshop, and revise several drafts of your statement. You will complete a series of writing exercises to generate ideas about how to talk about your work. We'll polish your statement until it is ready for prime time! Reserve your seat at https://wordcrafters.org/craft-your-artist-statement

This three-hour seminar is geared toward African American, Afro Latina, and multiracial women of the African Diaspora who are interested in a safe, nurturing, intentional space to write, develop, and share their hair stories. For over four hundred years, Black natural hair has been the target of erasure efforts, keeping us in the margins. This workshop explores how writing about one of the still-remaining systemic biases in schools, academia, and corporate America might lead to greater understanding, respect, strength, and a sense of agency.

Poems, essays, short scenes, and hybrid pieces are all welcome. Have your favorite brainstorming materials handy, whether that be that a notebook, journal, sketchbook, or a roll of newsprint or butcher paper. All emotions that surface—anger, sadness, outrage, empowerment—are welcome. Open to all levels of writers from beginning through advanced. Register at https://grubstreet.org/findaclass/class/narrative-healing-writing-our-hair 

In this class that starts on March 20th, you will birth, nurture, and release one brand-new flash fiction story. You will engage in extensive revisions of your work, and close readings and analysis of ten sudden fiction stories. Students registering for this class should be prepared to create new work from scratch in a concentrated, serious environment. Homework will consist of revisions and exercises to help ensure that your piece is as polished and economically written as possible. Prior fiction or nonfiction writing experience is required. Registration is through The University of Chicago's Graham School of Continuing Liberal and Professional Studies. This is course #WRIT32850.

4/29/23

10am – 5pm

$70

In a safe, supportive community, learn how to plan a submissions strategy, create a plan of attack for your work, research markets, and locate the ones that are the best fits for your writing. Begin by learning proper submission etiquette and protocol, avoiding pitfalls that mark you as an amateur and get your submission tossed onto the "No" pile—before editors have even read it. Then we will submit short stories, articles, poems, essays, novel excerpts, and/or creative nonfiction pieces to several markets. It's time to set aside the bevy of excuses about why you're not sending your work out to creative writing journals, magazines, and contests!

Registration closes April 26th. The registration process:

1)       Email AuthorLyzetteWanzer@LyzetteWanzerMFA.com

2)       Mention the workshop(s) for which you wish to register

3)       You will receive a message about whether space remains in the class. If space remains, you will receive online payment instructions. Do not attempt to remit payment until you receive confirmation that a seat is available.

Tuition is non-refundable after April 26th.

2/2/23

5:30pm – 8:30pm

$50

Ready to elevate your writing career to the next level, but not sure how to present your background in an appropriately professional fashion? Whether you have a long list of publication credits or just a few, you need a literary resume that both adheres to professional standards and encourages panelists, editors, and reviewers to learn more about your work. When done properly, this resume helps you:

•     land grants, fellowships, and other funding for your writing projects

•     get invitations to present work at conferences

•     obtain reading opportunities

•     present strong artist residency applications

•     get editors' and publishers' attention

•     be taken seriously as a writer, and not a hobbyist

Leave with a shiny new resume and an author bio  that makes your accomplishments--whether large or small--stand out!  A laptop, tablet, or notebook computer is required.

Prerequisite: You must bring a rough list of your writing-related achievements, or a draft of your writing resume.

Registration closes February 4th. The registration process:

1)       Email AuthorLyzetteWanzer@LyzetteWanzerMFA.com

2)       Mention the workshop(s) for which you wish to register

3)       You will receive a message about whether space remains in the class. If space remains, you will receive online payment instructions. Do not attempt to remit payment until you receive confirmation that a seat is available.

4)      Tuition is non-refundable after February 4th.

The lyrical essay has become a highly popular genre in multiple disciplines, from journalism to the personal essay. Authors from Purpura and Forché to Didion and Dillard have written them. But what, exactly, is this form? Poetic essay or essayistic poem? Both – or neither? The form employs a series of images or ideas, rather than chronicle or argument, to sculpt a narrative. Often inconclusive, lyrical essays reach beyond archetypal classical frames to a meditative sense of place and displacement. In this workshop you will birth, nurture, and release a brand-new lyric essay. We'll begin by identifying key components of the form, learn how to negotiate its terrain, and then get down to the business of crafting a lyric essay. You will engage in extensive revisions of your work, and then during our last two weeks together, submit your finished piece to six literary journals and contests for publication. Students registering for this class should be prepared to create new work from scratch in a concentrated, serious environment. Outside of class assignments will consist of revisions and a few exercises to help ensure that your piece is as polished and economically written as possible. This class is best suited to those who have a basic understanding of craft in fiction or nonfiction. Register now at https://loft.org/classes/writing-lyric-essay

Do you want to publish your work in journals—or better journals, or paying journals? Would you like to query in a way that won't shut you down before you get started, or submit your manuscript with well-earned confidence? Do you wish to be invited to contribute to festivals and fellowships, win grants, establish a name for yourself, craft nourishing and fruitful professional relationships?

Building a writing career requires both creative and business skills, as it does for any artist. If you are serious about your writing and want to increase your professional opportunities, as much work needs to happen outside of the studio as within it.

Topics will include marketing and PR, applying for literary grants and fellowships, writing a personal statement, creating and using a literary calendar, and learning to present yourself as a writing professional. You will receive a comprehensive packet of handouts to guide you as your career begins to build. Registration is now open! https://writers.com/classes/building-a-career-as-a-literary-artist