PAPER TRAIL
Creative Writing Workshops
Are you looking for a workshop where you'll be encouraged and supported to find and strengthen your writing voice?
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Are there ideas or stories and poems inside of you that want to find their way onto the page?
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Paper Trail offers writing workshops using the Amherst Writers and Artists (AWA) method to support both practiced and emerging voices.
In these workshops we will write together, take risks, play with words and stories, and listen to the new and familiar voices that may show up on the page.
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ABOUT US
Paper Trail writing workshops aim to build creative community, make room for developing craft, and hold stories.
In each session we share a wish to show up and give time to our creativity, to be inspired by prompts encouraging us to go in new directions, and to generate some writing!
Paper Trail uses the Amherst Writers & Artists (AWA) writing method, developed by Pat Schneider (Writing Alone & With Others, Oxford University Press, 2003). This method treats all writing as fiction, allowing us to write wherever our pens take us.
Each one of us has a story to tell and our own strong voice. This method offers a chance to create and share work in an open and supportive environment, allowing us to relax and settle into our writing. Together we learn how fun and inspiring it can be to see where our first draft, just-written work, will take us!
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IN OUR WORKSHOPS WE:
write in response to provided prompts, or follow our pens where they lead
read our writing to each other when we choose
share what works well in a piece of writing—learning to pay attention to what sticks with us
support each other's work and creativity
have the opportunity to receive feedback on a longer piece of writing
build a creative community together
IF YOU WRITE, YOU'RE A WRITER
One of the core beliefs of the AWA program—if you write, you're a writer—speaks to the whole reason Paper Trail began. In these workshops we welcome beginning and experienced writers. Each one of us can create, regardless of where we went to school, how much money we have, or what and whose stories we’ve been told are important.
We invite diverse voices and genres. We believe writing can help us to better understand and connect with ourselves and with the world we live in. We support the development of craft by generating new writing in each workshop. We support each other by taking risks and by listening carefully.
During each workshop, as part of the workshop fee, participants have the option to bring in a longer piece of work, or collection of writing, for manuscript review. Participants are also offered one meeting with Jeannette outside of the regular workshop, to chat over a cup of tea about writing or a particular piece they are working on.
Please be in touch anytime to get more information.
SCHEDULE
Fall 2023
September 22 - October 13
11:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.
Online
FILLING THE BLANK PAGE - FOUR-WEEK VIRTUAL WORKSHOP | FRIDAYS
Are you looking for a workshop where you'll be encouraged and supported to find and strengthen your writing voice? Do you wish you could find more time to write? I support writers to soften the grip of perfection. I offer playful ways to work with the stuck places. Using prompts that guide us to explore craft and simply showing up on the page, our group offers an invitation to open to a wider vision of what developing a writing practice can look like. I offer inspiration and support for sticking with it through readings and creative prompts you can use at home to support your writing. We'll play with settling in, figuring out what works and what doesn't, and adjusting together as we go. This group is for both new and experienced writers and is an offering aimed at building and supporting a creative community.
September 18 - October 16
No group on 10/9 in honor of Indigenous People's Day
10:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
In-person
Shelburne Falls Yoga, The Mill at Shelburne Falls, 49 Conway St. Suite 201
WRITING THROUGH CHANGE - A FOUR-WEEK IN-PERSON WORKSHOP | MONDAYS
Are you drawn to exploring the impacts and experiences of transition? Has your sense of self shifted and grown as you take on new roles or challenges? During these four weeks, we will write about experiencing change, navigating transitions, and emerging into new identities. In these workshops, I will offer prompts and readings to encourage us, build creative community, and make room for developing craft. In each session, we give time to our creativity, work with prompts encouraging us to go in new directions, and generate some writing! This group is for both new and experienced writers and is an offering aimed at building and supporting a creative community.
Monday, November 6, 2023
10:00 - 1:00
Online
MINDFUL WRITING HALF-DAY
Do you want to make time for stillness and creativity? Do you wish you had more time to slow down and hear your own voice? I support people to create space for deep listening so we can begin to hold ourselves and our stories with kindness and settle more fully into our lives.
You don't need to consider yourself a writer or a meditator to attend! Mindful writing groups offer short guided meditations followed by time to write. Creative prompts are provided.
Thursday, November 9, 2023
12:30 - 2:30 p.m.
In-person
Shelburne Falls Yoga, The Mill at Shelburne Falls, 49 Conway St. Suite 201
IN-PERSON THEMED WRITING WOKSHOP - PARENTING
Are you curious about writing groups but not ready to commit to a longer session?
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Themed writing groups offer a chance to do a deep dive into one topic, and gather with others who are looking to spend time being creative. I help writers carve out time to find and strengthen their writing voice so that they can share their stories and be heard in a supportive way.
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In this single-day workshop we will write about the delights and challenges of parenting, grandparenting, and showing up in the lives of young ones.
Thursday, November 16
7:00 - 9:00 p.m.
Online
THEMED WRITING NIGHT - LONGING
Are you curious about writing groups but not ready to commit to a longer session?
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Themed writing nights offer a chance to do a deep dive into one topic, and gather with others who are looking to spend time being creative. I help writers carve out time to find and strengthen their writing voice so that they can share their stories and be heard in a supportive way.
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Join me for a night to play with the potential of pointing our pens in the direction of longing!
Thursday, November 30, 2023
12:30 - 2:30 p.m.
In-person
Shelburne Falls Yoga, The Mill at Shelburne Falls, 49 Conway St. Suite 201
IN-PERSON THEMED WRITING WORKSHOP - TIME
Are you curious about writing groups but not ready to commit to a longer session?
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Themed writing groups offer a chance to do a deep dive into one topic, and gather with others who are looking to spend time being creative. I help writers carve out time to find and strengthen their writing voice so that they can share their stories and be heard in a supportive way.
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In this single-day workshop we will explore time! How we experience it, try to shape it and mold it, honor it, and more. I will offer prompts and readings to help us dive into this theme and we will generate new writing together.
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Jeannette Eaton fell in love with the power of words at age seven and has been writing ever since. She believes writing gives us a chance to connect with ourselves and with other people and offers a mirror to our lived experiences.
Along with offering creative writing workshops, Jeannette works as a mindfulness meditation teacher. Jeannette is certified in the AWA Writing Group method, and is an AWA affiliate.
With a long background in nonprofit work, connecting with and contributing to her community has been the focus and passion of her work. She received her Master’s in Transformative Language Arts from Goddard College, where she learned to use the written word for social change.
Above all, Jeannette loves to write and to encourage and show up for other people who love to write, or who feel ready to give writing a try.
GET IN TOUCH
I’d love to hear from you! Reach out today with questions, to make sure the workshops will meet your needs, to register for an upcoming workshop, or simply to learn more about Paper Trail workshops.
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Please sign up for my newsletter using the subscribe form below to make sure you hear about upcoming offerings!
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Workshops currently offered online and in-person.
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"Ten times a day something happens to me like this--some strengthening throb of amazement--some good sweet empathetic ping and swell. This is the first, the wildest and the wisest thing I know: that the soul exists and is built entirely out of our attentiveness."