Poetry Boot Camp

Three remaining Poetry Boot Camps in 2013:

July 21-25, September 22-26, November 3-7

Poetry Boot Camp is a five-day workshop, running Sunday through Thursday.
Tuition is $385. Participants will write five
new poems, have each one critiqued both by Molly and by
a fellow participant, and have the opportunity to talk to Molly
individually by phone about their work.

What if you postponed everything in your life for five days and just wrote poetry?

Poetry Boot Camp™ is a quick way to jumpstart your writing, improve your poems and overcome writer's block — in only five days.

During the camp you'll generate five new poems. You'll learn more about poetry by critiquing other poets and having your own work critiqued, and you'll get the nurturing and support that comes from sharing the experience with people who are working as hard on their writing as you are.

The critiquing is kind but honest, giving participants a safe place to show new poems and some ideas about improving them. The excitement of reading and writing new work pushes people through the barriers they may be up against in their writing.

This is a great place to try different things: going deeper into tough subjects, experimenting with new forms, exploring different voices. People pick up ideas from each others' poems and are inspired to try new approaches to their own work.

Whether you write all the time and want more of a community, or can't find time to write and want a real deadline, Poetry Boot Camp™ will help. If you're a beginner and want more exposure to poetry, you'll get it here. If you're an experienced poet and want to push yourself, this is a good place to do it.

How It Works: Participants write a poem every day for five days and e-mail it to everyone in the group. Participants are assigned one poem of someone else's to critique every day. Molly critiques all the poems each day. So you'll receive five critiques of your own work from a peer and five from Molly. On the last two days of the workshop, participants who'd like to talk to Molly about their writing or any aspect of the writing life sign up for individual half-hour phone consultations.

Requirements: Basic e-mail skills and commitment. This workshop is intense. You can hold down a job and participate, but it's hard to produce new writing if you have many other outside obligations. Please make sure your schedule is clear and you're willing to finish before you sign up. Beginning through experienced poets are welcome.