This month: The kinds and uses of prompts are virtually endless. In this session we’ll return to the matter of using prompts, not only to begin, but in the middle of a writing project. They range from questions to half-finished sentences to epigraphs to images to incidents.
Instructor: Marilyn McEntyre, PhD
Online via Zoom
Registration Fee: General Tuition $25/ "Living Lightly" Supported Tuition $15
Series Description: These 90-minute workshops will address a different topic each month. Each session will include a brief presentation, prompts, a bit of writing and workshopping time, and suggestions for developing a particular writing practice. Handouts offer guides for cultivating new dimensions of your writing. We will talk about language, faith, form, and what a lively, committed writing life entails. All levels of writing experience are welcomed!
About Marilyn McEntyre: Marilyn is an author, writing coach, and longtime professor of literature. She teaches in the Doctor of Ministry Program, “The Sacred Art of Writing,” at Western Theological Seminary and in the two-year program for Elders, “Forest Dwelling,” at the Oblate School of Theology, San Antonio, as well as conducting ongoing writing workshops through New College Berkeley. Her books include Caring for Words in a Culture of Lies; Speaking Peace in a Climate of Conflict; and most recently Start With a Word: On the Craft and Adventure of Writing (Eerdmans) and (with Anne Hawkins) As We Age: A Conversation (Wipf and Stock).
First Saturday Writing Workshops 2026-27 Overview: Join this series every month or occasionally, as you are able. Handouts and writing exercises are different for every interactive workshop. Register for each workshop individually here.
September 5, 2026: More Playing with Prompts
October 3, 2026: More about Metaphor
November 7, 2026: Implications and Inferences
January 2, 2027: The Power of Rhythm in Writing
February 6, 2027: Poetry as Craft and Spiritual Practice
March 6, 2027: Layering
April 3, 2027: Letters, Personal and Public
May 1, 2027: The Power of Public Confession
June 5, 2027: From Awareness to Words