Tammy Greenwood
T. Greenwood is the author of 12 award-winning novels including Rust & Stardust, Where I Lost Her, and Bodies of Water. Bodies of Water was a finalist for a 2013 Lambda Award. She has received grants from the Sherwood Anderson Foundation, the Christopher Isherwood Foundation, the Maryland State Arts Council, and the National Endowment for the Arts. She teaches creative writing for San Diego Writer’s Ink, Grossmont College, and online for The Writer’s Center.
Teaching style: Tammy’s online workshops combine weekly “lessons” (along with exercises and supplemental readings/resources). Exercises are posted and will receive instructor feedback.
March 2019
The ending is the last thing your reader sees, but will often feel rushed—added on without thought. Find an organic end for your story or novel. Is there an epiphany or a question? A traditional plotted ending or a resonant finish? Learn to combine the inevitable with the surprising, resolve interior and exterior conflicts, understand [...]
Find out morePoint of view is the most important (if not exciting) choice a writer makes. Through exercises, readings, and your own writings, you will discover the many possibilities of POV. NOTE: Instructor will email specific information and instructions several days before class.
Find out moreDialogue is the playwright’s primary tool for conveying a story that ultimately becomes a visual, aural, and emotional experience for an audience. In this workshop, participants will look at various functions of dialogue and will discuss how actors, designers, and directors use dialogue as a basis for transforming words on the page to life on [...]
Find out moreWhen writing a novel, we must know our primary characters inside and out. We need to understand their desires, motivations, and frustrations, their histories and their futures. This workshop will focus on the development of authentic characters. We will examine character as both autonomous and residing within the context of the other novelistic elements, and [...]
Find out moreThis workshop is for writers who have a good understanding of what a personal essay is, are open to exploring further the many forms a personal essay can take, and are already working seriously in the genre. The focus will be participants' writing, supplemented with assigned readings. Participants will workshop two essays (or drafts of [...]
Find out moreYou may think you don't have the time, energy, or inspiration to write because of your hectic lifestyle. Wrong! Join us for coffee and pastries, and learn what professional writers know about organizing their time, establishing a productive writing routine, and getting their stories written. The class will highlight methods that many professional writers use [...]
Find out moreCharacters set in motion a series of events and actions that become the engine of your play. In this workshop participants will look at strategies for exploring and developing characters in the early stages of writing your play and discuss ways to assess the potential of the characters to drive action in your story. In [...]
Find out moreApril 2019
Writing haiku helps us recognize and capture the beautiful moments in our daily lives. We will explore ancient and contemporary haiku traditions, navigate a series of meditative haiku-writing exercises, and dive into some creative journaling and visual art techniques to expand on our work. By the end of the workshop, you will have a beautiful [...]
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The Word Works and The Writer’s Center present poets Jona Colson and Steven Leyva. Café Muse opens at 7pm with refreshments and classical guitar by Michael Davis; readings begin at 7:30. Poetry open mic to follow. All Café Muse programs are free to the public and are handicapped accessible. ----- JONA COLSON is the author [...]
Find out moreLearn how to write a picture book from a successful author of more than two dozen award-winning books for children. Each session will begin with a short discussion of an aspect of writing for children, including story openings and arcs, characterization, plot/pacing, rhythm/sound, and marketing. Suggested readings, prompts, and feedback will inspire and guide writers [...]
Find out moreMaybe you have toyed with the dream of increasing your book sales and generating additional revenue by building a speaking business, or perhaps you have just thought about addressing occasional requests to speak that have come your way. But how do you find speaking opportunities, and make every moment count to drive even more deliveries [...]
Find out moreWhat do dead poets, spoken word, and us have in common? Come explore the universal themes of food, work, love, and loss from different points of view to find out.
Find out moreDo you want to write about subjects such as loss, shame, and trauma but are unsure how to proceed? In this workshop for women-identifying writers, participants will follow Adrienne Rich’s poem “Diving Into the Wreck” as a guide, using the tools of persona, voice, and memory to mine the rich territory of our most deeply [...]
Find out moreIf you’ve taken the Sonnet or Villanelle Intensives, or worked on sonnets and villanelles before, here's an opportunity to build on your knowledge and skills. With the help of a widely published author of sonnets and villanelles, you’ll further explore how rhyme, meter, and "received forms" can deepen your writing. We'll also consider how revising [...]
Find out moreThree days! Lots of prompts and time to write, share your work and learn some craft!
Find out moreThis workshop will focus on organizational principles at work in structuring a stage play. During the course of this workshop participants will take a close look at A Streetcar Named Desire and other examples and apply what they learn to works in progress. Time permitting the class will include musicals as well. If you are [...]
Find out moreRevision is one of the most important steps in shaping your work, an exciting time to view your story or essay with a fresh pair of eyes. NOTE: Instructor will email specific information and instructions several days before class.
Find out moreWhether you want to write a memoir, blog, college essay, letter to your granddaughter, or use your own life as the basis for fiction, life story writing requires that we tell where we come from and who we are. Learn to identify your story's essence and to engage the reader through fictional techniques. Participants will [...]
Find out moreYou have a great idea for a story. Do you dive in and just begin writing, or start by drafting an outline? Are you a born planner or a writer who loves to discover stories organically (i.e., a pantser)? Understanding how to structure a well-conceived story around a main character and central conflict, while paying [...]
Find out moreThe human brain has evolved to biologically respond to story in specific ways savvy writers use to captivate readers. Learn to fulfill and exceed readers’ hard-wired expectations from the first sentence to the last. This fun and dynamic workshop will fascinate you as it informs. Leave armed with a new understanding of the concrete elements [...]
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Joram Piatigorsky presents his new short story collection, THE OPEN DOOR! Reading and literary conversation with Barbara Esstman, followed by a book signing and reception. ----- “The Open Door is a brilliant and vibrant collection of stories that spans the breadth and diversity of literary fiction, from grave to funny to poignant and all points [...]
Find out moreTICKETS/Details: https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/3820735 QTC is honored to have "Ghost-Writer" playwright Michael Hollinger join us for the after-show talkback following the 2pm matinee on Sunday, April 14th. Folger Theatre dramaturg Michele Osherow will moderate the discussion which will also include "Ghost-Writer" director Laura Giannarelli and her cast--Carol Spring, Steve LaRocque, and Stephanie Mumford. MICHAEL HOLLINGER’s previously produced [...]
Find out moreThis workshop is for advanced writers already working in this genre and looking for a chance to exchange and discuss work in a more rigorous way. NOTE: Instructor will email specific information and instructions several days before class.
Find out moreVampires, zombies, and halflings with swords! Participants will build a world and write in it. The first session of this workshop will be devoted to the basics of fiction and story construction. In the second session, participants will do a start-up exercise to help get them started on a possibly longer work.
Find out moreLead with the future -- not background. That's the most important of eight journalism skills that will transform your writing. The others: write your readers' language, be positive (to be both clear and upbeat), lay out logically, be consistent, be precise, be brief, and choose strong verbs. Highlights: communicate in a crisis, correct errors the [...]
Find out moreIf you’ve always wanted to write a mystery novel but didn’t know where to start, this workshop is for you. This class will focus on writing fundamentals as they apply to the mystery. Participants will examine characteristics of the many subgenres (thrillers, too!) and learn about mystery-specific conventions and pitfalls such as TSTL syndrome, macguffins, [...]
Find out moreTo capture a reader's attention and hold it, an author needs a great first sentence, paragraph, and chapter. How do we provide the hook that will draw readers into our stories, no matter the genre? This fun workshop will reveal tried-and-true techniques for launching your novel, short story, or memoir that will make your story's [...]
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To be visionary is to perceive the intangible—to imagine possibilities beyond the accepted norm. How can we cultivate the unseen to create a more vibrant future? Join us for Bethesda’s next TEDx conference at Strathmore’s beautiful Concert Hall. Global thought leaders from Google, Forbes, ABC’s Shark Tank, A&E, and more will take the stage to [...]
Find out moreYou’ve spent months (or years) of your life—not to mention copious amounts of blood, sweat, and tears—writing a dynamite novel. Don’t simply spend five minutes slapping together a weak query letter; you owe it to yourself to write a great one that will break through the slush-clutter at top literary agencies. In this workshop, you’ll [...]
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Acclaimed poets Jeffrey Levine and Susan Sonde come to The Writer's Center for an afternoon of new poetry, with an opening reading by Brandon Johnson. FREE and open to the pubic! ----- Jeffrey Levine is the author of three books of poetry: The Kinnegad Home for the Bewildered, forthcoming from Salmon Press (March, 2019), Rumor [...]
Find out moreMay 2019
Poets and poems are often remembered for their opening lines, but is there a “right” or at least a “better” way to begin a poem? In this workshop, participants will explore some of the ways in which poets have traditionally chosen to open their poems and then look at some poems that break with tradition [...]
Find out moreMarch 2019
Whether you are an organized planner or a writer who flies by the seats of their pants, a novel still needs structure. In this four-week online workshop, participants will study the architecture of a novel and devise plans for plotting their novels. Required texts: Hooked by Les Edgerton and Plot and Structure by James Scott [...]
Find out moreHave you always wanted to write a novel but didn't know where to start? This online workshop will focus on everything from generating ideas to developing characters to establishing point of view. Participants will learn some of the many elements of fiction (dialogue, scene, etc...), but the emphasis will be on discovering the writing process [...]
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