NCWN

Cost: $25
Please join us as writer Paul Austin helps us to compose one true sentence. In A Moveable Feast, Ernest Hemingway wrote that when he got stuck, he reminded himself, “All you have to do is write one true sentence. Write the truest sentence that you know.” It sounds so simple. But sometimes we need a nudge, or a technique: something to help us overcome inertia, or fear, or whatever is holding us back. No matter what we’re writing-–a short story, a memoir, an essay, or a sermon-–to write something that is vibrant and true, we must shake off old habits that rob us of solid nouns and supple verbs. We can be too smart. Think too much. Write stale stuff. This will be a workshop: bring a couple of snapshots from the family photo album. We’ll do a series of exercises that will free us of the stagnant nouns and verbs that deliver stillborn sentences. Once we’ve put a few strong words on the page, we’ll arrange them into one true sentence. Maybe more. Let’s be greedy.