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Workshops

  • Writing 101: Gotta Start Somewhere

    4 WEEKS
    BEGINS: SEPTEMBER 15, 2025
    ZOOM

    Gotta start somewhere, right? In this non-critiquing, experiential workshop, you’ll immerse yourself in a wide variety of exercises, assess your writing strengths, and set do-able writing goals. No experience needed. Just bring pen, paper, and your burning desire to write.

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  • Writing 101: Gotta Start Somewhere

    4 WEEKS
    BEGINS: SEPTEMBER 16, 2025
    DENVER

    Gotta start somewhere, right? In this non-critiquing, experiential workshop, you’ll immerse yourself in a wide variety of exercises, assess your writing strengths, and set do-able writing goals. No experience needed. Just bring pen, paper, and your burning desire to write.

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  • Writing & Personal Transformation

    4 WEEKS
    BEGINS: OCTOBER 23, 2025
    ZOOM

    Is writing for healing and personal growth, such as journaling, separate from literary craft? In this workshop, we’ll explore the work of several pioneers in the transformative writing field, as well as experiment with their tips and techniques. No experience necessary.

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  • The Spirituality of Poetry

    6 WEEKS
    BEGINS: OCTOBER 29, 2025
    ZOOM & WET INK

    Come explore spiritual poetry from a wide variety of beliefs and perspectives. You’ll read spiritual poems, reflect on your own unique spirituality, experiment with guided, in-class prompts, and write poetry for class and instructor feedback. All are welcome.

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  • Lighthouse Poetry Fest: Intense Emotions, Subtle Words

    SAT, NOV 1, 9-11 A.M.

    Poetry is the native tongue of intensity. But how much…is too much…when it comes to expressing enormous, complicated emotions? Together, we’ll explore contemporary poems that effectively communicate deep feeling—then write our own.

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  • Joy Sawyer is one of the most inspiring, uplifting, and energetic writing teachers with whom I’ve studied, and I’ve taken literally hundreds of classes with dozens of writing teachers over many decades. She brings a fresh and very optimistic attitude to every class that she teaches. One of her greatest strengths is the way she uses poetry to spark discussions, which results in deep sharing and great writing prompts. Joy is a fabulous facilitator who packs SO MUCH into an hour, and always keeps discussions on-topic and on time. I always come away from a class with her with fresh writing I’d like to further work with. She is amazing.

    PAULA HAGAR

  • Joy is an amazing teacher. Many teachers mouth a lot of platitudes, but Joy speaks words of writing wisdom you can carry with you a lifetime. She is a great listener, but also keeps things moving in her classes, switching it up with exercises, readings, workshopping, etc., all while keeping us focused on the subject.

    HOLLY WOODWARD

  • Joy is an absolutely phenomenal teacher: encouraging, enlightening. She’s very knowledgeable and clearly a skilled writer. And she provides such a beautiful, positive environment in which writers can be challenged without becoming discouraged. What a wonderful workshop. I will always remember it.

    CHRISTINA LEWIS

  • I have taken classes with Joy for several years now. She has a signature style, one that combines her own life and writing experience with a personalized mentoring approach. Joy makes me feel that I have something important to say, and she gave me tools (writing exercises, examples of poets’ work) that helped me become a better poet. I feel heard and valued in her classes, and that is worth everything.

    CAROL McDONALD