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Workshops

  • Spark and Re-Spark: Reignite Your Craft and Creativity

    4 WEEKS
    BEGINS: AUGUST 18, 2025
    ZOOM

    Recover your momentum and morale in this four-week intervention designed to reignite your creativity! You’ll start (or plan) a workable first draft, experiment with writing prompts, receive valuable craft tips. Writers in all genres are welcome, and sharing your work is optional.

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  • Writing 101: Gotta Start Somewhere

    4 WEEKS
    BEGINS: AUGUST 19, 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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  • Start Your Writing Journey!

    6 WEEKS
    BEGINS: AUGUST 27, 2025
    ZOOM & WET INK

    Do you want to write a novel, memoir, or poetry—but have no idea where to start?  Designed for beginners, you’ll learn key principles of good writing, face down a variety of blocks and obstacles, and explore more about your unique voice. No experience necessary.

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  • 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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  • 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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  • 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