All are welcome
We go out of our way to make you feel at home. Everyone belongs here, regardless of race, ethnicity, religion, gender, age, sexual orientation, limp or lisp. We’ll spend a little time on this—establishing agreements about how we want this belonging to be alive in our group through the week, and what those agreements mean for our days.
Genre-agnostic
Writers of fiction, nonfiction, memoir, poetry, or whatever hybrid you’re exploring—all are welcome. We know from experience the benefit of feedback from people with a mix of experience and process.
Accessibility
Sadly, neither the bed and breakfast nor the house we will use for group sessions are wheelchair accessible. Both have entrance steps, and the bedrooms are up flights of stairs to the second and third floors. If you have other needs and want to learn what we can do to support your full participation, please send an email so we can talk about possibilities.
How experienced? How literary?
Montana Writers Week is open to all experience levels, though you’ll get the most from this if you have already made progress toward a specific writing goal. We expect a mix of “literary” folks—people who have formal training and/or experience in the community of professional writing and publishing—and others who my writing professor friend sometimes refers to as “civilians.” As a proud civilian who feels welcome in literary conversations, I treasure and welcome both.
Wherever you are on the literary map, you need to be serious about craft, open to learning, and generous to your peers. You resonate with the phrase, “writing is rewriting.” You have benefitted from the honest feedback of others, and want to give the same gift to others.
Where should I be in my process?
Just getting serious about your project? Just exploring to find it? Or further on, preparing a manuscript for publication? Wherever you are in your process, if this week can give you the conditions you need, you are welcome and we’ll do our best to help.
But do I belong there?
Writers Week has nothing to do with how good you are as a writer. We all write crap at the beginning, we all labor for our gems. This is a studio, not a gallery. It is a place for the work of writing, held by the understanding care of others who probably feel as uncertain about their drafts as you. When we discuss anyone’s writing, we are beside each other looking at the work as though it was a baby we want to nurture. The question is never about the writer personally. The question is always, “How can this baby really thrive?”
The only requirement: you want to work in a culture of mutual support
You want to work…
You’re chasing something. Cranking on something. Following a thread. And desire a block of back-to-back days to work on it.
…in a supportive community of craft
You’re committed to your craft, you’re drawn to a group that commits to helping each other improve, and you’re willing to bring that care yourself.