By Brian Dunlap

During this time of social distancing, many writers in the L.Á. literary community are holding virtual events from workshops to open mics to readings and book clubs in an effort to keep us all connected to each other and our humansess. Below is one such event, hosted by Long Beach poet Nancy Lynée Woo.

To find out what other virtual literary events the L.Á. literary community is putting on check out Facebook Events. The following is the text from Nancy’s Facebook event post.

As we all adjust to the enormous impact that the coranavirus is having on everyday life, I am offering a virtual version of the all-levels generative workshop I had already been planning that was scheduled to begin in April. If you could use some gentle writing and release in a supportive group, please join us.

SIGN UP: https://www.nancylyneewoo.com/virtual-poetry

HOW IT WILL WORK:
I am adapting my in-person workshops to be held on Zoom, so we will meet at a day and time together virtually. I will give a prompt each week, and we will share whatever we have written with the group as witness. This means we will have the benefit of shared connection (hearing how others’ respond to our poems) without craft-level criticism UNLESS the poet specifies they want critical feedback.

Why do it this way? Sometimes, it’s more important to create space to write for our mental and emotional wellbeing than it is to believe we need to “do it well in order to do it all.” Practice over perfection. Critique has a place, but the focus of this workshop is to simply generate words on a page without the need to improve anything at this moment. Writing our lived experience and exploring our thoughts and feelings is valuable. We meet each other where we’re at. These workshops are designed to be a safe and brave space for us to leave feeling connected and inspired.

Series of 4 weeks
$40 per person
(Special crisis pricing. Regular classes are $160-$240 for 8 weeks.)

WORKSHOP A
4 Fridays
10am-12pm PST
April 3rd-April 24

WORKSHOP B
4 Saturdays
10am-12pm PST
April 4-April 25

WORKSHOP C
4 Sundays
10am-12 pm PST
April 5-April 26

LIMIT 10 PEOPLE PER GROUP
Writing is a valuable tool for expressing emotions, processing our world, and connecting with others through shared experience. Now is a time when we have a lot to process, and a lot of kindness to give to ourselves and others. Again, these workshops will NOT be critique. All generative. All compassionate.

(If you would like a critique workshop, email me. If there’s enough interest, I’ll gladly put one together.)

HOW TO SIGN UP: Fill out the contact form at: https://www.nancylyneewoo.com/virtual-poetry