There is catharsis in cataloging. Explore using lists and litanies for excavation and exploration to build tension to propel writing forward. Join award-winning poet Kelly Grace Thomas for a two-hour craft-intensive where we’ll explore the act of compiling the complexities of the world and ourselves to create impactful connections and surprising art. 

In this workshop, participants will:

• Explore how iteration can generate new ideas

• Use repetition to create momentum 

• Add expansion to reach toward discovery 

• Use lists to remove creative blocks 

Want to join us?

Join The Creative Crossover community to connect and create. This fun, generative workshop helps you remove blocks to explore your creativity and play with possibilities. Through the Begin With series, Kelly explores one element of craft to help you understand the writing as well as grow your process. In this session, we will focus on lists, harnessing the power of listing to help you make new discoveries about yourself and the world. Expect a warm and friendly environment where you can meet, write, and share your work with writers of all levels. 

In this workshop, participants will:

• Read and discuss examples of powerful images 

• Learn the basics of imagery and how to apply it

• Share and receive warm feedback on their work

• Leave with at least one, possibly two, rough drafts

Want to join us?

Join award-winning poet Kelly Grace Thomas for a two-hour craft-intensive where we’ll examine how the right title sets your writing up for success. In this workshop, we will examine how titles (and epigraphs) can do the heavy lifting to work multiple levels, inform every stanza, tighten arguments, and provide a container for tension, revelation, and economy. We will read and discuss poems by Ruth Awad, Jenny Qi, Patrica Smith, and more. 

In this workshop, participants will:

• Write titles so strong readers will return to them after the poem is over

• Reframe thinking about the importance of a title

• Gain confidence in building context before the first stanza

• Learn how using metaphor as a title can act as a vehicle for commentary

• Apply a five-step exercise to create strong titles quickly and efficiently 

Want to join us?

Want to get feedback on your work? Help hone your writing and clarify your vision? Five participants (the first to register) will have the chance to get feedback from Kelly and the group.

Not selected? That’s okay; there’s still much to learn. Join us to learn creative advice that will tighten your work across genres.

As a paid subscriber, you’ll receive:

• Monthly workshops

• Membership to our monthly Creative Club

• Poetry, writing, & life prompts

• Personal essays

• Discounts on additional classes & editing

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If a picture is worth a thousand words, then an unexpected image is worth a million. Poet William Carlos Williams famously said, “No ideas but in things.” It is the tangible, the touchable, and the unexpected that keep the reader engaged. In this two-hour craft intensive, learn from award-winning poet, educator, and editor Kelly Grace Thomas how to use unexpected images to create, surprise, punch, and power. Or how to use surprising imagery to resuscitate even the most unruly draft.

In this workshop, participants will:

• Create surprise through imagery and detail

• Examine what makes one image lift and another fall flat

• Replace bland exposition with unforgettable images

• Keep readers wanting more by utilizing the art of surprise

Want to join us?

Join The Creative Crossover community to connect and create. This fun, generative workshop helps you remove blocks to explore your creativity and play with possibilities. Through the Begin With series, Kelly explores one element of craft to help you understand the writing as well as grow your process. In this session, we will focus on imagery, harnessing its power to create a powerful connection with the reader. Expect a warm and friendly environment where you can meet, write, and share your work with writers of all levels. 

In this workshop, participants will:

• Read and discuss examples of powerful images 

• Learn the basics of imagery and how to apply it

• Share and receive warm feedback on their work

• Leave with at least one, possibly two, rough drafts 

Want to join us?

How to Add Energy and Excitement to Writing

Surprise is the backbone of any poem. Join award-winning poet Kelly Grace Thomas in this generative workshop to learn how to use tight transitions, unexpected turns, and lyrical leaps to create tension tight enough to have readers racing to the next line or parapgraph. With a heavy emphasis on voltas, we will turn poems over and over to heighten your craft and compel the reader forward. 

In this workshop, participants will: 

• Use surprise to create leaps in logic 

• Learn techniques to use voltas to strengthen your work 

• Break patterns to create momentum 

• Remove connective tissue to create risk and danger 

Want to join us?

In this workshop for beginners, though all levels are welcome, we will unpack what makes a great poem, learning how to translate our emotions, experiences, and observations into language to reveal beauty and vulnerability. We will explore our whole creative self using easy and replicable strategies to help you share your story and get clearer about what you have to say. Expect to leave with two new poems and a feeling of power and excitement. 

In this workshop, participants will:

• Remove personal block for expression and creativity 

• Explore personal history through the lens of creativity 

• Examine emotion through imagery and metaphor 

• Bring clarity to their feelings and experiences through writing 

Want to join us?

Want to get feedback on your work? Help hone your work & clarify your vision? Five participants (names drawn from registrants) will have the chance to get feedback from Kelly and the group.

Not selected? That’s okay; there’s still much to learn. Join us to learn creative advice that will tighten your work across genres.

Want to join us?

Join award-winning poet Kelly Grace Thomas in this generative workshop to embrace the odd and highlight the specifics. In this workshop, we will play with the surreal, the fictional, the unbelievable to write poems so hauntingly specific and oddly unforgettable. Find out what adding a little weird can do for your writing.  

In this workshop, participants will: 

• Play with replicable exercises to add surprise and strangeness to their work

• Push language to create new sonic and emotional patterns 

• Use sensory detail and diction to play with characterization and worldbuilding

• Emphasize play to reshape, reinvigorate, and “weird up” all drafts

Want to join us?

It's not what you say, but how you say it. Why not say it in a way that will get you noticed? Learn from award-winning poet, educator, and editor Kelly Grace Thomas how to create language that will help you and your writing stand out from the crowd. You’ll learn craft techniques to revive language, evoke surprise, and create a voice full of vitality and vigor. We will also read and discuss authors such as Paige Lewis, Kaveh Akbar, Patricia Smith, K-Ming Chang, and more. 

In this workshop, participants will:

• Revive voice and defy expectations 

• Transform language to create surprise and capture attention

• Play with syntax to keep readers engaged

• Set your writing apart from others 

• Learn replicable techniques to transform your writing 

Want to join us?

Open and Close with a Bang

Learn to make an unforgettable entrance (and exit). In this generative workshop taught by award-winning poet, Kelly Grace Thomas, you will learn how to open poems in a way that keeps readers reading, and close in a way that makes them want to read again. Using a number of simple and replicable strategies, you will learn how to use conflict, conceits and characterization to craft poems that leave lasting impressions.

In this workshop participants will:

• Learn how to create and sustain tension for the first line to the end 

• Apply editing techniques to get to the heat faster 

• Craft through lines to play up and play down

• Evaluate multiple beginnings and endings to measure impact