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June 16 - June 18, 2017
Wordsmithing 101: A Master Class in Finding Your Creative Voice
Ron Rozelle

Do you feel the need to tell your particular story or just have the desire to look at words and sentences differently? Do you want to make your writing as clear as the planning that goes into it? If so, then Ron Rozelle's Wordsmithing 101 is for you whether you are a beginner or a more experienced writer. The instruction is geared to good writing in both fiction and nonfiction, with some special focus on memoirs. Participants will come away with a plethora of handouts. The three day writing workshop will be held at Blinn Student Center from June 17 through June 19. The cost $225.

Day One Topics
  • Having something to say
  • The thing and the bigger thing
  • Craft and voice
  • Good rules for good writers
  • Description
  • The six senses
  • Showing and telling
  • Planning
  • The big sandwich
  • Dialogue and dialect
  • Collaboration
  • Editing and revision
  • An assignment

Day Two
We will finish what we didn't finish yesterday. Then we'll critique the assignments of those who wish to take the leap and put their words "out there." We will also critique other short things that you wish to bring, time permitting.

Day Three ·-
Today we'll critique short sections of bigger pieces that you bring, along with poems, memos, grocery lists, angry letters to editors, just about anything.

There will be a half hour break for lunch on Friday and Saturday. Blinn cafeteria will be open or you may bring your own lunch. It is suggested that you come with an exercise book which may take the form of a three ring binder, journal or loose paper. Ron will also have copies of his Writer's Digest instruction book available for sale

“ … like a stone washed smooth by the sea, Rozelle’s language glows in the light and feels good in the hand.” - Booklist (starred review)
​
Ron Rozelle, a 2007 inductee to the Texas Institute of Letters, is the author of eight books, including Into That Good Night, a memoir, The Windows of Heaven, a novel of the 1900 Galveston storm, A Place Apart, a novel set in modern day Ohio, Warden, coauthored with Jim Willett, and Write Great Fiction: Description & Setting from Writer’s Digest.

He is the recipient of the Katherine Munson Foster Memorial Award and the Image Magazine Creative Prize. His memoir, Into That Good Night, the first non-agented property published by Farrar, Straus, & Giroux in over five years, was a national short list finalist for the P.E.N. Prize and the Texas Institute of Letters Carr P. Collins Award and was selected as the second best work of nonfiction in the nation for the year 1998 by the San Antonio Express-News.

He has taught writing workshops at numerous conferences and universities, and was twice the memoir teacher at the Newman National Writer’s Conference at Mississippi College. His articles have appeared in a wide variety of publications, and he was the Barnes and Noble Author of the Month in both the Houston and Dallas markets. He has been a featured author at the Texas Book Festival in Austin and the Texas Folklife Festival in San Antonio.

Touching Winter, a novel made up of a quartet of stories, was published in October, 2005, by TCU Press and was a short list finalist for The Texas Institute of Letters Best Fiction of the Year Prize. Sundays with Ron Rozelle, a collection of newspaper columns, was published by TCU Press in 2009. My Boys and Girls are in There: The 1937 New London School Disaster (Texas A&M University Press, 2012) was the recipient of the Calvert Prize, was pronounced the “sleeper hit” of the 2012 Texas Book Festival, and was a short list finalist for the Texas Writers League Nonfiction Prize.

He and his wife Karen, a retired third grade teacher, are empty nesters and ecstatic new grandparents. An honorary Professor of Letters at Alvin College, Ron Rozelle is a graduate of Sam Houston State University, Class of 1977. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in English and Political Science.

             Testimonials for Writing Workshop

  • I wish this had been the writing workshop I’d taken first.  I now have a better
          understanding of sensory description, attention-grabbing first sentences, mixing short and long                       sentences/paragraphs, powerful endings, knowing where the story really begins, and especially-                   getting rid of clutter! Ron taught all of it with great humor.  A delightful weekend!                 
 
Diane Kramer  July 2016

​

  • “The writing workshop was a great refresher on what makes a good story and how to tell it.  I learned valuable new skills, too, such as how to critique stories.  Ron Rozelle was both entertaining and informative.  I highly recommend his workshop.”
 
Pegge Bogle   July 2016



  • A Word About Ron Rozelle
           I wouldn’t say he could help very much with your grocery list, but if you’re working on a novel, a short            story, or writing a better letter, Ron Rozelle is a good man to know.  He’s been there and can show you            how it’s done.
          Several of us were fortunate enough to study with him during his last trip to Brenham, and he made               quite an impact on the group.  Many of us from that class continue to meet regularly to practice what             he taught us and to critique each other when necessary.
          What makes Ron’s presentation so easy to digest is his years of experience in front of a classroom.  He           can write and he can teach-an excellent combination if you are wanting to learn the craft.  I highly                   recommend you take advantage of the forthcoming opportunity to sit with him and learn.  He will not             disappoint.
 
Bob Smith   July 2016
 


  • I participated in the Lifetime Learning writing seminar with author, Ron Rozelle in 2016.  The best testament to its success is the fact that a group of us who attended have formed a follow up writers’ group.  We meet monthly and critique one another’s work using the rules we learned in the seminar to guide our discussion.  From his experience as a published author, Ron shared with us ways to develop good writing skills, practical do’s and don’ts, and many examples and stories about the craft of writing.  It was a fast moving weekend that was challenging but really enjoyable.  I recommend it highly.
 
George Ann Harding   July 2016



  • I signed up for the Writing Workshop with Ron Rozelle with a feeling of trepidation.  I was out of my comfort zone. Mr. Rozelle quickly put me at ease.  He is a great teacher – the workshop was informative, fun, and entertaining.  He made me feel like I could write with work and I learned valuable tips about the writing process.  I highly recommend this workshop for anyone who wants to improve their writing skills.
 
Cindy Nash   July 2016

Friday, June 16
9 am - 3 pm
Saturday, June 17 
9 am - 3 pm
Sunday, June 18 
​9 am - 1 pm

Rooms 2 and 3
Blinn College Student Center Brenham
Class Fee: $225
​
Register by June 9
Wordsmithing Class 2017
 ​Use Paypal by clicking on "Add to Cart" button 
​(no account is required-payable by credit card)
Your Paypal receipt is your ticket. 

​979.353.1089

lifetimelearningbrenham@gmail.com
or Mail Checks to:
Lifetime Learning
P. O. Box 513
Brenham, TX 77834

registration form
​(can be filled in on the computer or by hand)
979.353.1089
PO Box 513
Brenham, TX 77834
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