Workshop Descriptions

Weekly Writing Practice

    Turn your notebook to the next blank page. Breathe. Dig in. Give yourself a weekly writing workshop to tease out the stories you carry, to take risks, to listen to the call and response of your own voice. Interesting and challenging prompts let you explore and move forward in your craft. Giving and receiving insightful feedback develops your ear and your intuition.

Weekly Practice with Jennifer Springsteen

Winter Manuscript Development, Tuesday Evenings

  • 6 sessions: February 28- April 3
  • Time: 7-9:30pm
  • Location: SE Portland (SE 56th and Salmon)
  • Cost: $120 for session; $20 extra for full page typed response including suggested prompts and potential changes on your manuscript (otherwise, facilitator still gives a complete edit on the manuscript itself)
  • Register for this workshop


Novel, short story, memoir, creative nonfiction, bring your works-in-progress or your work ready for revision to this workshop and spend six weeks of intensive focus on your current project. We will write in workshop to prompts aimed at moving your characters and plot forward, and also exchange manuscripts for critique. Come prepared to write, read the work of fellow writers, and receive and offer insightful feedback.

Weekly Practice with Thea Constantine

Winter  Wednesday Mornings


Lots of fresh coffee, lots of fresh prompts! Whether you’ve been up for hours or you’re just starting your day, let the lure of your busy pen and great Stumptown coffee bring you to BeaterVille Cafe each Wednesday to keep your writing practice in steady balance.

Weekly Practice with Thea Constantine

Winter Friday Morning Workshops

Imagine ending your week and launching your weekend with a supportive and lighthearted group of writers. Enjoy Stumptown coffee and inspiring prompts that are sure to deepen and stretch your voice.  Bring your current projects and intentions for the session, or allow yourself to be surprised.

Monthly Workshops

Saturday Open Workshops

  • 4th* Saturday of the Month, SE Portland (*with some exceptions!)
  • Next workshops: February 25, March 28
  • Time: 10am – noon
  • Location: TaborSpace, 5441 SE Belmont
  • Cost: $10 if you are new to PDX Writers/$20 others
  • Register for February 25 workshop

Bring your notebook, grab a coffee from the espresso bar and join us for a couple of hours of writing and responding to prompts. Whether you’re an old hand or just wondering what a PDX Writers workshop is all about, this is a good opportunity to settle in and surprise yourself by what you come up with. What a great way to start a weekend! Space limited to 10 writers, so pre-registration is recommended.

Special Workshops

Flash Fiction Workshop with Jennifer Springsteen

Sunday Afternoons

Flash is hot! Supported by digital media and consumer’s request for a quick read, new literary magazines and websites are popping up, devoted to the art of flash fiction. Even National Public Radio has a 3 minute fiction series. Let’s get into the nuts and bolts of what makes for good flash. We’ll write, give feedback, and revise our pieces together. At the end of four weeks, you’ll have a well crafted flash manuscript, ready for our submission party on the last day of our workshop!

Refund Policy:

We are happy to give writers a full refund for any writing workshop if you cancel within three days of the workshop start time/date (that’s 72 hours). After that, we will retain half the workshop fee. You can also opt to pay your workshop fee forward to a workshop being held in the future.

We are sorry, but we don’t pro-rate our workshops. If you know you will be out of town for several of the workshops in a series, you can ask the facilitator to send you the prompts so you can write on your own.

We don’t refund workshop fees after the workshop has started. If you are unsure if a particular workshop will meet your writing needs, email us about observing a current workshop. Or you can always come to a Saturday open workshop to get a feel for our style of workshop. It’s just $10 for writers new to us!

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