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The Writing By Writers Manuscript Boot Camp is for the writer who has a full, book-length manuscript (novel, memoir, short story or essay collection) and would like to engage with a small group for a serious and productive response. The extended weekend will include an intimate manuscript workshop, craft panels, readings, and individual meetings – the perfect pre-publication boot camp for any manuscript.  Classes are limited to 5 participants.

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When: November 8 - 12, 2023. Boot Camp is held at Kennolyn's Stone Creek Village in Soquel, California.

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Tuition: Full tuition is $4,500 which includes a manuscript review of up to 80,000 words ($100 for every additional 5000 words), 4 days of workshop, admittance to all panels and readings, and all meals and lodging in a shared room for four nights. Writing By Writers would like to thank the faculty for generously reducing their standard reading fees (which range from $5,000 to $10,000 for a full manuscript) so that we may offer this workshop to you at a significantly reduced rate.

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Lodging & Meals: Kennolyn has been the site of world-renowned summer camp programs since1946. Most acres still remain undeveloped to this day because the natural life and beauty are integral to Kennolyn’s commitment to harmony and awe for nature. The shared cottages are quaint, but designed for comfort and relaxation. Each cottage has two double beds and a private bath. Single rooms are available for a supplemental fee of $500. Please let us know if you require an ADA accessible room. Meals include dinner on Wednesday; three meals Thursday, Friday and Saturday; and breakfast on Sunday. Vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free meals are available upon request.

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Format: Classes are limited to 5 participants each and one workshop session is set aside for each manuscript.  Each participant will have their manuscript read by their faculty member and their four peers. In addition, they will have a one-on-one session with their faculty member.

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Faculty: Gina Frangello, Pam Houston, Chip Livingston, Antonya Nelson and Antoine Wilson.

Faculty

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Fiction, Memoir, Creative Nonfiction & Essay Collections

Gina Frangello

Gina Frangello’s fifth book, the memoir Blow Your House Down: A Story of Family, Feminism, and Treason (Counterpoint), has
been selected as a New York Times Editor’s Choice, received starred reviews in Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, and BookPage, and has been included on numerous “Best of 2021” lists including at Lithub, BookPage, and The Chicago Review of Books. Her sixth book, on Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan Quartet, is forthcoming from IG Publishing’s “Bookmarked” series. Gina is also the author of four books of fiction, including A Life in Men and Every Kind of Wanting, which was included on several “Best of 2016” lists, including at Chicago Magazine’s and The Chicago Review of Books. Now a lead editor at Row House Publishing, she also brings more than two decades of experience as an editor,having founded both the independent press Other Voices Books and the fiction section of the popular online literary community The Nervous Breakdown. She has also served as the Sunday editor for The Rumpus, the faculty editor for both TriQuarterly Online and The Coachella Review, and the Creative Nonfiction Editor for the Los Angeles Review of Books. Her column, “Not the Norm,” runs on the Psychology Today blog, and she runs Circe Consulting, a full-service company for writers, with the writer Emily Rapp Black. Gina can be found at www.ginafrangello.org.

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Fiction, Memoir, Short Story & Essay Collections

Pam Houston

Pam Houston is the author of the memoir, Deep Creek: Finding Hope In The High Country, which won the 2019 Colorado Book Award, the High Plains Book Award and the Reading The West Advocacy Award and more recently, Air Mail: Letters of Politics Pandemics and Place coauthored with Amy Irvine.  She is also the author of Cowboys Are My Weakness, Contents May Have Shifted, and four other books of fiction and nonfiction, all published by W.W. Norton. She lives at 9,000 feet above sea level on a 120-acre homestead near the headwaters of the Rio Grande and teaches creative writing at UC Davis and at the Institute of American Indian Arts. She is cofounder and creative director of the literary nonprofit Writing by Writers and fiction editor at the Environmental Arts Journal Terrain.org. She raises Icelandic Sheep and Irish Wolfhounds and is a fierce advocate for the Earth. 

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Fiction, Memoir, Short Story & Essay Collections

Chip Livingston

Chip Livingston is the mixed-blood Creek author of three poetry collections, SAINTS OF THE REPUBLIC (2023), CROW-BLUE, CROW-BLACK (2012) and MUSEUM OF FALSE STARTS (2010), and a chapbook of poems, ALARUM: (2007); a novel, OWLS DON’T HAVE TO MEAN DEATH (2017), and a collection of short stories and essays, NAMING CEREMONY (2014). He is the editor of  LOVE, LOOSHA: THE LETTERS OF LUCIA BERLIN AND KENWARD ELMSLIE (November 2022). Chip's poems, stories and essays are widely published, in journals including Ploughshares, Cincinnati Review, Potomac Review, Prairie Schooner, South Dakota Review, Court Green, Subtropics, Crazyhorse and New American Writing, and in anthologies such as Best New Poets 2005, Best Gay Poetry 2008, When the Light of the World was Subdued, Our Songs Came Through: A Norton Anthology of Native Nations Poetry , Lovejets, Shapes of Native Nonfiction, and Confiado a un Amplio Aire. Chip earned his MA in fiction writing at the University of Colorado and his MFA in poetry from Brooklyn College. Chip  has received writing awards from Wordcraft Circle of Native Writers and Storytellers, Native Writers’ Circle of the Americas, and the AABB Foundation. Chip is a faculty mentor in the Low-Rez MFA program at Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, teaches for Lighthouse Writers Workshop and Writing By Writers, and also works as a freelance editor and private writing teacher. He lives in Montevideo, Uruguay.

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Fiction, Memoir, Short Story & Essay Collections

Antonya Nelson

Antonya Nelson is the author of seven short story collections and four novels. She teaches creative writing at the University of Houston and in the Warren Wilson MFA Program. Her work has appeared in The New Yorker, Esquire, Harper's, Redbook, and in many other magazines, as well as in anthologies such as Prize Stories, the O. Henry Awards, and Best American Short Stories. Her awards include the Rea Award for Short Fiction, Guggenheim and NEA Fellowships, and an American Artists Award. She lives in Telluride, Colorado, Las Cruces, New Mexico, and Houston, Texas.

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Fiction & Short Story Collections

Antoine Wilson

Antoine Wilson‘s new novel, Mouth to Mouth, recently featured on Barack Obama’s Summer Reading List, is out from Avid Reader (Simon + Schuster) in the US and Canada, and from Atlantic Books in the UK, Australia and New Zealand. Antoine is also the author of the novels The Interloper and Panorama City. His writing has appeared in The Paris Review, Quarterly West, and Best New American Voices, among other publications. He is a contributing editor at A Public Space. He has received the Carol Houck Smith Fiction Fellowship at the Wisconsin Institute for Creative Writing and the San Fernando Valley Award for Fiction, and has been a finalist for The National Magazine Award, the Southern California Independent Booksellers Association Book of the Year Award, and the Foreword Magazine Book of the Year Award. He has taught writing at the University of Iowa, the University of California San Diego, the University of California Los Angeles Extension Writers’ Program, Stanford Continuing Studies, and the Otis School of Art and Design. Born in Montreal and raised in California and Saudi Arabia, he now lives with his family in Los Angeles. He can be found on twitter at @antoinewilson and Instagram at @theantoinewilson

Faculty
Travel

Travel Information

Kennolyn is located at 8400 Glen Haven Road in Soquel, California, just up the hill from Capitola. We will be staying in "Stone Creek Village." There is overnight parking on-site. Please note, Kennolyn is on a rural road with residential neighbors and they ask that guests adhere to the 25mph speed limit.

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Arrival: Workshop check-in is on Wednesday, November 8, 2023 from 4:00pm to 4:30pm in the parking lot at Stone Creek Village. Please note, the gate to Stone Creek Village will not open before 4pm. If you arrive early, we suggest you enjoy the beautiful town of Capitola or have a hike at The Forest of Nisene Marks State Park. At 5pm we will have a mandatory orientation for all participants. The week will end on Sunday, November 12, 2023 with breakfast, followed by faculty 1-on-1s until 11am.

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Travel Information & Directions:  The closest airport to Kennolyn is San Jose International Airport (SJC) which is approximately 1 hour away. San Fransisco International Airport (SFO) is approximately 1.5 hours away. Airport shuttles are available through Santa Cruz Airport Rides and Ruben's Airport Shuttle. Please note, rideshare apps are not a reliable solution for post-workshop pick-up.

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Driving Directions to Kennolyn, Santa Cruz Mountains from San Francisco or the Bay Area

  • Take the 101, 280 or 880 to Highway 17 South through the Santa Cruz Mountains

  • After Scotts Valley, take Highway 1 South towards Watsonville / Monterey

  • Continue 4 miles and exit at Bay St / Porter Ave

  • Turn left under the freeway towards the hills

  • Take an immediate right at the stoplight onto Main St

  • Main Street curves around and becomes Glen Haven Rd

  • Continue approximately 4 miles

  • Pass the first Kennolyn sign to the Hilltop Hacienda (on your left)

  • Turn right at the second Kennolyn sign into Stone Creek Village 

 

Ride Sharing:  If you wish to coordinate rides with other workshop participants please use the comments section below.

For additional information please contact us at info@writingxwriters.org.  We look forward to seeing you in the Santa Cruz Mountains!

Image by Jene Yeo

Workshop Schedule

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 8

4:00 – 4:30 pm          Check-in, Stone Creek Village

5:00 – 5:30 pm          Welcome & Orientation

5:30 – 6:00 pm          Meet Your Workshop

6:00 – 7:00 pm          Dinner

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 9

7:00 – 8:30 am           Breakfast

9:00 – 11:00 am         Workshops

11:15 – 12:15 pm       Faculty Panel

12:30 – 1:30 pm         Lunch

1:30 – 4:00 pm           On Your Own/1-on-1s

4:00 – 6:00 pm           Workshops

6:00 – 7:00 pm           Dinner

7:00 – 8:00 pm           Campfire & S'mores w/faculty readings

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 10

7:00 – 8:30 am           Breakfast

9:00 – 11:00 am         Workshop

12:30 – 1:30 pm         Lunch

1:30 – 6:00 pm           On Your Own/1-on-1s

6:00 – 7:00 pm           Dinner

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 11

7:00 – 8:30 am           Breakfast

9:00 – 11:00 am         Workshops

11:15 – 12:15 pm       Faculty Panel

12:30 – 1:30 pm         Lunch

1:30 – 4:00 pm           On Your Own/1-on-1s

4:00 – 6:00 pm           Workshops

6:00 – 7:00 pm           Dinner

7:15 – 9:00 pm           Student Readings

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 12

7:00 – 8:30 am           Breakfast

9:00 – 11:00 am         Check out and Faculty 1-on-1s

Schedule

Application Details

Acceptance to the workshop is based upon review of a writing sample. Please submit the first chapter/story/essay of the full manuscript that you plan to workshop (roughly 15-20 pages). Writing samples must be double spaced, using a size 12 Times New Roman or similar font. If accepted to the workshop, your final draft must be submitted by September 15th.

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An application fee of $25 is required. If you are accepted to the workshop, your application fee of $25 will be applied to your tuition. Applications are reviewed on a first-come, first-served basis. Although we strive to respond in a timely manner, since multiple faculty members are often reviewing applications, and they have many commitments, it can take a bit of time. Please be patient and you may email us at info@writingxwriters.org to know the status of your application.

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Once you apply you will receive an immediate email confirmation of your application. Sometimes these go into your junk or bulk mail folder. If this happens, please add info@writingxwriters.org to your safe senders list to make sure you get our acceptance notification!

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If you are accepted, you will be notified of your workshop placement via email and asked to confirm your intention to attend within two weeks by enrolling and submitting a minimum deposit of 50%. The remaining balance is due August 1st.

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Cancellation Policy: If you cancel by August 1st your tuition will be refunded minus a $150 cancellation fee. Refunds for cancellations made after August 1 are contingent upon filling your place and will be made only if your place is filled. If we have to bring the workshop online due to ongoing concerns about COVID-19, you will have the option to cancel at that time without penalty. In the unlikely event that we must cancel a workshop and you do not wish to transfer to another workshop, you will receive a full refund.

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