ONLINE SEMINAR Series 2025
The Mendocino Coast Writers’ Conference is proud to offer online programming to supplement our summer conference. Our seminars constitute an important fundraiser for us to support our conference, so please spread the word. Writers at all levels are welcome! Every registration helps us continue creating meaningful, prestigious, and high-quality literary programming for our community. We appreciate your support!
Each seminar will be two hours and will include a presentation and Q&A. With the exception of our free February 8 seminar The Art of Applying to Writing Conferences and Residencies with Lisa Locascio Nighthawk, registration is $40 each. Seminars will be hosted through Zoom and a secure link and password will be sent to registrants by email two hours before the seminar. Seminars are recorded, so if you register but aren’t able to attend as it happens, you will be emailed a link to view the recording within 48 hours.
THE ART OF APPLYING TO WRITING CONFERENCES AND RESIDENCIES
with Lisa Locascio Nighthawk
Saturday, FEBRUARY 8, 2025 - 10:00Am - 12:00PM PT
Join MCWC Executive Director Lisa Locascio Nighthawk for a workshop on how to apply to writing conferences and residencies—like MCWC! Lisa will share tips and tools from her decades of experience in the world of creative writing programs for finding, applying to, and securing spots at the right events to further your writing and find literary community. Participants will leave with drafts and ideas for selecting a writing sample, writing an artist statement, and researching conferences and residencies. This seminar is completely free and open to writers at all levels!
POETICS OF INGAT
with Michelle Peñaloza
Saturday, MARCH 8, 2025 - 10:30Am - 12:30PM PT
"Ingat" in Tagalog means "care" and “carefulness.” How can we engage with the creation of intentional care within our poetics? The concept, Poetics of Ingat, is named by Filipinx poet and writer, Rachelle Cruz, and is the seed to this generative writing workshop where we will consider community- and self-care within the context of poetic forms—primarily the epistle, or letter poem, and the elegy.
PRAISE BE: WRITING WITH GRATITUDE AND OBSERVATION
with Georgina Marie Guardado
Saturday, APRIL 12, 2025 - 10:00Am - 12:00PM PT
How can we write with praise and from a place of hope when we’re surrounded by grief and injustice? How can we utilize creative writing as a vehicle for expressing gratitude and beauty while observing our world and honoring emotions? How can we do all of this using craft elements and literary devices, so we don’t cross over into sentimentality? In this workshop, we will explore how we can nurture our writing lives even in chaotic circumstances. Related topics will include supporting each other through writing communities, self-doubt, caring for ourselves as creatives, and writerly expectations. A presentation will be offered followed by a Q&A, group discussion, and generative writing session with optional sharing.
"It's Actual and It's Factual": The Writing of Truth in Creative Nonfiction
with Miah Jeffra
Saturday, MAY 10, 2025 - 10:00Am - 12:00PM PT
Writing our lives is tough. There is so much information and experience to document. How do we do that in a finite number of pages? And, how do we serve such an endeavor with accuracy? We have to contend with our memory, the totality of experience, not to mention the limits of perception and language. This seminar works to address some of these ethical and process-oriented questions with candor, pathos, and hopefully inspiration.