Mary B. Kurtz

Creating a Writing Life

Thursday, May 2, 2019 - 6:30pm to 8:00pm
Thursday, May 9, 2019 - 6:30pm to 8:00pm
  • Conference Room - Administration Wing
A two-night workshop taught by Mary B. Kurtz for any writer who struggles to start or finish their novel, essay, article or memoir.

Mary will guide students into an exploration of what both supports and undermines their writing goals. Students will be assisted in clarifying the intent and focus of their writing by exploring insights into the role of creativity in their drive to write, and assessing the tools and support that will help them succeed in fulfilling their writing goals.

This writing workshop is limited to 12 participants, and a commitment to both sessions is required.

Session I: May 2, 2019 — Exploring the Natural Desire to Create as Writers        

What is it that drives you to pick up pen and paper? What brings you back to the page? Writing is a creative act, essential to our sense of self as a writer. The focus of this class will be on understanding the importance of the creative process and how we might stay connected to this process in our writing lives. Bring your imaginations!

Session II: May 9, 2019 — Nurturing Your Writing Practice – How to Seduce Yourself

This workshop will focus on the tools that help establish and support a commitment to one’s writing life, including an assessment of writing practice habits and goals, the creation of a motivating writing environment, and the identification of a source of support from peer writers. Please bring an item, artifact, inspirational quote, or talisman that is meaningful to you and your writing hopes and dreams.

About the teacher: Mary B. Kurtz

Mary’s first collection of essays, At Home in the Elk River Valley: Reflections on Family, Place and the West, was recognized as a 2012 National Indie Excellence Award Finalist in Regional Non-Fiction and recipient of the 2012 Colorado Independent Publishers Association's Bronze EVVY Award for Nonfiction.

Mary’s essays have been anthologized in Ankle High and Knee Deep: Women Reflect on Western Rural Living, Gail Jenner, Editor. She has also contributed to the Sea of Words: Charting a Course from Imagination to Publication “Why We Write” Series.

She received her MFA in Creative Writing in Nonfiction from Regis University studying under David Lazar, author of After Montaigne: Essayists Cover the Essayists, and Kathy Winograd, author of Phantom Canyon: Essays of Reclamation.

Mary and her husband, Pete, raise hay, cattle, and quarter horses on their ranch in northwestern Colorado. She and Pete have two adult children and two grandchildren.