ABOUT THE PROGRAM

A rigorous, 10-month-long program for writers serious about making big strides on a book-length manuscript, in any genre, who would benefit from the structure, guidance, and support of a monthly workshop group. The workshop groups are each limited to ten writers, meet virtually once a month via Zoom, include access to an additional interactive online classroom, as well as many other program features. Admission by application (at the bottom of this page). All relevant information is on this page. 

The 10-Month Manuscript Program at PVWW is for writers in any genre who are serious and committed to completing (or revising) a book-length project over the course of ten months, beginning in March and concluding in December. Applications open each year in late fall and close at the end of the year. Applicants are notified by the end of January, and the workshops begin each year in March and run through December of that year. The program is fully virtual, intensive and comprehensive, and was designed in the spirit of building a community of writers committed to supporting each other through the rigorous and sometimes lonely process of completing a draft of a manuscript. Writers who are just beginning with an idea as well as writers who are mid-draft (or ready for revision) would both benefit from the program, but the explicit goal of all workshop groups is to have a finished first draft (or large chunk of it) at the end of ten months. 

​Each workshop group is limited to ten writers (and eight writers for Novel Revision), meets (virtually) once a month for three hours (there will be two months where the group meets twice), and also involves communication with the group between meetings via an easy-to-access online classroom space (Google Classroom). At their core, each 10-month workshop group is centered around giving and receiving feedback, craft instruction focusing on a different topic each month, building a supportive community, and the push toward completing a full-length manuscript. Over the course of the year, writers in all manuscript groups will be guided to set active, clear goals that will help them both get to the finish line and better understand craft elements related to their genre. The program is open to writers at all stages of the process, but it does require a rigorous commitment to your work and a clear project in mind that you plan to work on for the entire year. The ideal applicant is someone who is deeply committed to their growth as a writer, the commitments of being in a long-term program, as well as to furthering their manuscript; they understand the rigorous nature of this program and they and their work thrive in an environment where craft readings and books are discussed frequently, prompts and other resources are made available, and feedback is given monthly to their peers, all in addition to their own writing.

In addition to the individually-designed curriculum and class features that each instructor brings to their workshop (see class descriptions below), all 10-month workshop groups also include the following:

• A vibrant and supportive writing community.

 

• Support in goal-setting as well as well as working toward goals and deadlines. 

 

• At least two rounds of feedback (and brainstorming on your project) from the group and instructor on workshop submissions of approximately 20 pages (each time). (For Novel Revision: Writers will read and offer feedback on their full, completed manuscripts, maximum 100K words).

 

• Access to a user-friendly online classroom space (Google Classrooms), where discussions, interaction, and sharing of materials will happen. 

 

• Regular craft tips, instruction, and frequent talks from your instructor. 

 

• Monthly readings and discussions on many relevant topics (see individual course outlines below) so we can understand our own historical and contemporary context as writers and learn from the masters.

 

• Learning to “read like a writer” toward deep study and critical thinking about readings, one’s own work, and others’ work. All workshops read up to six published books together over the course of the year, toward this end. (Note: There is a lighter published reading load in the Novel Revision workshop, due to reading each others' full manuscripts.)

 

• Professional written feedback from the instructor on at least two (20-page) chapters or excerpts from your manuscript. (Note: Instructor feedback in the Novel Revision workshop will happen in an hour-long one-on-one meeting.)

 

• Frequent online correspondence with other participants and the instructor between meetings, including a monthly Accountability Buddy system that keeps you in touch with your peers throughout the month. 

 

• Monthly revision and generative exercises, both in-class and at-home (in between meetings).

 

• Discussions on the basics of publishing: query letters, finding an agent, and the different paths the publishing journey can take.

 

• Two one-on-one meetings with the instructor to discuss your manuscript in depth.

 

• ​An opportunity (optional) to read your work at one of our virtual Manuscript Program Reading Nights, at the end of the program.

For more program info, including descriptions and outlines of each workshop group, instructor information, important dates, frequently asked questions, eligibility, and application information, scroll down. All program information is on this page. If you have questions after reading through everything here, please join us at our virtual November Program Open House for a chance to meet the instructors, current students, learn more, and have your questions answered! 

The 10-Month Workshop Groups

Novel • Memoir • Nonfiction • Poetry/Hybrid

All workshop groups meet virtually ONLINE via Zoom, and run from March - December of 2023

​Please Note: If you have questions regarding where your work would best fit even after reading the descriptions for all workshop groups, we encourage you to apply anyway, and if accepted into the program, we will place you in a group we think fits your work best. We also suggest planning to attend our November Open House, where you can meet the instructors and current students and have your specific questions answered. For questions regarding the overall program (and not specific workshops) you can also email Joy at joy@pioneervalleywriters.org.

10 Months: March - December, 2023 • Meets Mondays on Zoom (6:30 - 9:30pm EDT) • $1900

10-Month Novel Workshop: First Draft

​with Kate Senecal

This workshop is for fiction writers who are working on their first draft of a full length manuscript. Writers who are just beginning with an idea as well as writers who are mid-draft would both benefit from this group, but the explicit goal of this course is to have a finished first draft, ready for the first stage of revision, by the end of the year. This course meets over zoom once a month for three hours, in small accountability buddy groups of 2-3 people at least once between meetings (but often participants opt to meet more frequently), and participants are in regular contact via a virtual classroom space. Over the course of the year, we'll set active, clear goals that will help participants both get to the finish line of their first draft and better understand craft elements in novel writing, such as character development, structure, plot, scene construction, and more. Each month, writers will be offered a slew of prompts, writing exercises, craft lectures, discussion questions, and readings designed to maintain momentum, solidify a regular writing practice, and provide support around all of the highs and lows of the novel writing process. Each participant will have at least two opportunities to share fresh pages of their novel with the group, who will then support the writer by providing encouraging feedback, reflect back to them what they see happening thematically on the page, brainstorm with the writer about possible plot choices, and offer general support in moving forward. Writers should be prepared to read and discuss up to six novels over the course of the year, as well as craft readings, as assigned by the instructor. For more details about what this course entails, including overall features of the program such as monthly accountability buddies, instructor meetings, and general program structure and info, see the above "About the Program" section, as well as the "Important Program Information" sections below.  ​Limited to 10 writers.

​​About the Instructor

KATE SENECAL is the Assistant Director of PVWW and the Program Director of PVWW's 10-Month Manuscript Program. She holds an MFA from Vermont College of Fine, is the former fiction editor of Storychord, and a UMass professor. She's received an honorable mention in Glimmer Train’s 2019 Short Fiction Contest, and was nominated for a Pushcart Prize in 2016. Kate’s fiction has been published in The Laurel Review, The Foundling Review, and in Storychord.com.

Monthly Course Outline and Craft Topics Covered

Meets monthly, on first or second Mondays of every month. The group will meet twice in both March and October.
​

• MARCH : Theme and how that drives story / What do you already know about your book?
• APRIL: Plot / Story Arc and narrative tension
• MAY: Characterization techniques
• JUNE: Perspective / Narrative Strategy
• JULY:  Scene writing techniques
• AUGUST: Using your narrator to summarize, provide context, and manage time
• SEPTEMBER: Writing authentic and dramatic dialogue
• OCTOBER: Structure and organization
• NOVEMBER: Subtext, using specific details, and place
• DECEMBER: Beginnings and endings

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10 Months: March - Dec, 2023 • First Wednesdays on Zoom (6:30 - 9:30pm EDT) • $2500

10-Month Novel Workshop: Revision

​with Kate Senecal

​This workshop is for fiction writers who have finished a complete draft of a full-length manuscript and are looking for support and structure in the revision process. The explicit goal of this course is to complete one full revision of a completed draft of a manuscript. All participants and the instructor will read up to 100k words of each others’ full manuscripts over the course of the year. Each writer will have at least two opportunities to discuss their manuscript with the entire group, where they will receive written and verbal feedback. Writers will meet with the instructor for two 1:1 one hour sessions, one of which will focus on deep verbal feedback and recommended approaches to revision of their full manuscript, and the other will focus on discussing up to 6,000 words of revised material. This course meets over zoom once a month for three hours, in small accountability buddy groups of 2-3 people at least once between meetings (but often more often), and is in regular contact via a virtual classroom space. Over the course of the year, we'll set active, clear goals that will help participants both get through a full revision and better understand craft elements in novel writing, such as character development, structure, plot, scene construction, and more. Each month, writers will be offered a set of linked, progressive exercises geared toward helping writers revise or see their novels in a new light, a slew of prompts and writing exercises that are geared toward re-writing necessary sections of the book or reworking existing pages, craft lectures, discussion questions, and readings designed to maintain momentum, solidify a regular writing practice, and provide support around all of the highs and lows of the novel revision process. Writers should be prepared to read and discuss up to six novels over the course of the year, as well as craft readings, as assigned by the instructor.  For more details about what this course entails, including overall features of the program such as monthly accountability buddies, instructor meetings, and general program structure and info, see the above "About the Program" section, as well as the "Important Program Information" sections below. ​

​​​About the Instructor

KATE SENECAL is the Assistant Director of PVWW and the Director of PVWW's 10-Month Manuscript Program. She received an MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts in 2013. She is the former fiction editor of Storychord, and a UMass professor. She's received an honorable mention in Glimmer Train’s 2019 Short Fiction Contest, and was nominated for a Pushcart Prize in 2016. Kate’s fiction has been published in The Laurel Review, The Foundling Review, and in Storychord.com.

Monthly Course Outline and Craft Topics Covered

Meets monthly, on the first Wednesday of every month. The group will meet twice in both March and October.

​All class dates (12 meetings total): 3/1, 3/15, 4/5, 5/3, 6/7, 7/5, 8/2, 9/6, 10/4, 10/18, 11/1, 12/6
​

• MARCH : Theme and how that drives story / What do you already know about your book?
• APRIL: Plot / Story Arc and narrative tension / Seeing your novel's bigger picture
• MAY : Characterization techniques / Using the reverse outline to bring characters to life
• JUNE: Perspective / Narrative Strategy / Choosing the right narrator
• JULY:  Scene writing techniques / How to decide when to cut or write new scenes
• AUGUST: Using your narrator to summarize, provide context, and manage time
• SEPTEMBER: Writing authentic and dramatic dialogue
• OCTOBER: Structure and organization / Experimenting with timelines
• NOVEMBER: Subtext, using specific details, and place / How to know when you’re finished
• DECEMBER: Beginnings and endings / How to query agents and ways to publish 

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10 Months: March - Dec, 2023 • ​First Wednesdays* on Zoom (6:30 - 9:30pm EDT) • $1900

10-Month Poetry & Hybrid Workshop  

​with Carolyn Zaikowski 

This workshop is designed for poets and hybrid writers who have a manuscript in progress, plus those who have a vision but are just beginning. Poetry projects may be in a wide range of poetic forms. Hybrid projects may be those that mix or experiment with forms. This may include mixed prose/poetry texts, experimental or poetry-based memoir or essay, mixed visual/language texts, and poetic or lyric essays which stretch the boundaries of traditional or popular prose-based creative nonfiction.* ​In studying poetry and hybrid together, we'll see the vast and surprising overlaps between these terms, both in historical context and in practice. In addition to work on our own manuscripts, we'll read about and discuss traditions in lyricism, prose poetry, fixed and free verse, hybrid and cross-art, modernism, and more. Students can expect to read numerous monthly excerpts and 4 short books. By the end of the year, participants will have a solid first draft of either chapbook-length (approx. 30 pages) or full-length (approx. 60-70 pages for poetry, or a wide range of pages for uncategorizable or hybrid work.) For more details about what this course entails, including overall features of the program such as monthly accountability buddies, instructor meetings, and general program structure and info, see the above "About the Program" section, as well as the "Important Program Information" sections below. ​Limited to 10 writers.

Creative nonfiction writers working in more traditional or general prose-style should apply to the nonfiction workshop (course description below, on this page).

​​​About the Instructor

CAROLYN ZAIKOWSKI is is the author of two hybrid novels In Dream, I Dance by Myself, and I Collapse (Civil Coping Mechanisms Press) and A Child Is Being Killed (Aqueous Books, 2013). Her fiction, poetry, and essays have appeared widely in The Washington Post, Denver Quarterly, The Rumpus, PANK, West Branch, DIAGRAM, and elsewhere. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Naropa University's Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics and is currently an English professor and volunteer death doula. Find her online at www.carolynzaikowski.com.

Monthly Course Outline and Craft Topics Covered

Meets monthly, on the first Wednesday of every month. The group will meet twice in both March and October.

All class dates (12 meetings total): 3/1, 3/15, 4/12*, 5/3, 6/7, 7/5, 8/3, 9/6, 10/4, 10/18, 11/1, 12/6
*Changes to accommodate the Passover holiday

• MARCH: We’ll ask the big questions: What, why, where, and how is poetry and/or hybrid? What is the nature of genre and form, anyway? What is lyricism? What is narrative?
  ​
• APRIL: We’ll study prose poetry, plus an introduction to the lyric essay and proto-hybrid texts from long ago.
  
  
• MAY: We’ll study the nature of poetic or hybrid fragmentation on the page, what its purposes might be in regards to creating an “experiential” text, and what happens when form and content mirror one another. 
  
  
• JUNE: We’ll look at using the stuff of real life to create a text. This might include basic research concepts for those writing nonfiction content. We’ll also explore what hybrid, verse, or experimental memoirs might be. 
  
  
• JULY: We’ll see mixed media possibilities, such as visual-poetry texts, plus creative use of writing that’s not ours, like found poetry, black-outs, white-outs, and “creative plagiarism.
  
  
• AUGUST: We’ll explore free verse as a way to represent the mind’s natural flow of language on the page and see the concept of poetry of witness and audiences as reader-witnesses. 
  
  
• SEPTEMBER: We’ll go deeper on the history of poetry/hybrid/experimental writing as a sociopolitical statement, particularly in the context of modernist movements and sociopolitical concepts like non-binary identities or postcolonialism. 
  
  
• OCTOBER: We’ll play with the fun and surprising hows and whys of constraints and fixed forms, plus do some preliminary revision explorations, including how to order a poetic, lyric, or fragmented text. 
  
  
• NOVEMBER: We’ll review and deepen core concepts from class, plus experiment with exercises in revision at the line-level, with attention to sharpening detail, word choice, and voice. 
  ​
• DECEMBER: We’ll do a basic overview of the practicalities and realities of publishing poetry and hybrid work, plus reflect on where we’ve been, where we’re at, and where we’d like to go.

​

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10 Months: March - Dec, 2023 • ​First Thursdays on Zoom  (6:30 - 9:30 pm EDT) • $1900

10-Month Nonfiction Workshop

with Carolyn Zaikowski 

This workshop is designed for creative nonfiction prose writers in non-memoir genres (nature and science writing, philosophy and spiritual writing, travel or food writing, biography, history, politics, social commentary, literary journalism, etc.) who have a manuscript in progress as well as for those who have a vision but are just beginning. By the end of the year, participants will have a solid draft of a complete manuscript. To this end, we will give each other feedback, spend time closely studying published writers to learn about craft and context, and do in-class and at-home generative prompts and exercises. Additionally, we will study numerous monthly excerpts and 3-4 books from the masters, both to understand our context as writers, and to see how the masters apply their craft.  ​For more details about what this course entails, including overall features of the program such as monthly accountability buddies, instructor meetings, and general program structure and info, see the above "About the Program" section, as well as the "Important Program Information" sections below. ​Limited to 10 writers.

​​
​About the Instructor

CAROLYN ZAIKOWSKI is is the author of the hybrid novels In Dream, I Dance by Myself, and I Collapse (Civil Coping Mechanisms, 2016) and A Child Is Being Killed (Aqueous Books, 2013). Her fiction, poetry, and essays have appeared in The Washington Post, Denver Quarterly, The Rumpus, PANK, West Branch, DIAGRAM, Everyday Feminism, and elsewhere. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Naropa University's Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics and is currently an English professor and volunteer death doula. Find her online at www.carolynzaikowski.com.

Monthly Course Outline and Craft Topics Covered

Meets monthly, on the first Wednesday of every month. The group will meet twice in both March and October.

All class dates (12 meetings total): 3/2, 3/16, 4/13*, 5/4, 6/8, 7/6, 8/3, 9/7, 10/5, 10/19, 11/2, 12/14
*Changes to accommodate the Passover holiday
​

• MARCH: We’ll ask introductory questions like: What is CNF? What’s the difference between memoir and personal essay? What is the truth, anyway? 
  
  
• APRIL: We’ll explore narrative nonfiction basics like character/people, settings, dialogue, and scene, particularly via the concepts of literary journalism and the “nonfiction novel.” 
  
  
• MAY: We’ll examine the difference between exposition and scene, plus how and why to use one or both of them. 
  
  
• JUNE: We’ll look at different ways to approach an “essay of ideas” plus deepen our understanding of how to make decisions about exposition vs. narrative.
  
  
• JULY: We’ll examine basic research methods and the do’s and don’ts of incorporating outside information into your work. We’ll also look at voice, tone, audience, point of view, and purpose. 
  
  
• AUGUST: We’ll look at the possibilities of lyric essay and fragmentation and what these modes can teach us about the nature of memory, nonfiction, and representing content via form. 
  
  
• SEPTEMBER: We’ll start discussing the basic nature of revision and the next steps in the writing process, plus review and revise our “so whats” and visions.
  
  
• OCTOBER:  We’ll deepen our understanding of what it means to structure our work: What should go where, and why? Must things be presented in a linear fashion? What settings, characters, or events do and don’t need to be included?
  
  
• NOVEMBER: We’ll review key concepts and do revision exercises focusing on the line-level, like how to sharpen imagery, word choices, and sentence structures.
  ​
• DECEMBER: We’ll do an overview of CNF publishing basics and methods, plus reflect on where we’ve been, where we’re at, and where we’re going. ​​

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10 Months: March - December • Meets Tuesdays on Zoom  (6:30 - 9:30pm EDT) • $1900

10-Month Memoir Workshop

​with Dorian Fox

This workshop is designed for memoirists who have a manuscript in progress as well as for those who have a ‘body of work’ they can identify as a ‘possible manuscript.’ In this 10-month program, we’ll discuss the history of the memoir genre and study memoir-writing techniques by reading and analyzing a mix of craft essays and stellar works of personal narrative, including 3-4 book-length memoirs that represent different stylistic and organizational approaches to the form. Alongside our active reading and discussion, we’ll find structure and purpose in our own work by defining clear individualized writing goals, doing regular generative exercises and providing consistent and thoughtful feedback on each other’s pages. By the program’s end participants will have drafted a substantive manuscript, portions of which may be ready for submission for publication. Equally important, each writer will have sharpened their vision and parameters for the book they’re writing and expanded their toolkit for bringing their project to fruition. ​For more details about what this course entails, including overall features of the program such as monthly accountability buddies, instructor meetings, and general program structure and info, see the above "About the Program" section, as well as the "Important Program Information" sections below. ​Limited to 10 writers.

About the Instructor

DORIAN FOX's essays, articles and stories have appeared in a wide range of literary publications, including Brevity, The Rumpus, Gay Magazine, Atticus Review, Under the Gum Tree, McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, december, Creative Nonfiction’s Sunday Short Reads and others. His work has also been honored in various competitions and received nominations for the Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net. A longtime Massachusetts resident, he now lives in Brighton, MA. Find him online at dorianfox.com

​Monthly Course Outline and Craft Topics Covered

Meets monthly, on the first Tuesday of every month. The group will meet twice in both March and December.

All class dates (12 meetings total): 3/7, 3/21, 4/4, 5/2, 6/6, 7/11*, 8/1, 9/5, 10/3, 11/14*,  12/5, 12/19 (*changed for holidays)
​

• MARCH Part 1 (2023): Why write memoir? What is the role of the memoirist? How can we craft meaning from the raw material of experience? 

 

• MARCH Part 2 (2023): We’ll examine how narrative voice works in memoir and how to manage the necessary layering of moments across time.
  
  
• APRIL (2023): We’ll discuss techniques for presenting yourself as both narrator and character in your memoir. 
  
  
• MAY (2023): We’ll dig into the inevitably “messy” drafting process in personal writing, and discuss how to focus your efforts while still leaving room for discovery and surprise.
  
  
• JUNE (2023): Continuing our discussion of structure, we’ll think about how to impose order on a messy draft and identify a book’s emotional arc. We’ll also look at various structural models.
  
  
• JULY (2023): We’ll tackle the ethics of writing about others, especially family. How can we balance truth-telling with respect for others’ feelings and privacy? 
  
  
• AUGUST (2023): How does place shape us? We’ll discuss how to capture external environments in our work while conveying their impact on our selves. 
  
  
• SEPTEMBER (2023): We’ll talk strategies for handling grief and trauma in our work. How do we face our toughest experiences on the page? Where is the line between honesty and overwhelm? 
  
  
• OCTOBER (2023): We’ll consider tonal richness: How can we inject light and even humor into our storytelling when our material is difficult or dark?
  
  
• NOVEMBER (2023): We’ll discuss the role of imagination in memoir and how to responsibly deal with uncertainty and unknowns in nonfiction. 
  
  
• DECEMBER Part 1 (2023): We’ll dive into publishing concerns, including an overview of the literary landscape, how to query agents and editors, submitting work to journals and magazines, and how to craft portions of a book into viable standalone essays and excerpts. 
  
  
• DECEMBER Part 2 (2023): We’ll talk about next steps, with an open and encouraging discussion of each writer’s project and progress, and how they might push forward with their work.

Important Program Information

All Manuscript Workshop Groups will meet virtually throughout the year and are open to writers everywhere. There are no in-person meetings or commitments. All groups begin in March and run through December of 2023 (see complete 2023 Program Calendar below, for all important dates).

10-Month Manuscript Program Open House & Reading:

• Learn more about the 10-Month Manuscript Program at our Open House on Sunday, November 20, 2022 (1 - 3pm EST)
• RSVP for the Open House here, or on the PVWW Event Page

Deadlines & Important Dates:

• See Program Calendar below.

​
Cost​: 

• Novel Revision Workshop: $2500. ​
• All Other 10-Month Manuscript Program Workshops: $1900​

Financial Aid:

• We do not have financial aid available for this program. However, if you can only attend with partial aid, you are welcome to apply and mention that on your application, as in rare cases we have been able to offer some aid. However, this should not be expected and does not happen often or for all workshops. If you apply and let us know that you can only attend with aid, please know that we will offer you a spot in your first choice workshop only if we are also able to offer you aid. 

​
Refund Policy: 

• Because the groups are selective and spots are limited and every person admitted into a 10-month workshop group is taking a crucial spot, we are not able to offer refunds for withdrawals from any workshop group (exceptions for unforeseen medical emergencies will be considered on a case-by-case basis). All deposits and tuition are final and nonrefundable.

Frequently Asked Questions:

• Still have questions? Check out the program FAQ page.

Program Calendar / Important Dates

November Virtual Open House & Reading - Sunday, November 20 (3 - 4pm EST)
• Featuring readings from the writers of the 2021 Year-Manuscript Groups
• Meet all program instructors and administrators
• Q&A with program instructors and current students
• Watch recording of Open House / Reading

Application Deadline - Wednesday, December 22, 2022

Deposit ($500) due* - January 15, 2023
*Deposits are nonrefundable. Accepted students are welcome to pay the complete tuition in one payment, if that is easier. 

February Readings, featuring our current Manuscript Program Groups - For dates/times, see our Events page.
• Each Manuscript Program Workshop Group will be featured in a separate evening reading

Program Orientation and Virtual Welcome Party* - Sunday, February 26, 2023 (1 - 3pm EST)
*PVWW will welcome you to the program! Writers will meet others from different workshops, have an opportunity to ask questions, and meet in small groups (all virtually) with their instructor and classmates for the first time. 

Workshops begin:

• Memoir: Begins Tuesday, March 7, 2023 (6:30 - 9:30pm EST). Meets on the first Tuesday of every month.
• Poetry/Hybrid: Begins Wednesday, March 1, 2023 (6:30 - 9:30pm EST). Meets on the first Wednesday of every month. 
• Nonfiction: Begins Thursday, March 2, 2023 (6:30 - 9:30pm EST). Meets on the first Thursday of every month. 
• Novel (First Draft): DATES TBA (6:30 - 9:30pm EST). Meets on a TBA Monday evening, each month.
• Novel (Revision): Begins on Wednesday, March 1, 2022 (6:30 - 9:30pm EST). Meets on the first Wednesday of every month. 

Remaining tuition due - Sunday, February 26, 2023

Check out the 2022 Manuscript Program Open House (recording)

Eligibility and Requirements

Is this program right for you and your manuscript? The ideal applicant will have the following: 

• A clear project in mind (or already begun): All participants in our manuscript group program are expected to have a clear, concrete project they are interested in working on and developing over the course of the year. The project can be at any stage of development, including early in the first draft, but in order to be admitted into the program, you MUST have a clear, coherent project you are eager to work on.

   

• Commitment to all aspects of the program: All participants must be willing to give and receive feedback on their own and others' work in a kind, thoughtful, and respectful manner, as well as attend workshops regularly, complete assignments, and regularly engage with the group and the course materials for a full year. A commitment to working regularly on your manuscript is also required. Each workshop group offers a virtual Google classroom space that is regularly updated with relevant materials, readings, and resources, and workshop participants should plan on regular engagement with the Google classroom. The ideal applicant will be deeply engaged with all aspects of the program and willing and able to put in the requisite time into thoughtful feedback on their peers' writing, engagement with the course materials in Google Classrooms, engagement with their assigned accountability buddy each month, reading and preparation, as well as advancing their own manuscript. Consequently, we are looking for applicants who are comfortable with and thrive in a rigorous program.  

Other requirements: 

• Non-discrimination: The program welcomes writers of all levels, genres, backgrounds, races, colors, national or ethnic origins, ages, religions, disabilities, sexual orientations, gender identities and expressions, and veteran statuses. The program and PVWW prohibit all discrimination against/harassment of any writer (instructor or classmate) on the basis of any of the above. 

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• Computer use: All participants must be comfortable with basic computer use, including attending meetings on Zoom, frequent emailing, attaching documents in email, and correct formatting of submitted pages. Each group will also have an online classroom where materials will be posted and shared, so basic comfort with computer use and/or a willingness to explore and learn will be helpful. While participants may not be familiar with Google Classrooms, they must be comfortable and willing to learn, including asking for and seeking out help outside of the program if needed, as the sharing of materials will happen exclusively through Google Classrooms.  

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• Applicants with disabilities: We do everything we can to accommodate participants who need extra assistance, though we are not able to offer typing services, direct computer or tech support, or alternatives to screen use. If you are wondering if/how we can accommodate you, please don't hesitate to get in touch and ask! You can email Joy at joy@pioneervalleywriters.org.

The Application

CLOSED FOR APPLICATIONS UNTIL OCTOBER 2023

A complete application to the program includes the following, submitted on or before December 22, 2022 (midnight, EST) : 

• An application form (see below link) with all short answer sections completed.

 

• A work sample of approximately 1000 words (or 5 pages) in standard formatting (double-spaced, Times New Roman, 12 point font) from the project you plan to work on, or a project in the same genre, attached to the application as a .doc, .docx, PDF, or copied into the application directly. Please make sure your work sample has your name, email address, genre of work, and workshop to which you're applying listed at the top of the document.

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For any questions regarding the application, please email joy@pioneervalleywriters.org.

Applications must be received by or on December 22 (11:59 PM EST), 2022. 
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What Program Alums Are Saying

"This course was tremendous. I was consistently impressed by Kate's ability to facilitate a meaningful and productive conversation between a group of very different writers, all at different stages in their manuscripts and writing careers. The long-term commitment to the class fostered accountability and a sense of community and mutual support. I found the "accountability buddy" system Kate put in place between class meetings to be nearly as helpful as the classes themselves. Most of all, I enjoyed getting to know my fellow classmates and reading their work."
- Chris Geier, 2019 Manuscript Program / Fiction Workshop Group (with Kate Senecal)

"I think Kate is an exceptional teacher. I loved the way she paired craft lessons with excellent short stories and the novel Beloved. I enjoyed having accountability buddies, and I really loved having to meet deadlines when I was on the hot seat. I very much depended on and appreciated the personal attention Kate gives each of her students. Class discussions were very well organized, and I wouldn't change a thing."
- Nerissa Nields, 2019 Manuscript Program /  Fiction Workshop Group (with Kate Senecal)

​"The written and verbal feedback I received from the instructor (Kate) on my manuscript submissions was educational, encouraging and validating. Both Kate and my classmates were supportive of the work done by all students. I think this was due largely to Kate explicitly setting that expectation. Our work received careful and honest feedback delivered in a positive or neutral manner. Class discussions were lively and instructive. I reliably took 2 or 3 pages of notes per class."
- Chris Fox, 2019 Manuscript Program / Fiction Workshop Group (with Kate Senecal)