“For me, there have been times when the act of writing has been an act of faith, a spit in the eye of despair. Writing is not life, but I think that sometimes it can be a way back to life.” – Stephen King

My friends, winter has arrived and the battle between the oppressive darkness and the twinkling of holiday lights has begun. It’s time to gather together, draw nearer to the fire, and hew closer to our writerly instincts. As Stephen King said, writing can be a way back to life and who better to guide us in the darkest month of the year than Mira Ptacin with a December flash nonfiction workshop?

Here is how Ptacin describes this workshop that takes place on Peaks Island on Saturday, December 1st from noon to 3:00 PM:

THE ART OF THE TINY TRUTH: A Flash Nonfiction Workshop

Flash nonfiction essays are extremely short—often 750-words or less—true stories told concisely and movingly. This dynamic micro essay form can lead to inspiring results whether being used for reflective, memoir-like pieces or more urgent, in-the-moment pieces. Flash nonfiction essays can tackle the absurd and the profound, and are an invaluable method for nonfiction writers looking for a “side door” into stories that are too daunting to enter from the front.

This class will begin with a brief lecture by the instructor, followed by writing prompts, and instructor-led group critiques. The writing prompts and exercises will be intended to liberate attendees’ creativity, provide literary distance and perspective, and open their eyes to possibilities that may not seem immediately obvious.

To reserve a spot, please email Mira at mira.ptacin@gmail.com with the subject line reading FLASH NONFICTION. 

Mira Ptacin, Peaks Island, Maine

About Mira Ptacin: Mira Ptacin is an award-winning creative nonfiction and children’s book author (and New York Times bestselling ghostwriter. Shhhh!). She’s the author of the memoir Poor Your Soul (Soho Press 2016) as well as the forthcoming book The In-Betweens (Liveright–W.W. Norton). Ptacin was the recipient of the Maine Literary Award in both 2014 and 2017, and her first book was praised by Kirkus Books, NPR, and Huffington Post as one of the best books of 2016. Her work frequently appears in Lenny Letter, Guernica, Tin House, Vice, New York Magazine, McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, Creative Nonfiction, Poets & Writers, Slice Magazine, and more. Her work has been featured in The Moment: Wild, Poignant, Life-Changing Stories from 125 Writers and Artists Famous & Obscure (Harper Perennial 2012); Get Out: Twenty-One Writers Respond to America’s War on Women’s Rights and Reproductive Health (Cherry Bomb Books 2013), and the anthology Goodbye to All That: Writers on Loving and Leaving NYC (Seal Press 2013). Ptacin is also founder, host, curator, and executive director of Freerange Nonfiction, a Manhattan and (soon-to-be) Maine-based reading series and storytelling collective, which has been praised by CBS News as one of the “Five Best Things To Do in New York,” selected by New York Magazine as a “Critic’s Pick,” and was voted “Best Nonfiction Reading Series” by Electric Literature. Mira received her MFA in nonfiction writing from Sarah Lawrence College. She’s been nominated multiple times for the Best American Essays, Pushcart Prize, and The Rona Jaffe Foundation’s Writers’ Awards, a program that identifies and supports women writers of exceptional talent in recognition of their special to culture and society. She teaches memoir writing to inmates at the Maine Correctional Center, and lives on Peaks Island, Maine, with her husband and two children. See: miraMptacin.com.