You matter. Your writing matters. You are part of a community that supports your creative work.

Writing Workshops

Expect the best from MAD about Words workshops

  • Experience just the right mix of instruction, practice, and interaction
  • Meet, mingle, and make friends with other writers
  • Feel safe, supported, and free to experiment
  • Make connections to support your writing career
  • Stay in touch with workshop participants online in the MAD about Words Lounge

Work with a variety of published writers & experienced teachers

Experience different perspectives on writing and the writing life and discover what works best for you. Our writing workshops are professionally facilitated by wise and generous writers who share the kind of insights that can only be gained from years of writing, teaching, and publishing experience.


Novel in a Day Workshop

by Mary Ann de Stefano on January 14, 2012

Writers today face an uphill climb. The competition is fierce, the learning curve steep. There’s no magic wand, but by learning the basic techniques for crafting a novel, the beginning writer can quickly flatten the learning curve.

Novel in a Day Workshop packs a year’s worth of learning into a day-long interactive session filled with practical advice and solid instruction. For both beginning writers and more advanced pros looking for new insights, this workshop provides writers with the tools needed to craft their own novel—a novel that will grab a reader’s attention and keep them turning the pages.

Here are some of the topics covered:

  • Elements of plot and structure
  • Creating characters that sizzle
  • Secrets of good dialogue
  • Crafting strong beginnings, middles and ends
  • Deciphering point of view
  • Tips for self-editing

Vic DiGentiVic DiGenti is the instructor for this up-beat and fast-paced workshop. Vic is the author of three award-winning adventure/fantasy novels, Windrusher, Windrusher and the Cave of Tho-hoth, and Windrusher and the Trail of Fire (Ocean Publishing). His unpublished mystery, Matanzas Bay, won the 2007 Josiah Bancroft Award and was named a Book of the Year in the 2009 Royal Palm Literary Awards Competition. It was recently published under the pen name Parker Francis as both an ebook and a trade paperback.

Vic is a Regional Director and board member of Florida Writers’ Association, a member of Florida Sisters in Crime, and Mystery Writers of America.

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Kerouac House Writing Workshop | Outline or Wing It

by Mary Ann de Stefano on June 9, 2011

kerouac houseOn Saturday July 16, The Jack Kerouac Project of Orlando partners with MAD about Words to offer you the opportunity to learn from and write with David W. Berner, the current writer-in-residence at Kerouac House.

Join us for:

Outline or Wing It

Many believe outlines belong only in middle school English composition classes. But outlines in all their various forms can be helpful for fiction, creative nonfiction writers, and memoirists. Discover how the outline can be your best friend and fuel the creative writing process. The workshop will help writers find the best outline process for them without cramping the artistic muse.

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Ellie Watts-Russell at Kerouac House

by Mary Ann de Stefano on May 14, 2011

Mega-talent Thomas Thorspecken, Analog Artist Digital World,  sketched and reported on our May 7 workshop at Kerouac House led by Ellie Watts-Russell.