MIDSUMMER MEMOIR
Three days of craft, live community, and guided revision
to propel your memoir to DONE.
with ALLISON K WILLIAMS & DINTY W. MOORE
Weekend Intensive | July 10-11-12, 2026
LIVING IT WAS THE EASY PART.
The story you lived was powerful. But making readers feel that power is a whole new game.
Stop struggling alone and get expert advice on sentence, scene and structure. Learn which events matter and how to bring characters to life on the page. Apply new craft techniques immediately to your pages--and find out what's working, right now.
Your readers need your story. You need the tools to tell it.
REGISTER NOWGet the craft your memoir needs
- Write sentences with real power and precision
- Learn when and how to bring in backstory & history
- Craft dialogue that reveals character and moves the story
- Find and write the Midpoint Reversal—the axis of your memoir
- Bring the memoir “I” alive, as a fully-realized character on the page
- Write the scenes you lived—and the ones you can only imagine
MORE THAN A WEBINAR.
Experience all the benefits of a physical event replicated online, with casual chat, Q&A time, breakout rooms and 100% interactive sessions. Build your writing career—and grow your literary community.
Got Questions?
Write Better. Right Now.
Bring your draft (no matter what shape it’s in!)
Leave with better pages—and tools and techniques for all your future writing.
YOUR GUIDES
Allison K Williams
Writer - Editor - Speaker - Coach
Allison K Williams brings deep understanding of dramatic structure, sensitivity to voice and theme, technical expertise, and contagious enthusiasm for your work.
She is the author of Seven Drafts: Self-Edit Like a Pro From Blank Page to Book and the Social Media Editor of Brevity.
She has edited and coached writers to deals with Big Five, literary and independent presses and publication in the New Yorker, Time, the Guardian, the New York Times, McSweeney’s and TED Talks.
Allison herself has written for NPR, CBC, the New York Times, Creative Nonfiction, McSweeney’s, Kenyon Review and Travelers’ Tales. Her plays, including London Fringe Best of Fringe Winner TRUE STORY have been produced worldwide.
Dinty W. Moore
Writer - Editor - Speaker - Coach
A direct and supportive teacher known for drawing out meaning in memoir, Dinty W. Moore is author of The Story Cure: A Book Doctor’s Pain-Free Guide to Finishing Your Novel or Memoir, the pop-culture/ enlightenment mash-up To Hell with It, and many other books.
Dinty has published in The Southern Review, The Georgia Review, Harpers, The New York Times Sunday Magazine, Arts & Letters, The Normal School and elsewhere.
A former professor of nonfiction at Ohio University, he serves as Editor-in-Chief for Brevity and consults regularly with authors and publishers on book proposals and revisions, many going on to publish with Big Five houses and university presses.
MIDSUMMER MEMOIR MEANS DEEP WORK
Guided writing sessions and personalized feedback refine your voice and move your manuscript forward.
Focused time and a commitment to “show up” helps you plow through revisions or create new work.
Craft lessons and Live Editing ignite your daily practice.
Our virtual intensives combine education, networking, and writing career growth. You’ll leave with new work, new ideas, renewed commitment to your craft and literary community.
Unlike the traditional “workshop,” you’ll use new tools in your own writing, right away. Discoveries made in live-editing, and techniques taught in craft lessons, will be immediately applied to your work.
Allison & Dinty provide individual guidance as needed, and teaching will include variations for early-career and advanced writers.
Daily craft lessons are tailored for memoirists to generate new writing and revise the pages they already have.
See the schedule below for specific topics.
In live-editing, instructors share volunteer pages on the screen, reading aloud and discussing suggested edits.
Transform your prose to focused, energetic, and reader-centered–and discover where it’s already powerful.
Throughout live-editing time, you’ll apply specific techniques to your own work-in-progress.
As much as we love travel retreats, “re-entry” is always tough. The virtual intensive happens in your regular writing place, helping you create a sustainable practice within your daily life.
Individual meetings with Dinty or Allison, and additional feedback on your pages, can be added when you book or during the weekend. (Additional cost, limited availability.)
Allison & Dinty have worked with...
THE DAILY SCHEDULE
ALL TIMES US EASTERN
| TAKE A MOMENT & BREATHE | |||
| AFTERNOON | |||
| 12:00-12:30 | CAFE TIME | Zoom Room open for casual chat & questions with Allison & Dinty | |
| 12:30-1:00 | WELCOME | Greetings, introductions & setting our goals | |
| 1:00-2:00 | CRAFT LESSON I | SO MUCH DEPENDS ON THE POWER OF THE SENTENCE: Explore the craft of sentences that powerfully express your voice, with examples, techniques, and Writing In Company to apply the tools to your work. | |
| 2:00-2:30 | LIVE-EDITING | Editorial feedback for volunteers, live on screen, with notes for everyone’s revisions | |
| 2:30-2:45 | BREAK | ||
| 2:45-3:45 | CRAFT LESSON II | THE MIDPOINT REVERSAL: This scene, the one where everything changes, is key to understanding your dramatic arc and writing a satisfying story. With examples, techniques, and an overnight assignment. | |
| 3:45-4:00 | CLOSING WORDS | Day ends 4PM Eastern | |
| TAKE IT HOME | MIDPOINT REVERSAL | Apply the Craft Lesson to your own pages, and revise (or write!) this key scene. | |
| TAKE A MOMENT & BREATHE | |||
| MORNING | |||
| 9:30-10:00 | CAFE TIME | Zoom Room open for casual chat & questions with Allison & Dinty | |
| 10:00-11:00 | LIVE-EDITING | Your Midpoint Reversal pages | |
| 11:00-12:30 | CRAFT LESSON III | BOOST YOUR BACKSTORY: Effective backstory and flashbacks depend on meticulous framing, and weaving scene and summary. Learn to structure the history you need while sustaining tension and reader engagement. With Writing in Company time. | |
| AFTERNOON | |||
| 12:30-2:00 | LUNCH | Zoom Room re-opens at 1:55PM Eastern | |
| 2:00-3:00 | CRAFT LESSON IV | BRINGING THE “I” ALIVE AS A CHARACTER: How to show yourself on the page with depth, detail and intention. With Writing In Company time to use the techniques on your own pages. | |
| 3:00-3:45 | LIVE-EDITING | Editorial feedback for volunteers, live on screen, with notes for everyone’s revisions | |
| 3:45-4:00 | CLOSING WORDS | Day ends 4PM Eastern | |
| TAKE A MOMENT & BREATHE | |||
| MORNING | |||
| 9:30-10:00 | CAFE TIME | Zoom Room open for casual chat & questions with Allison & Dinty | |
| 10:00-11:00 | CRAFT LESSON V | SHE SAID WHAT?! THE ART OF COMPELLING DIALOGUE: Make your dialogue sparkle on the page while staying true to your personal history. With exercises and Writing In Company. | |
| 11:00-12:00 | LIVE-EDITING | Considering dialogue on the page | |
| AFTERNOON | 12:00-1:00 | LUNCH | Zoom room re-opens 12:55PM Eastern |
| 1:00-2:30 | CRAFT LESSON VI | WRITING WHAT YOU DON’T KNOW: The scenes you weren’t in the room for, but are so necessary to your story. With Writing In Company. | |
| 2:30-3:00 | CLOSING WORDS | Review, inspiration, your questions & next steps. Day ends 3PM Eastern. | |
NEED MORE TIME & FOCUS?
PLOTTING & WRITING A BOOK THAT SELLS
CRAFT & PUBLISHING VOYAGE
SENTENCE, SCENE & STORY
ULTIMATE REVISION WEEKEND
QUERY BOOTCAMP
COMBINED VALUE PACKAGE
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Joining The Intensive
Nope! You can have a manuscript that isn’t quite there yet, pages you’ve been working on, or an idea and the will to get started.
- You can be working on a memoir, essay collection, or creative nonfiction.
- You’re writing in English, because we aren’t fluent enough to edit in any other language. (English need not be your mother tongue.)
- You DON’T need a degree in writing (or anything else!).
- You DON’T need previous publication credits.
That’s OK! We’ll let you in quietly and we won’t be offended if you leave early or arrive late. The video replays go out about an hour after the end of the day, so you can catch up right away or wait until after the weekend.
Yes! You’ll get a tip sheet to help you strategize around children, partners and pets.
If resources allow, consider local lodging or a friend’s guest room to create a personal retreat experience.
We love teaching, and we do quite a bit of it throughout the year. Very often, students ask to be added to the waitlist for the next retreat or intensive, sometimes regardless of location! When a new event is announced, we tell the waitlist first, and events often sell out before they’re publicly announced.
Sign up for The A-List to get first notice of waitlists and open registrations for upcoming retreats.
If the button at the top of the page says “Sold Out,” there’s a waitlist and we’re happy to add you to it. Email us through the contact form, and we’ll confirm your spot on the list. Most intensives have included waitlisters; we usually know 2-3 weeks in advance.
Intensive Days
Develop the generated writing from our Craft Lesson or work on your existing project, with the energy of a shared virtual writing space. As Allison says, “If I’m writing with a buddy and I start to get bored or frustrated, I look up and think, I can’t quit now—she’s still going!”
At the beginning of each session, we set our intentions in the chat. Afterwards, we check in briefly on how our writing went.
Video replays and transcripts are available for six months after the intensive. Slides, readings and worksheets are yours to keep.
Yes–we have limited availability for meetings with Dinty or Allison, and feedback. You’ll see prices and options when you register.
For feedback on more pages, check out Allison’s regular editorial offerings here.
You can also find out about upcoming webinars and events by visiting her linktree, or joining the A-List monthly events email.
If you have accessibility concerns, let us know. We’ll work with whatever technology you need to make the virtual intensive work for you.
Allison and Dinty have (between them) worked with writers who are d/Deaf, hearing-impaired, blind, visually-impaired, neuro-atypical and with physical disabilities.
We want to work with you—let’s discuss how to make it an excellent experience.
Bookings & Payments
We accept Venmo, Zelle, Canadian e-transfers, US checks, PayPal and credit cards via PayPal.
If you’d like to pay in two installments, due June 7 and July 7, email us through the contact form.
For Canadians, we give a discount on the exchange rate for payments made via Interac/eTransfer. Contact us for details.
We have two tuition-free places reserved for writers from underrepresented communities, including but not limited to LGBTQ+, BIPOC, working-class, neurodivergent and emerging writers. To apply, please use the contact form; share a brief statement of how this intensive will help you as a writer, and any literary citizenship activities you already do.
If you are unable to attend live, there is no refund, but you still receive the workbook, the contact list and all slides and session recordings. We encourage you to enjoy the session recordings when you can. You may also want to contact other writers from the intensive to spend time working on the exercises together.
Rebirth Your Book reserves the right to cancel the intensive in the event of civil unrest, natural disaster or Act of God. In the event of cancellation of the intensive in its entirety, you will receive a full refund of any fees paid. You agree to release Rebirth Your Book and its agents and/or representatives from any liability, including consequential expenses you may have incurred in planning to attend.