Generate new work, connect with fellow writers,
shape your memoir or collection, explore publication.
Come and write...
with DINTY W. MOORE & ALLISON K WILLIAMS
JANUARY 18 - 21, 2025
(MLK weekend)
LEARN YOUR CRAFT.
LOVE YOUR WORDS.
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?THE REBIRTH DIFFERENCE
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.
THE REBIRTH EXPERIENCE
All Times US Eastern
Focused time and a commitment to “show up” helps you plow through revisions or create new work.
Writing craft lessons and suggested prompts ignite your daily practice.
Rebirth Your Writing combines education, networking, and writing career growth. You’ll leave with new work, new ideas, renewed commitment to your craft and at least one publication opportunity.
Unlike the traditional “workshop,” you’ll be using the tools in your own writing as we go. Discoveries made in live-editing, and techniques taught in craft lessons, will be immediately applied to your work.
Post-writing check-ins may include sharing short sections, but writers won’t read each others’ work in advance or in full. Allison & Dinty provide individual guidance as needed. It’s like writing at your favorite cafe—with peer and editorial support.
Daily craft lessons are tailored for memoirists to generate new writing. You’ll start three new essays and a blog/newsletter/Substack post, or channel new writing into your existing project.
The Fine Art of Layering: Crafting an experience for your reader is more than just adding detail. How when, and what kinds of detail you offer — action, emotion, significant backstory—shape a reader’s experience.
Writing the Impossible: How often have we heard people remark offhandedly, “It’s impossible to put into words”? Describing the seemingly indescribable is our job as writers. Let’s do it beautifully.
Experimental Essay in a Can: Enjoy an unusual prompt that leads to an unconventional flash essay.
Writing for Substack, Newsletters and Literary Blogs: How short-form, service-driven writing sharpens your skills while engaging readers and building platform. Includes an opportunity to publish on the Brevity Blog.
Further your craft, refine your essays, and plan (or finish!) your book with in-depth explorations of structure, sentence, voice, and scene.
Structuring Your Memoir
What’s an “inciting incident” or a satisfying ending when you’re writing your own life? What events belong in your book? Learn to structure your memoir or essay collection to engage readers, agents and publishers.
Writing What You Don’t Know
The power of perhapsing—how speculation, research, deduction, mysticism & do-overs illuminate your memoir.
Memoir in Small Doses
Flash Nonfiction can open new doors for memoirists. Learn what works in a flash essay, what doesn’t, and how short flash moments can strengthen book-length work.
Crafting Powerful Characters (and Dialogue)
Creating compelling and realistic characters is challenging in memoir because we know the people we are writing about so well. But our readers have never met our mothers, ex-lovers, spouses, children, or bullying neighbors, so we must bring them fully to life. How to do this? We’ll explore how character works, in real life and on the page.
Grab the Reader by the Brain: Fabulous First Pages
Hear what agents, editors and readers are looking for when they pick up your query, essay or book. We’ll give feedback and suggested edits on volunteers’ first pages, and add tips for everyone’s writing.
Saturday and Monday, you’ll attend one seminar live and receive a recording of the other.
Sunday and Tuesday have one seminar each afternoon.
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.
THE DAILY SCHEDULE
ALL TIMES US EASTERN
| TAKE A MOMENT & BREATHE | |||
| MORNING | 0930 – 1000 | CAFÉ TIME | Zoom Room open for casual chat & questions |
| 1000 – 1030 | WELCOME SESSION | Greetings, introductions & details of our time together | |
| 1030 – 1100 | CRAFT TALK | The Fine Art of Layering | Crafting an experience for your reader is more than just adding detail. How when, and what kinds of detail you offer — action, emotion, significant backstory—shape a reader’s experience. | |
| 1100-1200 | WRITING IN COMPANY | Develop new writing from the Craft Talk, or focus on your work-in-progress | |
| AFTERNOON | 1200 – 1300 | LUNCH | Zoom Room re-opens at 1245 |
| After lunch, two seminars run simultaneously. Attend one live; watch the recording of the other. | Recordings available about 30 minutes after end-of-day | ||
| 1300 – 1445 | CRAFT SEMINAR | Memoir in Small Doses Flash Nonfiction can open new doors for memoirists. Learn what works in a flash essay, what doesn’t, and how short flash moments can strengthen book-length work. | CRAFT SEMINAR | Dramatic Arcs Shape a compelling, sellable book–and create a roadmap to finish–by discovering your dramatic arc and the key scenes that keep readers turning pages. | |
| 1445 | CLOSING WORDS | Day ends 3PM Eastern | Review, inspiration & next steps | |
| TAKE A MOMENT & BREATHE | |||
| MORNING | 0930 – 1000 | CAFÉ TIME | Zoom Room open for casual chat & questions |
| 1000 – 1130 | PUBLISHING TALK | Writing for Newsletters, Substack and Literary blogs | How short-form, service-driven writing sharpens your skills while engaging readers and building platform. Includes an opportunity to publish on the Brevity Blog. | |
| 1130 – 1200 | WRITING IN COMPANY | Develop new writing from the Craft Talk, or focus on your work-in-progress | |
| 1200 – 1300 | LUNCH | Zoom Room re-opens at 1245 | |
| AFTERNOON | 1300 – 1445 | PUBLISHING TALK | Fabulous First Pages | Hear what agents, editors and readers are looking for when they pick up your query, essay or book. We’ll give feedback and suggested edits on volunteers’ first pages and essay openings, and add tips for everyone’s writing. |
| 1445 | CLOSING WORDS | Day ends 3PM Eastern | Review, inspiration & next steps | |
| TAKE A MOMENT & BREATHE | |||
| MORNING | 0930 – 1000 | CAFÉ TIME | Zoom Room open for casual chat & questions |
| 1000 – 1030 | CRAFT TALK | Writing the Impossible | How often have we heard people remark offhandedly, “It’s impossible to put into words”? Describing the seemingly indescribable is our job as writers. Let’s do it beautifully. | |
| 1030 – 1200 | WRITING IN COMPANY | Develop new writing from the Craft Talk, or focus on your work-in-progress | |
| 1200 – 1300 | LUNCH | Zoom Room re-opens at 1245 | |
| AFTERNOON | After lunch, two seminars run simultaneously. Attend one live; watch the recording of the other. | Recordings available about 30 minutes after end-of-day | |
| 1300-1445 | CRAFT SEMINAR | Writing What You Don’t Know The power of perhapsing—how speculation, research, deduction, mysticism & do-overs illuminate your memoir | CRAFT SEMINAR | Powerful Characters (and Dialogue): Creating compelling and realistic characters is challenging in memoir because we know the people we are writing about so well. But our readers have never met our mothers, ex-lovers, or bullying neighbors, so we must bring them fully to life. We’ll explore how character works, in real life and on the page. | |
| 1445 | CLOSING WORDS | Day ends 3PM Eastern | Review, inspiration & next steps | |
| TAKE A MOMENT & BREATHE | |||
| MORNING | 0930 – 1000 | CAFÉ TIME | Zoom Room open for casual chat & questions |
| 1000 – 1100 | CRAFT TALK | Experimental Essay in a Can | Enjoy an unusual prompt that leads to an unconventional flash essay. | |
| 1100-1200 | WRITING IN COMPANY | Develop new writing from the Craft Talk, or focus on your work-in-progress | |
| 1200 – 1300 | LUNCH | Zoom Room re-opens at 1245 | |
| AFTERNOON | 1300 – 1345 | PUBLISHING Q&A | Your writing in the world |
| 1345 | CLOSING WORDS | Day ends 2PM Eastern | Recommitting to our goals | |
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Joining The Retreat
Nope! What matters is that you’re committed to writing better.
Some writers will work on existing drafts or ideas they’ve explored. Some writers will start from scratch and generate new material from the daily prompts.
- You can be working on a memoir, essays, or exploring your own writing process. You don’t need any pre-existing material.
- You’re writing in English, because Allison & Dinty 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.
Writers don’t critique each others’ pages, so the experience level of your fellow writers isn’t a big factor in the intensive.
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.
Dinty and Allison 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 Talk 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 for the day. Afterwards, we check in on how our writing went.
Not for this intensive, sorry!
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
Rebirth Your Writing accepts Venmo, Zelle, Canadian e-transfers, US checks, PayPal and credit cards via PayPal.
If you’d like to use a payment plan, you may pay in three installments, due on registration, December 15th and January 15th.
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 and we can fill your place from the waitlist, we will refund your tuition minus a $75 administrative fee. Refunds will be sent within 30 days of receipt of notice of cancellation.
If we can’t fill your place from the waitlist, 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.