Creative Writing Workshops

Find Your Words

This summer Bridge Eight Press has partnered with MOCA Jacksonville to offer two, six-week creative writing workshops.

Each workshop will cap at 10 participants and meet for two to three hours at a time over the span of six weeks. Each session will focus on elevating your craft in your genre of choice (poetry or fiction).

Select an option below for workshop details and to apply.

Applications close May 31.

Accepted participants will be notified via email by June 3.

A quick note about the review process. We know that ‘applying’ to a workshop can mean a lot of things. For us, requiring an application helps us ensure that each participant is actively working on a project and is willing to put in the effort to make the workshop a success for both themselves and their classmates. We welcome any-sized project at any stage of development. 

About the Workshop

In this six-week workshop, you will engage with poems, other writers, and yourself in many different ways, always with the intention of moving closer to meeting your personal writing goals. Expect to read and investigate work by established poets, sharpen your craft skills, participate in meaningful discussions, and consider not just how poems operate, but why they matter to each of us.

Each week, we will workshop select poems by at least two participants and generate new work. We’ll adjust the readings and instruction based on participants’ goals and interests, established during the first session.

We’ll celebrate the end of the program with a public reading featuring all participants.

What We’ll Cover

Each participant will:

• Look closely at the fundamental techniques that shape the poems we read and write
• Develop and refine craft (the line, stanza, sound, image, and metaphor, to name a few)
• Explore numerous strategies in drafting and revising poems
• Generate new work
• Cultivate relationships with other writers for guidance and feedback
• Have your poems workshopped by the group at least once
• Receive personal, practical instruction adapted to individual goals
• Have the opportunity to present their work in a public reading

A Note From the Host

“My hope is that our six sessions together will move you closer to your personal artistic goals and add vibrancy to your summer. I want to help you build or re-establish a foundation on which to grow—maybe that’s with practical knowledge about craft, or with a sense of ritual and routine around your writing. Maybe it’s through community, through shared conversation, or through being held accountable.”

About Jennifer

Jennifer Bundy is a poet and author of the audio chapbook Girls (EAT Poems). She is Senior Poetry Editor of Bridge Eight Press and teaches creative writing at Douglas Anderson School of the Arts, where she co-directs the Douglas Anderson Writers’ Festival. She previously taught at IES José María Infantes, a school for the arts in Utrera, Spain. Jennifer holds an MFA in Poetry from the University of Nebraska at Omaha.

About the Workshop

In this workshop, you will be tasked with defining or redefining what a story means to you. Whether that is a concern for the broader picture of things (plot, character, conceit) or simply figuring out how to write the best sentence possible, this course will meet you where you are and work with you to take you where you want to go.

Each participant will have the opportunity to hear one piece workshopped by the instructor and their peers, and have that discussion guided by what the writer wants to get from the course.

We’ll cap the course by participating in a short 500-word flash fiction contest amongst ourselves.

What We’ll Cover

Each participant will:

• Generate a response to “What makes a story?” and “Why do I want to write one?”
• Develop a foundational understanding of good vs. bad writing habits, and how to critique your own work
• Explore the multiple components of a story (character, plot, dialogue, conflict, emotion) in order to refine their own interests
• Engage with and develop relationships within Jacksonville’s growing literary community
• Learn about the publishing process, and how to go about submitting your work to the right literary journals

A Note from the Host

“As a writer, I’m sure you understand what it means to be in the thick of it. There’s nothing like getting lost in your own work, in shaping your own ideas into something a little more transformative. That’s the inspiration behind this workshop.”

About Caleb

Caleb Michael Sarvis is a writer from Jacksonville, Florida. He is the author of Dead Aquarium (Mastodon Publishing 2019), the managing editor for Bridge Eight Press, and co-host of the Drunken Book Review Podcast. His story “An Unfaded Black” was short-listed for Best American Short Stories 2018, edited by Roxane Gay. He received his MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Tampa and you can find his work in Hobart, Volt, Saw Palm, Split Lip Magazine, and several others.

Commitment & Make-up Sessions

These workshops are a commitment for both the teacher and the students. You are encouraged to check your calendars and assess your level of interest, and your commitment to completing the program before signing up. For those of you who have a conflict with one of the session dates, make-up sessions can be arranged.