Interview with Eleanor Brown, workshop leader
Q: How did you get involved in this business?
A: At signings and events for my novel, “The Weird Sisters,” I constantly meet people who say things like, “I want to write a book, but I’m not a writer.” They might have unique ideas and fascinating stories, but they don’t feel they have permission to write. I wondered how I could change that and decided to create a supportive place where those folks could finally commit to their writing instead of just dreaming about it.
Q: What distinguishes you from other businesses in your category?
A: The Writers’ Table is less about the craft and business of writing and more about giving people time, space and permission to write. In each session we spend part of our time together just writing. Then we share what we’ve written and discuss it in positive and supportive ways. Creating a place where writers feel safe is vital to me — that’s when we do our best work and learn the most. During our sessions, we don’t critique or talk about what’s wrong with a piece of writing. We talk about what works, what it makes us think of or wonder about. During our conversations I often share my writing knowledge or lead a discussion about writing technique, but it’s not a formal class.
Q: What do you like best about your line of work?
A: Leading writing workshops combines my two great loves: writing and teaching. I’m a certified teacher with more than 15 years of experience teaching both adults and children. I get such joy watching members grow as writers and surprise themselves. Often people are telling stories they have been thinking about for years, but when they actually write them down they stumble across new ideas or make incredible realizations about the story and, often, about themselves. I get so excited when a writer shares something emotionally honest — it doesn’t matter to me if it’s fiction or nonfiction; if it makes the group sit back and think, or laugh or cry, that’s powerful stuff.
Q: What is your business’ biggest challenge?
A: Getting members to let themselves write. Workshop participants come in with all kinds of hang-ups — they feel like they need to have the story all planned out, or they want to apologize for the quality of their writing before they share, or they think their first draft has to be perfect. My job is to help writers get out of their own way and write. I promise they’ll discover the themes as they go and they can edit and improve the quality of their writing later, but none of that can happen unless they get some words on the page.
Q: Something people might be surprised to learn about you or your business:
A: Writing just for the pleasure of it is so much fun. A lot of us associate writing with schoolwork, or we think we need something important to say, but some of the best pieces that come out of our workshop are when people just take off and write.
Profile
Business: The Writers’ Table
Address: Based out of Highlands Ranch
Hours: Varies by workshop; regularly 7-9 p.m. Tuesdays, 1-3 p.m. or 7-9 p.m. Thursdays
Founded: 2014
Contact: 303-396-3019,
Employees: 1
