Walking the beach at low tide in Provincetown. This is behind Norman's house.

I recently received an e-mail from the Norman Mailer Writers Colony in Provincetown, Mass, informing me that I’ve been accepted for a workshop this summer!

I’ll be taking “When is a Writer’s Work Done” with Veronica Windholz, a manuscript editor of fiction and nonfiction for more than thirty years who has worked with Norman Mailer, E.L. Doctorow, and Salman Rushdie, among others. She’s on the staff at Viking Penguin, has taught in the publishing program at NYU’s School of Continuing and Professional Studies, and has held positions at Random House and the Aaron M. Priest Literary Agency.

I’m absolutely thrilled and honored to get the chance to work with her, and this course will focus on revision. A description, from the Norman Mailer website: You’ve finished writing. You’re sure that you’ve said everything you needed to say. In this workshop, we’ll walk through the next stage of manuscript preparation: revision. Using the hands-on editing techniques of the professional close reader, we’ll focus on: avoiding clutter, sharpening organization, maintaining internal logic, and building forward momentum. Whatever genre you write in, you’ll learn how to use fewer words and better words, and how to make them count. 

7 attendees were selected based on merit.

Last year, I had the privilege of working with Marita Golden in a workshop on narrative (called Fiction: The Protagonists), and what it’s done for my work has been amazing. I also met some very talented writers and all-around cool people. I’m looking forward to a repeat performance this year! I’ll be at the colony July 31 – August 7.