Retainer program
Get personalized help with your writing project
"Your help and excellent counsel has helped me persevere to write my first book. I can't thank you enough." “You've given me so much—to not only jump start my rewrite in response to the agent feedback I received, but also to keep improving my writing on future projects." "My work has grown exponentially. Your comments were right on point." "You opened up for me a whole new realm of possibility that I couldn't seem to figure out!"
—past retainer clients
Eight weeks of private coaching with weekly check-ins by email, customized assignments, and evaluation of up to 250 d/s pages of your book-in-progress. Also available for newer writers who want help and accountability to start writing regularly. Email Mary for details: mary(at)marycarrollmoore(dot)com. Now booking for spring 2018.
Winter online classes
Start February 14 for eight weeks
sponsored by The Loft Literary Center online
You have a gift for discovering the heart of each writer's story, coaxing it to the surface, and allowing each of us to learn from our classmates.
—student in 2017 summer online class
Writing Authentic, Amazing Dialogue for Fiction and Memoir
Dialogue makes or breaks your fiction and memoir. We'll analyze amazing dialogue by famous writers, then craft or refine our own using modeling techniques, weekly assignments, lively discussion, and feedback. Find out more >
Your Book Starts Here: Learn to Storyboard Your Book!
Learn and practice a simple template to find the best structure for your book--in any genre. Find out more >
Spring in-person classes
at the Loft Literary Center, Minneapolis
Afternoon Character Intensive, Thursday, March 28, 12:00–5:00 p.m.
Characters are the heartbeat of story—whether imagined or real, they must come alive on the page. Author Marilynne Robinson says that
great characters create an almost "emotional entanglement" with a reader. But how do you, as a writer, work with characters? Find out more >
Your Book Starts Here: Learn to Storyboard Your Book! Friday, March 29, 10:00 a.m.–4:30 p.m.
Learn and practice a simple template to find the best structure for your book—in any genre. Find out more >
at Grub Street, Boston
Your Book Starts Here: Learn to Storyboard Your Book! Saturday, April 21, 10:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m.
Learn and practice a simple template to find the best structure for your book—in any genre. Find out more >
Week-long writing retreats and independent study weeks
Your Book Starts Here: How to Plan, Write, and Develop Your Memoir, Novel, or Nonfiction Book
ONLY 1 SPOT STILL OPEN!
at Tanque Verde Ranch, Tucson
on Madeline Island, Lake Superior
Best creative week ever! My book took a leap forward. Wonderful community, relaxed, yet productive. I can see why writers return every year.
—past attendee
Give yourself—and your creativity—a week away, where you can focus on your book, have plenty of time to write, plus gain craft skills at your level through workshops and daily coaching sessions with Mary. Excellent accomodations, beautiful locations, where you can get quiet enough to hear your own words. For writers at any level with a book project in any genre. Click on dates above to find out more.