Workshops & Webinars
Looking for practical tools and inspiration? You’ll find a few here! I offer webinars as well as in-person classes. But fair warning: I sneak in ideas with broader potential to touch your spirit and improve your life.
Joni’s instructional style is clear, welcoming, and well-paced. The material in her webinar was insightful and easy to apply immediately to my work-in-progress; I am eagerly awaiting her next class!
— Author Ann Haywood Leal
Past webinars now available online:
Mind/Body Tricks for Writers
Access fee: $10
Learn and practice a few easy, mindful movements to ignite the most creative parts of your brain, prime your mind for success, and counteract the Keyboard Hunch or long stretches of sitting. Based on a combination of brain science, psychology, and art therapy techniques, this fun recorded workshop is useful for every writer. Contact me for payment & recording access.
Kudos to Joni for being such an inspirational teacher of writing!
Author and journalist Joan Axelrod Contrada
Once Upon a Revision (Two Sessions)
Clear stakes, a strong protagonist, a satisfying plot arc, and universal themes are critical for a successful fiction manuscript. Guess what—they’re also core elements of fairy tales, and they’re much more easily grasped in that form. Learn how writing a short fairy tale can give you a powerful revision tool for a work-in-progress, no matter your genre, including contemporary.
Thinking about the fairy tale version of your book can not only help you clarify structure and plot, it can pinpoint what’s driving you to write it— useful for honing theme and helping you get that manuscript to a “happily ever after.”
This one-of-a-kind workshop will be held in two sessions: the first to get you started and a second to share the results, answer questions, and further explore how to put your fairy tale to work. Best for novelists with a WIP but also may be fun and useful for PB writers or those still musing a story they want to write. Contact Joni for payment instructions, recording link, and handout.
Joni provided a comfortable atmosphere, has command of the subject matter and encouraged participation.
— Daniel T., Whatcom Community College course student, 2022
Beyond the Hero’s Journey: Build Stronger Characters Using Archetypes
Access fee: $10
Get an unusual look at character development that draws from the same well as Campbell’s hero’s journey: archetypes. Archetypes arise where character and action interact. Becoming more conscious of their patterns can help you create more convincing characters. Watch this recording of this completed 75-minute webinar and receive a PDF handout and worksheet by email. Ideal for novelists, but with applications for other creatives, including nonfiction authors and artists. Contact Joni for payment instructions, recording link, and handout.
I highly recommend Joni’s “Beyond the Hero’s Journey.” This presentation gives writers a helpful tool for digging beneath the surface of character to develop nuance and complexity.
— Author & journalist Joan Axelrod Contrada
Joni’s refreshing take on archetypes and how they can evolve has given me a new framework for re-examining my characters, and tools for making them more vivid. Her handouts are clear and explanations thorough. I only wish there were more time to dig deeper.
— Author Brenda Winter Hansen
What additional students have said:
“Very informative course and fun, friendly instructor. I enjoyed myself very much.”
—Jamie E., Whatcom Community College course, 2022
“Joni has an easy, natural way of teaching that I really appreciated.”
“Great class! A fresh approach to old problems. Great critique ideas and a ton of inspiration.”
“Joni is a knowledgeable, approachable & engaging instructor. The class was great!”
“The best class I’ve taken from Hugo House. I would definitely take another class with Joni.”
Hugo House course students, 2010-2011