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Start the New Year with an Inlandia Writing Workshop!
Registration is now open for a variety of NEW and ongoing workshops. Classes begin January 5, 2026. Sign up today and become part of the Inlandia community of writers!
Class size may be limited.
$50 EACH • 5 SESSIONS OVER 10 WEEKS • ENROLL TODAY! https://tinyurl.com/Winter2026CWW
The Backstory with Gina Rae Duran
(For all adults of all abilities, ages, and writing levels. All genres.)
Alternating Mondays, 1/5, 1/19, 2/2, 2/16, and 3/2/26, 6:00-7:30 PM PT, on ZOOM.
$50. Registration required. https://tinyurl.com/Winter2026CWW
This workshop is geared for dramatic, fiction, fantasy, and sci-fi authors with an emphasis on world building. How do languages, cultural beliefs, and land shape the story of your characters? All writing can benefit from backstory, but when creating fictional characters in new worlds, there are questions of magic and the possibility of hundreds and thousands of years in a character’s life that help develop a story before it even touches the page. Readers and viewers fill in the blanks with their imaginations, and often come close to the real story when there is strong character development. Knowing your characters well helps to write what they will say and do next. Characters become their own so much that, they are no longer you, they are their own entities.
Gina Rae Duran is an interdisciplinary Xicanx artist, and trauma informed educator. She is Editor of The White Picket Fence anthology, forthcoming FlowerSong Press, author of, “…and so, the Wind was Born,” FlowerSong Press, radio personality of The Collective, and founder of IE Hope Collective; an outreach for disadvantaged youth.
All Genres Workshop with Renee Gurley
(INT-ADV)
Alternating Wednesdays, 1/7, 1/21, 2/4, 2/18, and 3/4/26, 6:00-9:00 PM PT, on ZOOM.
$50. Registration required. https://tinyurl.com/Winter2026CWW
In this multi-genre workshop, participants submit poetry and prose for biweekly critiques and receive feedback from other group members. Discussions include the craft of writing and the challenges writers face. The workshop leader provides biweekly articles and links related to participants’ work, particularly to problems that were discussed in the previous session.
Renee (RJ) Gurley (she/her) is a writer and English teacher with an MA and MFA, and over 20 years of experience. Her work appears in Coping Magazine, Lehigh Valley Woman’s Journal, and Midwifery Monthly. Cállate!, the first chapter of her memoir, Lehigh Valley Woman’s Journal, and Midwifery Monthly. Cállate!, the first chapter of her memoir, was shortlisted in the First Pages Contest.
The Art and Craft of Writing Poetry with Romaine Washington
(All Levels)
Alternating Thursdays, 1/8, 1/22, 2/5, 2/19, and 3/5/26, 6:00-8:00 PM PT, on Zoom.
$50. Registration required. https://tinyurl.com/Winter2026CWW
Discover the art and craft of writing poetry with generative prompts and other forms of poetic inspiration. Brief group feedback will help you uncover images and language that resonate for you and for your audience.
Romaine Washington, M. Ed., is a twice Pushcart-nominated poet. She is the editor of These Black Bodies Are… A Blacklandia Anthology and returning guest editor for Cholla Needles. She has authored two books Purgatory Has an Address and Sirens in Her Belly. Ms. Washington is a graduate fellow of The Watering Hole, South Carolina, and the Inland Area Writing Project at the University of California, Riverside. For over twenty years, she taught language arts and now enjoys facilitating workshops. The proud mother of two sons, Romaine Washington, is a native Californian residing in the Inland Empire.
Writing for Children with José Chávez
(BEG-INT)
Alternating Mondays, 1/12, 1/26, 2/9, 2/23, and 3/9/26, 6:00-8:00 PM PT, on ZOOM.
$50. Registration required. https://tinyurl.com/Winter2026CWW
This workshop is designed to meet the needs of those who wish to write or are writing for children. We’ll define a “picture book,” and demonstrate story introductions, character development, plot and theme, appropriate vocabulary, and more. There will be time to flex our writing muscles and develop the beauty and strength of our “voice” for children.
José Chávez is a poet, educator, and consultant. He’s written two award-winning bilingual children’s poetry books that offer the rhythm and oral practice that help children learn to read. He teaches Writing for Children online and is finishing a book of poetry book for teachers.
The Spoken Page: Poetry, Dialogue, Monologue and Scene with David Puma
(All levels)
Alternating Tuesdays, 1/13, 1/27, 2/10, 2/24, and 3/10/26, 6:00-8:00 PM PT, IN PERSON at Riverside Main Library, 3900 Mission Inn Ave, Riverside.
$50. Registration required. https://tinyurl.com/Winter2026CWW
In this flexible, multi-genre workshop, we will explore the relationship between the fundamentals of poetry and dialogue, monologue, and the practice of setting a scene. This workshop is not constrained by genre and is designed to work in-tune with traditional poetry, novel/fiction writing, memoir writing, playwriting and/or screenwriting. If you have an idea that you are either working on or are interested in beginning, it has a place in this workshop!
Over the course of the workshop, we will analyze examples of film, spoken word poetry, plays and literature to help understand what truly makes a piece of performance writing become captivating. Rhythm, word choice, voice, and efficiency are all tools writers must have at their disposal, and this workshop seeks to help writers generate, develop and experiment with the medium of their choosing in an inclusive and collaborative environment. The best training I ever got for writing dialogue in scripts was learning how to write poems. The goal of this workshop is to refine the way we look for the poetry in everything we write.
David Puma obtained an M.F.A. in Creative Writing at San Jose State University and a B.A. in Creative Writing from the University of Redlands. He has performed spoken word across California, including the Bay Area, Los Angeles, and the Inland Empire, as well as in New York City and abroad in London, U.K. Professionally, his poetry has been included on streaming platforms like Disney+.
Sci-Fi, Fantasy, and Horror Fiction with RM Ambrose
(INT-ADV)
Alternating Wednesdays, 1/14, 1/28, 2/11, 2/25, and 3/11/26, 6:00-8:00 PM PT, on ZOOM.
$50. Registration required. https://tinyurl.com/Winter2026CWW
In this workshop participants submit Science Fiction, Fantasy, or Horror (SFFH or Speculative Fiction) prose. Submissions may be short stories or excerpts of longer works. Fellow participants are expected to give each work a “close reading” prior to the meeting where we provide verbal feedback (i.e.,“Milford” method). Instructor will provide lectures and exercises on various topics such as how to give and receive feedback, subgenres under the “spec fic” umbrella, character, worldbuilding, endings, use of violence, novel “plot breaking,” “verb poetry,” flash fiction, “The 10% Solution,” and navigating the “genre fiction” industry. Topics will seldom repeat from quarter to quarter, but topics of interest to participants will be prioritized for each quarter
RM Ambrose received his MFA in Creative Writing with concentrations in Popular Fiction and Scriptwriting from Stonecoast at University of Southern Maine. He attended the Taos Toolbox workshop with Hugo-winning instructors Walter Jon Williams, Nancy Kress, and George R. R. Martin. He edited Inlandia book Vital: The Future of Healthcare, including one Best American SFF story and two award-winners for disability representation in Speculative Fiction. He guest-edited the medical issue of Future SF Digest, including two Years Best SF reading list stories. He was Assistant Fiction Editor at the Hugo-winning StarShipSofa Podcast. His story, “Olive Branch,” appears in Friends Journal.
Writing the Personal Essay with JD Mathes
(All Levels)
Alternating Thursdays, 1/15, 1/29, 2/12, 2/26, and 3/12/26, 6:00-8:00 PM PT, on ZOOM.
$50. Registration required. https://tinyurl.com/Winter2026CWW
In this workshop, participants will explore moments from their lives and use research to uncover connections between themselves and the wider world – topics can include nature, science, travel, culture, history – to write personal essays that ring with humanity.
J.D. Mathes grew up a feral child in the deserts of the American Southwest who loved to read library books. He is the award winning author of five books: Ahead of the Flaming Front: A Life on Fire, winner of the North American Book Prize; Shipwrecks and Other Stories, an essay collection Fever and Guts: A Symphony; The Journal West: Poems; and the forthcoming Of Time and Punishment: A Memoir – the result of his PEN America Writing for Justice Fellowship. He has published essays in journals such as The Sun, The Southern Review, War, Literature & the Arts, The Fourth Genre, and The Baltimore Review. Among things he’s done to support his writing, and two daughters have been a wildland firefighter on a helicopter-rappel crew and logistics at Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station, Antarctica where he led the Southernmost Writers Workshop in the World. www.jdmathes.com
