This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , a poet and educator, lives in New Paltz, New York.  She has over twenty years teaching experience at local colleges and community colleges, and over ten years leading workshops for those who wish to, as well writers who make, writing their art.

Kate edited the wVw Anthology 2011, a collection of memoir, short fiction and poetry, written by fifteen Hudson Valley writers.

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Email Kate Hymes - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

1. Everyone is someone who can write.
2. Everyone is born with creative genius.
3. Everyone can use words to make art.
4. Everyone has a strong, unique voice.
5. Everyone  has a compelling story – real or imagined – that deserves to be told.
6. Everyone can use writing to understand themselves and others, and make sense of the world.
7. Everyone has strengths as an individual and as a writer that deserve encouragement, empathy and compassion.
8. Writing as an art form belongs to all people, regardless of economic or educational level.
9. The teaching of craft can be done without damage to the writer's original voice or artistic self-esteem.
10. Writing and sharing what we write encourages a sense of community that promotes openness, respect and creativity.

--Pat Schneider, Founder and Director Emeritus, Amherst Writers and Artists

1. Everyone writes during the workshop. 
2. We write in response to prompts provided by the workshop leader. If a prompt does not inspire or evoke writing, then write what feels right for you in the moment.
3. You are invited to read your new work. You may choose not to read.
4. We honor new writing by listening carefully and quietly.
5. All writing is treated as fiction.
6. We respond to writing by referring to the narrator, the speaker, the character, or the writer’s craft. We respond by saying what we liked, what stayed with us, what moved us. No suggestion, correction or question is directed toward the writer in response to first-draft, just written work.
7. We focus on the content of the writing that is read. We avoid telling our own stories or speaking from our own experience.
8. We pledge to respect the safety and sacredness of this writing space by keeping what is written and said in workshop private and confidential.

adapted from Amherst Writers and Artists