Guidelines for Workshop Submissions

Starfish by Anita Holladay, all rights reservedOur workshops emphasize collaboration, encouragement, and craft. When you submit a manuscript for our workshops, you can trust your writing will be treated with respect, confidentiality, and thorough attention.

In order to give workshop participants time to study each other’s manuscripts, we require writers to submit their manuscripts to us prior to the festival so that we can distribute them to workshop participants in a timely fashion.

How to Submit Manuscripts

After you register for a Fiction or Nonfiction Workshop, send to the Orcas Island Writers Festival the material you would like to work on during your workshop. For the Fiction Workshop, send a short story or a novel excerpt. For the Nonfiction Workshop, send a creative nonfiction essay or a memoir excerpt.

  • Send a maximum of ten pages. Use reasonable formatting. We don’t measure your margins or check your font, but something along the lines of 12-point, Times New Roman font, one-inch margins, and double-spaced paragraphs would be nice. Be respectful of your fellow workshop participants. No handwritten submissions will be accepted.
  • Please email your submission to festivalgurus@orcasislandwritersfestival.com. Paste your submission into the body of the email AND attach it as a document. Word (.doc, not .docx) format is preferred.
  • All manuscript submissions must be by received by August 17, 2010.

We compile the submissions for each workshop and email them to their respective workshop participants. Be sure to read these selections prior to the festival. We encourage you to give time to your workshop’s manuscripts and come prepared with comments and suggestions. Our faculty is excellent, but a workshop is collaborative. The more you put into it, the more you’ll get out of it. Again, we encourage you to be respectful of your fellow workshop participants.

Hands by Susan Slapin, all rights reservedDon’t worry if your work is not “finished” before sending it to us. We are not agents or publishers. Take this opportunity to stretch and grow as a writer. You will be among friends in a supportive atmosphere. Join the process toward a deeper understanding of the writing craft.