Summer Writing Reboot 2026

WLT’s Summer Writing Reboot presents: The reBOOT Camp! PLEASE NOTE: The deadline to register for The reBOOT Camp is Friday, July 31 at 5:00 PM CT. Registration for The Write Away and The Full REBOOT is now closed. Are you feeling unmotivated, uninspired, or simply not where you wanted to be in your writing goals halfway through the year? It’s time for a REBOOT. Designed to help you grow your writing network and receive valuable feedback on your work-in-progress, The reBOOT Camp features an opening craft talk, four hours of workshop, and a closing student reading. The reBOOT Camp will take place at the Munday Library on St. Edward’s University campus in Austin, TX, on Saturday, August 15 from 10:00 AM till 5:00 PM CT. The reBOOT Camp is fully live and in-person. No part of the event will be recorded. Don’t let this summer slip you by. Dust off that work-in-progress, and let’s REBOOT. The reBOOT Camp: $199 for Members, $259 for Non-Members Opening Craft Talk / 10:00-11:00 AM Workshop Breakout 1 / 11:00 AM – 1:00 PM Lunch Break & Social Hour (lunch provided by WLT) / 1:00-2:00 PM Workshop Breakout 2 / 2:00-4:00 PM Closing Student Reading / 4:00-5:00 PM Meet the Workshop Leaders: Fiction Evan Griffith (he/him) is the award-winning author of the middle-grade novels Manatee Summer and The Strange Wonders of Roots and the picture book biographies Secrets of the Sea: The Story of Jeanne Power, Revolutionary Marine Scientist and Wild at Heart: The Story of Olaus and Mardy Murie, Defenders of Nature. His books have received the Green Earth Book Award and the Sigurd F. Olson Nature Writing Award; been featured on several state award lists; and earned multiple starred reviews, among other honors. A third novel and several new picture books are slated for release in 2027 and beyond. Evan studied creative writing at UNC Chapel Hill and received his MFA in Writing for Children at VCFA. He worked for several years as an editor at Workman Publishing, where he specialized in non-fiction for children and adults. He often teaches online writing classes and enjoys mentoring writers of all ages. Connect with him online at www.evangriffithbooks.com. Richard Z. Santos is the author of Trust Me and the editor of A Night of Screams: Latino Horror Stories. His fiction and essays have appeared in Texas Monthly, Slate, Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, Oxford American, The Rumpus, Los Angeles Review of Books, Like the Wind, Austin Noir (Akashic Books), Lone Stars Rising (Harper Wave), and more. He teaches fiction at Austin Community College. James Wade is currently serving as the Spring 2026 Dobie Paisano Fellow at the University of Texas at Austin. He is the youngest novelist to win two Spur Awards from the Western Writers of America, and the recipient of the MPIBA’s prestigious Reading the West Award. He is the author of five novels and more than twenty short stories. His debut novel, All Things Left Wild, was listed as one of the most influential westerns of the 21st century by True West Magazine and included in the Los Angeles Times‘s 1,001 Novels: A Library of America. After receiving a starred review from Publishers Weekly, his most recent novel, Narrow the Road, won the Western Heritage Museum’s 2026 Wrangler Award, the 2026 Will Rogers Medallion Award, and is currently Longlisted for the Mark Twain American Voice in Literature Award. His nonfiction has appeared in Texas Highways, Writer’s Digest, and Porter House Review. His essay “The Gospel of Change,” received the Texas Institute of Letters’ Edwin “Bud” Shrake Award for Excellence in Short Nonfiction. James was inducted into the Texas Institute of Letters in 2026. Memoir/Creative Nonfiction Madeline Vosch is a writer, translator, and professor. Her first book, Undead: A Memoir, was published in April from Beacon Press. Her work has been published in Ploughshares, The Washington Post, and The Rumpus, among others. She holds an MTS from Harvard University and an MFA from the University of Alabama. She contributed translations to the poetry collection, The Scar We Know. She is a Fulbright grant recipient. She was awarded the Ploughshares Emerging Writer Award for Nonfiction, was an Aspen Words Emerging Writer Fellow, and is an alum of the Tin House Summer Workshop. Poetry C. Prudence Arceneaux is the author of two chapbooks– DIRT (2018 Jean Pedrick Prize) and LIBERTY– and the full length PROPRIOCEPTION (2026 Texas Institute of Letters Honor Winner of the Naomi Shihab Nye Award for Best First Book of Poetry). Her work has appeared in numerous creative spaces, such as The Academy of American Poets’ Poem- A- Day, Texas Observer, and Inkwell. She is the Department Chair of Creative Writing at Austin Community College in Austin, Texas. About the Workshop Groups: Workshops will be grouped by genre: Fiction, Creative Nonfiction/Memoir, & Poetry. Groups will be capped at 8 writers per group & will be led by an experienced workshop leader, such as the faculty listed above. Additional faculty will be added to meet demand.. For prose workshop groups, you may submit a 1,000-1,500 word writing sample. For poetry workshop groups, you may submit up to three pages of poems (i.e., 3 one-page poems or 1-2 longer poems totaling no more than three pages). Writing samples will be due on Friday, July 31 at 5:00 PM CT. About the Opening Craft Talk: The Art of Waking Up: In this craft talk, Madeline Vosch will explore how art and writing can jolt us awake and experience the world anew. Drawing from the work of Victor Shklovsky, Walter Benjamin, and Guy Debord, attendees will gain insight on how to build new worlds for themselves and their readers. The deadline to register for The reBOOT Camp is Friday, July 31 at 5:00 PM CT. The Write Away: $199 for Members, $259 for Non-Members Designed to help you get inspired and get your word count up, The Write Away features 32-hours of dedicated, shared writing time; weekly Craft Talks designed to keep you inspired, and a special Saturday Craft Seminar featuring Elizabeth McCracken’s new craft book A Long Game, which all attendees will receive for free. The Write Away is fully virtual and accessible from anywhere. While the shared writing time will be synchronous and unrecorded, all craft presentations will be recorded and made available to all those registered, regardless of whether they can attend live. Orientation Wednesday, July 15: 7:00-8:00 PM CT Week 1 Monday, July 20: Write-in / 6:00-9:00 PM CT Tuesday, July 21: Craft Talk: “Reaching Toward Unexpected Imagery” with Saúl Hernández / 6:00-7:00 PM CT Write-in / 7:00-9:00 PM CT Wednesday, July 22: Write-in / 6:00-9:00 PM CT Week 2 Monday, July 27: Write-in / 6:00-9:00 PM CT Tuesday, July 28: Craft Talk: “ABCs and 123s: Making the Personal Matter” with Emily Rapp Black / 6:00-7:00 PM CT Write-in / 7:00-9:00 PM CT Wednesday, July 29: Write-in / 6:00-9:00 PM CT Week 3 Monday, August 3: Write-in / 6:00-9:00 PM CT Tuesday, August 4: Craft Talk: “Getting Unstuck” with Ramona Ausubel / 6:00-7:00 PM CT Write-in / 7:00-9:00 PM CT Wednesday, August 5: Write-in / 6:00-9:00 PM CT Saturday, August 8: Saturday Craft Seminar: “A Long Game” with Elizabeth McCracken / 10:00-11:30 AM Includes a complimentary copy of A Long Game: Notes on Writing Fiction Week 4 Monday, August 10: Write-in / 6:00-9:00 PM CT Tuesday, August 11: Craft Talk: “Why This, Now?” with Amy Gentry / 6:00-7:00 PM CT Write-in / 7:00-9:00 PM CT Wednesday, August 12: Write-in / 6:00-9:00 PM CT About The Write Away Sessions: Each Write Away session is three hours in length and will take place every Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday on Zoom from 6:00 PM CT to 9:00 PM CT. Each session begins either with a Craft Talk or with an opportunity for sharing your intentions for the evening – what you’ll be working on, any goals you have. After that, you’ll turn cameras and microphones off (with everyone welcome to check-in via the chat box throughout) to write, write, write. At the end, the group comes back together for a “We did it! Goodnight!” You can stay for all three hours or just pop in for a short time, attend all 12 sessions or skip the ones you need to skip, it’s up to you. But, regardless, the space will be there for you (and your fellow writers will be there for you) all four weeks! The deadline to register for The Write Away is Monday, July 20 at 5:00 PM CT. The Full REBOOT (The Write Away + The reBOOT Camp): $349 for Members, $409 for Non-Members Designed to help you write, write, write for four weeks, and then to meet fellow writers IRL and receive feedback on what you’ve been working on, The Full REBOOT gives you total access to both The Write Away and the The reBOOT Camp. From July 15 until August 15, you’ll get to prioritize your creativity and end the summer with a bevy of words, feedback, and new connections, to boot. The (virtual) Write Away + The (in-person) reBOOT Camp = The Full REBOOT! The deadline to register for The Full REBOOT is Monday, July 20 at 5:00 PM CT. You may register online, or download the mail-in registration form here. The deadline to register for The Write Away & The Full REBOOT is Monday, July 20 at 5:00 PM CT. The deadline to register for The reBOOT Camp is Friday, July 31 at 5:00 PM CT.