Let’s Write!

I came across Mary’s workshops through a lucky turn of chance, and am so glad that I did! She is uniquely capable of creating a learning environment that is nurturing in a way that allows writers’ voices to emerge. Her critique is thoughtful and always constructive, and I really appreciate her patience in meeting people where they are, at whatever stage of mastery that might be. I could tell that everyone in the group grew as a result of Mary’s teaching, and I am sure to return. I would recommend Mary to anyone who wants to explore what they are capable of and seeks a wise hand to guide them in that process. Mary’s style is marked by both compassion and precise, invaluable insight, and I believe anyone would be lucky to have the chance to take one of her classes.

Writing is many things, sometimes joyful and exhilarating, sometimes brooding and painful. Sometimes immersed and pages of lyrical prose emerge, sometimes it’s like Jack Nicholson staring and pretending that pages and pages of brilliant work is being created but really it’s blank pages, that’s all.
Working with Mary R. is one of those transcendent experiences where you begin to love language, both the «handsome» words and the value of simple language to tell a direct story, emotions revealed in the spare and the flourishes, a dance of perfection that under her brilliant guidance takes shape, and may come as a surprise.
Mary R. is generous and gentle; in that nourishing space your writing becomes essential and is precisely what you want and need to say. My Tuesdays with Mary R. let me dig deeper and write more honestly, coming to understand the layers of truth and disguise of the process, and perhaps become more humane, more compassionate, even in the real world.
Writing is craft and discipline and Mary R. is an extraordinary teacher.
My Tuesdays with Mary R. became memorable and necessary, and my deepest understanding of how to write. For me that was stripping to the essential and allowing the story to grow organically, not exactly what I’d done on my own.
Madeleine Gallay