Happy Honeybee Day! Let’s Write about Nature!

Posted on by Ashley Harris

Writers!

The third Saturday in August is designated as World Honeybee Day, which gives us the opportunity to recognize our favorite partners in gardening. Honeybees are critical to our ecosystem, and for gardeners, they help us by not only pollinating our favorite flowers, they also pollinate one-third of the world’s food supply, such as apples, blueberries, and almonds, to name just a few. And sweetest of all, they give us honey!

If you’d like to explore ways to write about our tiny winged partners and nature in general, you might be interested in joining us at Women on Writing for Let’s Get Dirty! Writing From the Garden – Live Zoom Class with Ashley Harris on Friday, August 21, from 2 – 4 p.m.

WEBINAR DATE: Friday, August 21, 2026

WEBINAR TIME: 2pm – 4pm ET

DURATION: 2 Hours

LOCATION: Live webinar via Zoom

FEEDBACK: The last 15 minutes of the lecture will be open to Q&A. Students can also send questions ahead of time, to be addressed during the lecture.

SPECIAL OPTION: Receive a personal critique from me of 3 double-spaced pages of your work within two weeks of the class for an extra fee. This includes at least one submission recommendation.

COURSE DESCRIPTION: Merriam Webster defines the word “garden” as simply “a plot of ground used to grow vegetables, fruits, herbs, or flowers.” But to writers such as Emily Dickinson, William Wordsworth, Mary Oliver, and Jane Kenyon, just to name a few, gardens offered so much more—inspiration, reflection, and serenity. Whether you’re someone who enjoys just visiting gardens or you’re someone who insists on plunging your own fingers into the dirt, this workshop is for you. In our time together, we’ll “dig” into the many ways that gardens and nature can elevate both poetry and prose through the senses and special themes.

This live Zoom webinar starts and ends on Friday, August 21, 2026.

Time: 11 AM – 1 PM PT | 12-2 PM MT | 1-3 PM CT | 2-4 PM ET

The webinar can be viewed on a tablet, phone, or computer (both Mac and PC).

As always, I’ll record the class and have it available for anyone who would prefer to view the class at a on their own schedule.

CLASS AT A GLANCE:

Live Webinar: Let’s Get Dirty! Writing from the Garden

Duration: 120 minutes

For two hours, I’m taking my gloves off! I’ll share excerpts from work featuring gardens that will inspire you immediately. I’ll cover the many ways that gardens can elevate our writing, from senses to symbolism, along with writing prompts to generate your own pieces, and I’ll also offer tips on how to incorporate your gardening experiences, whether they’re magical (like those volunteer cherry tomatoes) or miserable (try growing lilacs in the humid south!) into poetry and prose. For an extra fee, I’ll critique your work and you’ll receive a targeted submission recommendation within two weeks of the class.

Topics include:

  • Excerpts from published garden pieces through the ages to inspire you
  • Discussion of themes drawn from gardens in history and folklore
  • How visiting or working in gardens can inspire a theme for all types of writing
  • Three prompts to generate poetry and prose on your own
  • A discussion of ways to let nature help conclude your work
  • Overview of outlets to publish your work
  • Recommended books featuring garden writing to continue to inspire you
  • Q & A

Materials Needed: A pen or pencil, a writing pad, and your imagination

Read what some of my students have said about recent workshops:

Thank you for the wonderful workshop (Writing is for the Birds). I am still on Cloud 9. You are the best teacher, best poet, best role model I know. I am eternally grateful for you and all that you do. Thank you for your teachings, your feedback and suggestions, your giving soul. You give me confidence in my voice. Thank you. – Mary Alice Dixon, author of Snakeberry Mamas: Words from the Wild (Writing is for the Birds)

Writing is for the Birds was fabulous! I loved hearing everyone’s work. So inspiring! I am also interested in any future classes – Lisa Sukenic

Ashley, you and all the attendees are inspiring. Your class (Writing is for the Birds) yesterday was such a pleasure! I was very impressed with your approach to commenting on the work attendees shared. You not only encouraged them but also highlighted specific details of what they did well. Thank you! I love your idea of letting birds help set a scene in place, time, season, and mood. And I’m hoping to add more birds to present and future writing projects. I’m also looking forward to your class on writing about fur-babies! With much appreciation, Rosemary Poole-Carter

I really enjoyed the presentation (Writing is for the Birds)! Your enthusiasm for birds is contagious and makes me want to try my hand at including birds in my own writing. Also loved the idea of your Pet Project course coming up and will keep an eye out for that. Thanks again and best wishes to you! –Julie Flanders

Great presentation! Lots of food for thought and future writing. Writing is for the Birds was just the right amount of each element…the examples, the writing to prompts, the resources, etc. Thank you for doing this! – Betty McCreary

Ashley, Writing is for the Birds was an absolute JOY AND DELIGHT! The presentation, the participants, the prompts, the poems, the pacing…I loved every minute! – Michelle Seitzer 

TO REGISTER:

I hope you’ll join us on Friday! To register, go to Let’s Get Dirty! Writing From the Garden – Live Zoom Class with Ashley Harris and scroll down to the end of the page.

Until then, I hope you’re enjoying the summer and all the gifts this season has to offer, especially our dear honeybees! They’re a great source of inspiration for any writer. In the words of zoologist Karl Von Frisch: “The bee’s life is like a magic well: the more you draw from it, the more it fills with water.” 

Ashley

Join us for the Pet Project on Friday, June 19 from 2 – 4pm

Posted on by Ashley Harris

Writer Friends and Pet Lovers! This month, I had the honor of writing the lead article in the June newsletter for Women on Writing, Never Alone, Your Pet as Muse. Just for you, I’ll share an excerpt with some of my favorite writing prompts featuring our “other babies.”

Write a story for children. Like so many other Gen X’ers, I grew up on the illustrated tales of Richard Scarry and Dr. Seuss. Featuring animals in a story is an easy way to captivate children and to gently teach them important life lessons. This is especially appealing for writers who also like to draw or are willing to learn. Or, in the example of Stan and Jan Berenstain, creators of the kid’s lit franchise, Berenstain Bears, you can also find a collaborator! 

Give your fictional character a pet. The addition of a pet can add texture to the life of your protagonist, and in the case of Jasper, the dog of Mrs. De Winter in the novel Rebecca, they can also help advance the plot. Jasper led our heroine on a number of adventures that ultimately helped unravel the novel’s deepest secret.

Where is Fido? Take a pivotal point in your life and put your pet in it. The harrowing and poignant modern essay, The Fourth State of Matter, by Jo Ann Beard, gets its momentum from the author’s masterful weave of her collie’s illness and a workplace shooting. Where was your pet during your own struggles? Make a short diary of their behavior and your dilemma and watch them magically converge into an essay of your own. 

Give your pet the pen. Write a scene from your own life from the point of view of your pet. But there’s a catch. You must be perfectly serious. Comedy will naturally arise, but it will be even funnier if you let your dog describe you baking a cake or weeding the garden without irony or intentional humor.

Your pet at work. My dogs and cat spend most of the day snoozing, to be honest. But when Little Puss is stalking a lizard or when my husky Max is alerting me to the arrival of the postal carrier, they are all business. In the spirit of White’s beloved Fred, describe the unwavering dedication of your favorite hunter or guardian in work mode.

If these prompts intrigue you and you’d like to have even more, I hope you’ll join us for The Pet Project, a two-hour workshop on Friday, June 19, from 2 – 4 pm ET. At this special event, we’ll read pet-driven poetry and prose written by masters such as E.B. White, T. S. Eliot, Rachel Wetzsteone, Mary Oliver and more, and discuss techniques from them that can enhance portrayals of our own pets. We’ll use THREE unique prompts guaranteed to generate instant work you may polish later and submit for publication. As with all my classes, I’ll also include a roundup of magazines and websites eager to publish your writing. And for an additional fee, I’ll critique up to 3 pages of your work and offer targeted submission opportunities.

During our time together, we may laugh, and yes, we may cry a tear or two, but it will be time well spent. Hope to see you (and your pets) there!

For more information and to sign up, please click here.

Wishing you and your other babies a happy spring!

Ashley, Max, Tulsi, Hermia and Lysander

Join me for “Writing is for the Birds” on Tuesday, February 17 from 2 – 4 pm ET

Posted on by Ashley Harris

Did you know that February is National Bird Feeding Month? Writers and bird lovers, I bet you can barely keep your feeder full, especially if you got as much snow as I did today. Recently, I was honored to write “Wings to Words,” an article about the powerful connection between birds and writing for the introduction to the February newsletter for Women on Writing. Read it here.

If birds enchant and inspire you, I hope you’ll consider joining me for a 2-hour workshop, “Writing is for the Birds” on February 17 from 2 – 4 pm ET. For more information and to sign up, see below.

WRITING IS FOR THE BIRDS: A WORKSHOP INSPIRED BY OUR AVIAN FRIENDS with Ashley Harris

WEBINAR DATE: Tuesday, February 17, 2026

WEBINAR TIME: 2pm – 4pm ET

DURATION: 2 Hours

LOCATION: Live webinar via Zoom

FEEDBACK: The last 15 minutes of the lecture will be open to Q&A. Students can also send questions ahead of time, to be addressed during the lecture.

SPECIAL OPTION: Receive a personal critique from the instructor of 3 double-spaced pages of your work within two weeks of the class for an extra fee. This includes at least one submission recommendation.

COURSE DESCRIPTION: Did you know that cardinals symbolize fidelity and that their appearance may represent a visit from a lost loved one? Did you know the wood thrush has a Y-shaped voice box, allowing the last two notes of its song to fork off and harmonize? It’s no wonder that our avian friends find their way into the work of so many writers, from John Keats to Jane Kenyon to Amy Tan. In this special workshop, we’ll uncover the many ways that birds can elevate both poetry and prose through sounds, sights and themes.

This live Zoom webinar starts and ends on Tuesday, February 17, 2026.

Time: 11 AM – 1 PM PT | 12-2 PM MT | 1-3 PM CT | 2-4 PM ET

The webinar can be viewed on a tablet, phone, or computer (both Mac and PC).

We’ll record the class and have it available for anyone who would prefer to view the class at a different time and date.

Format
This course is offered via Zoom webinar. Webinars are workshops given online, where you can view the workshop and websites/materials I share on my screen, making it an interactive experience. Webinars make learning from your home or office convenient.

COST: $40, which includes one two-hour webinar with a 15-minute Q&A with me. Enrollment is limited to 20 students so I encourage you to register early.

Register here by clicking and scrolling to the bottom of this page.

Hope to see you there, but in the meantime, please stay warm and safe!
Ashley

Please Join Me on October 14 to Help Western North Carolina Recover

Posted on by Ashley Harris

Please join me and Charlotte Lit on Monday, October 14 from 6 – 8 p.m. for a special Zoom event aiding the recovery of Western North Carolina from the devastation of Hurricane Helene. I’ll be reading two poems, “Second Chance Garden” and “Max the Husky Reads Tolstoy” at about 7 p.m. Hope to see you then!

Bring on the Drama, Mama!

Posted on by Ashley Harris

I don’t keep up with the news as much as I should but occasionally a little sound bite from the living room, where my husband watches TV, invades my study. The snippet “Less Drama, More Mama” recently made its way into my head, and as rhymes do, it lodged there.

Giving up the “drama” of politics makes sense for Kellyanne Conway, a mother of four, but the opposite is true for fiction writers. Our mantra should be “Bring on the Drama, Mama!”

When we pen short stories, drama is absolutely essential. It raises the stakes for our characters and magically captivates our readers. For example, if we’re writing a story about a young mother coping with a painful separation, we can’t make her circumstances too easy. Suppose she holds out hope that her husband will come back. The worst thing in the world would be for Sam to just walk back into the house with his suitcase and say: “Mary, I’m home!”

It’s not that we’re being cruel. It’s not that we want to watch Mary suffer. But we have to be realistic and understand that in real life these things don’t work out so perfectly. We want our reader to care about Mary and root for her. The best thing we can do for Mary is to increase the drama even more. We should have her discover that Sam has not only been cheating on her with his secretary, they’re now living together. And although Mary dreams of helping support her two kids by opening a bakery, her loan application gets turned down. To make matters worse, the bank repossesses her car! Poor Mary.

Not so fast. Because we’ve seen glimpses of Mary’s extraordinary baking talent and her compassion for making muffins for an elderly woman in the neighborhood, we don’t feel sorry for her. In fact, the reader has every reason to believe that Mary has it in her to survive these events. We like Mary and because Sam is a selfish lout, we believe she deserves a good life without him.

The fiction writer increases admiration for Mary by watching her react to events that might crush the average person. For example, when Sam refuses to co-sign a new loan, we show her react by baking more muffins. That’s when it dawns on Mary that due to the pandemic, a business in a public building would be a very bad idea right now. So she decides to start her bakery at home, and not only does she make enough money in one weekend to get back her car, she’s far too busy to miss Sam anymore.

For the writer, the act of adding more tension to our story makes it fun to write. We don’t have to worry about “blank-page-itis” anymore because we’re suddenly enthralled with helping Mary develop the qualities she needs to thrive. The reader gets to see a little of herself in Mary, and grow along with her. The world is suddenly a better place. So bring on the drama, Mama!

Drama is just one of the topics that we’ll cover in my upcoming Charlotte Lit online workshop: Let’s Write a Short Story: Studio. What makes this course different is that every student gets a special “Story Worksheet” created by me just for this course. As we go along, I’ll be helping students fill out the worksheet step-by-step. This will enable students to thoughtfully construct each of the five essential elements of the short story before writing it. That way, when students start writing, which is the next step, they’ll have all the elements in place to captivate their readers, page by page. And they’ll receive help from me every step of the way. These lessons will help students generate even more stories well beyond this course.

“Let’s Write a Short Story” Studio starts on Sunday, September 13 and runs through Saturday, October 10. Enrollment is limited to just twelve students, so sign up soon to reserve your spot. What are you doing this fall? Raking leaves or fretting about COVID? I hope you’ll be writing along with me.

Learn more and sign up here.

New Online Class on the Short Story Starting September 13!

Posted on by Ashley Harris

Great news! For several weeks this summer, I’ve been at work with my friends at Charlotte Lit designing an exciting new online class–my first ever. This class is what we call a “Studio,” which means that it offers deeply engaging, content-rich online modules and a combination of pre-recorded and Zoom live course instruction through a really cool platform called Wet Ink. The course runs from Sept. 13 – October 10, which will give students the rare opportunity to draft a full-length short story AND receive detailed feedback from me. It’s unlike any course I have ever taught, so I am really excited!

Most short story workshops throw students into the open sea without a life ring. What makes this course different is that students have the benefit of using a “Story Worksheet” created by me just for this course. As we go along, I’ll be helping students fill out the worksheet step-by-step. This will enable students to thoughtfully construct each of the five essential elements of the short story before writing it. That way, when students actually start writing, which is the next step, they’ll have all the elements in place to captivate their readers, page by page. And they’ll receive help from me every step of the way. These lessons will help students generate even more stories well beyond this course.

During our time together, we’ll also study model stories by masters such as John Cheever, Shirley Jackson, and Alice Walker, but we’ll also cover excerpts by contemporary authors such as Tessa Hadley and Ralph Hart. I’ll also share how this same technique helped me write “Golden Delicious,” a short story which earned first prize last year in the Starving Writers Competition sponsored by the Franklin County Arts Council. Studying the work of other writers will give students the opportunity to learn how to read a short story like a writer, another exercise that will deliver practical dividends throughout their lives. Even better, the principles we learn can easily be applied to the novel as well!

“Let’s Write a Short Story” Studio starts on Sunday, September 13 and runs through Saturday, October 10. Enrollment is limited to just twelve students, so sign up soon to reserve your spot. What are you doing this fall? Raking leaves or fretting about COVID? I hope you’ll be writing along with me.

Learn more and sign up here.