Workshops

“Your workshop was so incredible that the coordinators have not stopped talking about you.”

— D. Randall, International Women's Writing Guild

Let’s tell stories!

Everyone has a story to tell. We just need the right tools to tell it. As an award-winning novelist, a former animation story development executive, a comic book-writing, cookie-baking, book-loving educator, my workshops will give you the straight skinny on storytelling: what to do, how to do it, and how to make it even better. Whether it’s the nuts and bolts of writing, navigating issues of empathy and diversity, or deeper explorations on craft, I approach it all with a heavy dose of encouragement and humor. Whatever your focus and whoever your audience, let’s excite and inspire them to do great work!

Current Offerings

Join me and my fellow faculty members, Tae Keller, Eliot Schrefer, and Elizabeth Wein for this 1-weekend virtual masterclass mimics the low-residency structure at Hamline University’s MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults. It features four lectures by accomplished faculty, generative writing time, and a happy hour at the end of each day for casual conversation and Q&A.
SESSIONS:
- “A Sublimation of Fanfics: The re-use of folklore, myth and legend in creating fantasy worlds” with #1 NYT Bestselling Author Elizabeth Wein
- Archetypes and Stages: Pleasures and Pitfalls of the Hero’s Journey” with 2x Nat’l Book Award Finalist Eliot Schrefer
- Magic and the Real World: Fabulism, Magical Realism, and Allegory” with Newbery Medalist Tae Keller
- “Make Your Own Dystopia” NAACP Image Award Finalist with Sherri L. Smith
DATES:
1-5pm ET Saturday, October 18
1-5pm ET Sunday, October 19
Register Here
Kick-start your summer writing with time in the Green Mountain State.
Step out of the noise of your daily life and step into a quiet sanctuary, where you will find inspiration, space, and community—all designed to help you deepen your connection to your writing life.
June 11-15, 2026
@ The Creative Campus at Goddard in Plainfield, Vermont
CLICK HERE TO APPLY

“Before I get down to writing, I just wanted to thank the magnificent @ Sherri_L_Smith for her great @WritingPadLA class yesterday. Huge help.”

— V. Bane

Client Testimonial

“Sherri spoke to our group of 70 or so about finding the structure for her latest novel, The Blossom and the Firefly. It was a master class in the craft of fiction: a detailed explanation of the structure she had wanted to use (along with diagrams), examples of how other stories have used it, and a narrative about her own attempt to write within it and the changes she made according to the needs of her manuscript. Her lecture was funny, personable, and incredibly useful to writers of all experience levels. Several people came up to me afterwards to say that the structure Sherri described might be just the thing to get their manuscripts unstuck. I can't recommend Sherri as a speaker highly enough.”

—Michael Noll, Program Director, Writers’ League of Texas