Angela Rydell, Writers’ Inlet Writing Coach

 

Welcome to the Writers’ Inlet.

Clear a channel for your craft. I’ll help you stay the course, and keep your writing free of blocks.

Get accountability, community support, and craft tips to move your writing forward. 


I’m poet who loves to plot. After getting my MFA in poetry, I spent fifteen years working with writers at UW-Madison. I helped novelists structure their books and go on to publish. I helped poets and flash writers hone their craft, find homes for their work in lit journals, and publish collections. And now I’d like to help you. 


I’ll be your navigator through the ebb and flow of the creative process, and right your writing when the currents cross. I’ll point you towards your north star, and follow your ideas to their truest source.


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Inlet Offerings

UPCOMING OFFERINGS

Inlet Write-Alongs 

APRIL SESSION: MONDAY THE 15TH, 12-1:30PM CENTRAL TIME.
JUNE SESSION: monday THE 3rd, 11AM-12:30PM CENTRAL TIME.
JULY SESSION: wednesday THE 10th, 12-1:30PM CENTRAL TIME.

Inlet Write-Alongs meet at a different time & on a different day just about every month but with the same intention–to open an inlet into our work and write in shared solitude.

Fee: Free

Connection with the creative process can feel tenuous even on our best days. As we navigate our craft, it’s natural to gaze upon the horizon and feel everything from hope to confidence to monumental overwhelm. Some days we reach “x” marks the spot; other days, drift off course. Workshopping can help; so can studying technique. But the most important skill we can cultivate is the habit of return. Approximately once a month, write alongside me and other Inlet writers in shared solitude. Bring your writing project, find an inlet into your work, and carry your craft forward. You may be surprised how much distance you cover.


The Writers’ Inlet Summer Retreat

Meets Friday July 12 & Saturday July 13

The Writers’ Inlet Summer Retreat’s theme this year is Maintaining Momentum When You’re Wading Through a Low, Riding a High, and Anywhere In Between.

Fee: Early Bird fee of $89 before April 15th, $99 thereafter.

Turn one Friday in July into a day-long writing fest. Then on Saturday, relax on the virtual shores of the Inlet and discuss the challenges of maintaining momentum when the ebb and flow of your writing practice takes you to extremes and in between. Are the crests easier to ford, the troughs? We’ll discuss next-step momentum in revision and writing practice, and consider how routine, mindset, and rest help us manage it all. Come for inspiration, revitalization, and get-it-done camaraderie. All genres welcome.


Writers’ Inlet Salon: Metaphor in the Making Seasons

Image & Imagination Season: Sept 12-Dec 10 2024
Transformational Arc Season: Jan 23-April 15, 2025

Signing up for the Inlet Salon is like enrolling in a navigation course for your craft, an accountability program to keep you moving forward, and a beta readers club to gut-check your work when you need it—all in one offering. All genres welcome.

Fee: Starts at $475

Experience the deep satisfaction of a well-maintained writing practice that carries your craft forward from one project to the next.

At the Inlet, there’s always a way back into your work. That “in” may be applying a craft tip from Large Salon or trying one some writing practice advice from a course video. It may be hitting a beta read deadline, showing up to a group writing challenge, or attending a breakout session to troubleshoot with your peers. Or it may simply be the attitude you take into your work–kindness towards the editor within. Determination. The care and focus you imagine a writer you admire takes to see their work clearly and wisely. 

Come study high-level craft techniques with a trusted writing coach–the upcoming season’s theme is Metaphor in the Making. The salon will help you transform new craft and writing practice tips into familiar tools you’ll use with confidence and skill. Week after week you’ll clarify your vison and deepen trust in your day to day drafting and revising. Together we’ll balance the solitude of writing with the uplift of community, and share the ebb and flow of the process with likeminded writers doing the same.

The Inlet Salon’s craft focus is on metaphor’s ripple effect on our writing, from the words we use to the themes they deliver.

UPCOMING INLET SALON CRAFT THEME: METAPHOR IN THE MAKING 

All creators have the same quandary: to make work universal enough to appeal to our audience deeply and meaningfully, yet original enough to embody our unique style. One technique allows us to do both simultaneously: metaphor. When we see one thing in terms of another, we unite disparate thoughts and images, deepening theme, focusing character motivations, even strengthening voice. We’ll come together in the Inlet’s virtual salon community for light accountability along with craft discussions that explore metaphor’s clarity and mystery, and work to strike the right balance in our work. 


Support your novel’s development & your development as a novelist.

Inlet Novel Salon Program

september 2024 – april 2025

Enrolling in the Inlet’s Novel Salon is like enrolling in an orienteering course for novelists. You’ll learn how to create our own map rooted in place & big ideas (plot your theme), calibrate your compass (attuned to your characters’ inner needs), and find your novel’s true north. 

Fee: Starts at $1900

I’ve worked with over 1,000 writers, taught creative writing for twenty years, and though I often get questions like “How do I plot” and “How do I create a character readers care about?” the most important question novelists need to ask is this: “What is my story REALLY about?” You’ll spend each month testing out answers to this question, and others designed to help you probe your plot and prose, find your main character’s inner and outer arcs, and your novel’s true north.

The Novel Salon provides continuity, monthly tips, group camaraderie, community–and more. The kind of connections you can get from a curated group of likeminded peers who share pages and gain a deep understanding of each other’s work over time. Plus, you get long-term access to a knowledgeable professional–yup, that’s me–handing out maps she knows well. You’ll get monthly feedback and craft concepts all novelists need, so you can get tips but also calibrate your own compass, do your own navigation, and reach out for help when it’s needed.


Inlet Interviews

Here at the Inlet a handful of published writers have joined us over the past few years. Many are authors I’ve been fortunate enough to coach at some point in their careers, whether early in their studies, or closer to their publication dates. Others I’ve befriended on my own writer’s journey. I’m excited to have a chance to not only talk with them but share their work with others. 


May 2023 Interview with Katey Schultz and Des Cooper

In May of 2023 I interviewed two award-winning writers I’m proud to call my friends, Katey Schultz and Des Cooper. 

 

Daily Beast praised Katey Schultz’ story collection Flashes of War as “ambitious and fearless.” It won Foreword’s Book of the Year Award and the Military Writers’ Society of America Book the Year award for literary fiction, among others. And Schultz’ first novel Still Come Home was lauded by Library Thing as “taut, moving, explosive, gut-wrenching—this is simply one helluva read…” Indeed! It garnered a heap of honors, including a Book of the Year award from the Chicago Writers’ Association and the Sir Walter Raleigh Award from the Historical Book Club of North Carolina. Katey is also a mentor extraordinaire, and the founder of Maximum Impact, a transformative mentoring service for creative writers that has been recognized by both CNBC and the What Works Network. Find out more about Katey here: http://www.kateyschultz.com/

Flashes of War

Katey Schultz

Published by Apprentice House 2013

Still Come Home

Katey Schultz

Published by Apprentice House 2019

Shelf Awareness called Des Cooper’s stories “exquisite miniatures” that provide “a mural’s worth of life.” Her first book, the flash collection Know the Mother, was honored as a Michigan Notable Book. And Booklist’s starred review called Cooper’s Nothing Special “an evocative picture book celebrating simple pleasures and family ties.” It was one of the New York Public Library’s 10 Best Children’s Books of 2022, and won the 2023 Paterson Prize for Books for Young People. I know my mom would have loved reading it to the kids she worked with in the Shawano County library programs. Find out more about Des here: http://www.descooper.com/

Nothing Special

Desiree Cooper & Bec Sloane

Published by Wayne State University Press 2022

Know the Mother

Desiree Cooper

Published by Wayne State University Press 2016


January 2022 Inlet Interview with Matthew Duffus

In January of 2022 I interviewed Matthew Duffus, who amassed an embarrassment of riches recently when publishing three wonderful books nearly back to back: the short fiction collection Dunbar’s Folly and Other Stories (which you can listen to on Audible), the novel Swapping Purples for Yellows, and the poetry chapbook Problems of the Soul and Otherwise.  

Fall/winter 2021 Interviews

In October 2021, I talked with Jessica Vitalis, whose debut middle grade novel, The Wolf’s Curse, narrated by the grim reaper, came out in September of 2021. (And her second book, The Rabbit’s Gift, came out in October 2022. Yes, she is a busy writer!) 

She wrote five unpublished novels over thirteen years and was not daunted. She kept honing her revision skills, and those techniques helped produce her sixth book, which landed her a publishing contract with Harper Collins. When we met on Zoom she shared her tricks and tips with us–and you can watch the interview here, too:

In November of 2021, I talked with Kimberly Behre Kenna, whose first book, Artemis Sparke and the Sound Seekers Brigade came out 2/2/2023 Regal House/Fitzroy Books. Each of her three books features a brave girl protagonist whose love of nature helps her find her voice and stand up for her beliefs.

And in December of 2021, I talked with Maggie Smith as she prepared to launch her first book and get it into the hands of eager readers in March (2022). If you’re looking for a well-plotted & paced novel with thought-provoking character dilemmas leading to a well-earned ending, you’re in good hands.

 

Summer 2021 interviews

During the Deep Revision Mines Retreat the last week of July, 2021, I interviewed authors I coached on their way to publication, and asked them to share deep revision tips. 



Kristine Anderson

www.kristinefanderson.com

Crooked Truth, Mercer University Press, Sept, 2020. 




Eileen Schnabel

One If By Land, Two If By Submarine, WONDER JUMPS PRESS, October, 2019.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ekschnabel

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/eileenschnabelauthor/





Greg Renz

Under the Flames, Henschel Haus Publishing, June 1, 2019.

Greg Renz | Facebook

Gregory Lee Renz-Author | Facebook





Steve Wilton

Queen of Crows, Atmosphere Press, August 25th, 2021.

Website: www.slwilton.com.

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/100067446326663/.

Twitter https://twitter.com/swilton7

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