Camille Cusumano

“Camille’s workshop was the perfect first sentence to begin the story of my quest to be a writer.” James Christopoulos, Chicago, IL USA

“As a novice writer, I  felt sincerely acknowledged as a woman who has a story worth telling. It was Camille’s words, “I want to hear more,” which  moved me from ‘thinking about the possibility’ of being published to setting my first writing goals to this end.” - Susan Prosser, Tulsa, Oklahoma

“Camille Cusumano’s 2-day writing workshop infused my writing practice with a much needed boost. In the workshop, I generated new material and breathed life into old work. Camille created and held the space for me to clarify and focus my writing for two days, allowing me to take a big step closer to my writing goals. And the one-on-one coaching sessions alone were priceless. I walked away from the workshop with a targeted list of targeted resources, valuable insights from a seasoned author and editor, a polished story, the best query letter I’ve ever written and a fistful of additional tools and tips for use in my writing practice. Camille’s teaching method is compassionate, supportive and focused. No matter where you are on your path as a writer, you will benefit greatly from taking Camille Cusumano’s writing workshop!” Katherina Audley, Portland, Oregon, January, 2010:

“Camille is an inspiring teacher, coach and cheerleader. I walked home after her 2-day writing workshop convinced that not only I can, but must write my story—maybe more than one.”
Peter Esser, Ph.D., Buenos Aires, January 2010

I have done my share of writing classes and workshops over the years and, most recently, started one-on-one consultations with Camille which have proven to be HUGELY beneficial. Camille treads tenderly on my art-side of writing, always encouraging and highlighting the good; then she fearlessly takes a surgeon’s scalpel to the craft-side of the writing and demonstrates and explains in great detail how to make the piece stronger and more compelling. At the end of the session, I am left with a polished piece of writing that is true to my story, but one that I also love reading again Life circumstance now puts us in different parts of the world, but thanks to internet and Skype, our consultations continue! I recommend Camille’s coaching/editing services highly Oga Cho, world citizen, March 2010

Camille’s 2-day workshop was exactly what I needed! I’ve been writing alone and in writing groups for years but have never felt any of my work was finished and ready to submit. Camille helped me get there. Her knowledge of the market, guidance in approaching editors and getting published, and her patient and focused editing of my work helped me rewrite with a clearer focus and feel confident that it’s ready. I’ve written my first query letter, and I’m excited about working on my many other pieces with the same vigor. I came away with a much better understanding of how publishing works, and a much greater confidence in my ability. Thank you, Camille! Angela McCallum, Buenos Aires, http://santelmoloft.com.

We just finished up another great workshop here in Buenos Aires. As I told the four participants, Jim, Patricia, Susan, and Lisa, I could not have hand-picked a better mix of writers to work with en masse. We worked individually and in private, too. It was all so rewarding. Each of them inspired me in her/his own way. The writing themes were awesome.

These photos were taken on the day of “graduation.” I handed out “diplomas” (blue-bound notebooks, dedicated to each one’s strength). I felt a little like the professor in the Wizard of Oz, who comes out of hiding, from behind the curtain . . . . And then we popped the cork on some Chandon, and celebrated.

I’ll be leading many more workshops, including later this year in Argentina. Check back for details. Upcoming Events, right, will list my workshops, including one on Zen Writing— how Zen practice helped me write better—what exactly is Zen? One answer is it’s exactly what you’re doing right now. Another answer is this

The Last Cannoli is a work of fiction inspired by my growing up in a large Sicilian American family – ten kids, two parents, a few pets here and there (very few survived for long with us, I don’t know why exactly . . . something to explore later). If you are looking for a strongly plot-driven novel, don’t bother with this one. If you like character-driven literature and a dash of the potent spice, magical realism, read this book. Especially fun to read if you grew up in New Jersey/New York area and know places like Rahway, Jersey Shore . . . which you thought would never be uttered in the same breath as literature.

The book, wrote former San Francisco Poet Laureate Lawrence Ferlinghetti, “attests to the power of storytelling to hold life together through all its diasporas.”

The Squaw Valley Institute presents:

Tango: A journey to happiness

In 2006, Camille Cusumano went to Buenos Aires planning to stay two months. But after two days, she cancelled her return ticket and that trip turned into a year and a half and the book, TANGO, AN ARGENTINE LOVE STORY (Seal Press). She has now lived in Argentina three-and-a-half years. Camille will perform a live demonstration of the dance, Argentine tango, talk about its magic and the writing of her book, as well as of the tango/writing communities in Buenos Aires. She’ll tell you the pros and cons of quitting your day job to go live in another hemisphere, “write” now!

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Program begins at 6:30 (cocktails & appetizers)

Cedar House Sport Hotel, Truckee

Please confirm exact time at SVI’s site.

Bar opens at 6:30.

Before you come,  I hope you read my book, Tango, an Argentine Love Story—whether you get it from a friend, or buy it in a bookstore, at Amazon or other online stores, or even on Kindle. What I love about that book, my favorite of all the ones I’ve written or worked on, is that I got to write of all the things I love—food, travel, my Zen practice, yoga, my father, my mother, my nine brothers and sisters, Sicily, France, Buenos Aires, and tango, tango, tango. And a lot of other little subjects like love (the many types), life itself—and even death (of my father).

The  Squaw Valley Institute, which has hosted such luminaries at Greg Mortensen (Three Cups of Tea) and Bill Fink.

More on my writing/editing services, and workshops.

Keep checking back for dates, times, details in July.

On my writing/editing services, and workshops.

What writers who have taken my workshop say:

“Camille Cusumano’s 2-day writing workshop infused my writing practice with a much needed boost. In the workshop, I generated new material and breathed life into old work. Camille created and held the space for me to clarify and focus my writing for two days, allowing me to take a big step closer to my writing goals. And the one-on-one coaching sessions alone were priceless. I walked away from the workshop with a targeted list of targeted resources, valuable insights from a seasoned author and editor, a polished story, the best query letter I’ve ever written and a fistful of additional tools and tips for use in my writing practice. Camille’s teaching method is compassionate, supportive and focused. No matter where you are on your path as a writer, you will benefit greatly from taking Camille Cusumano’s writing workshop!” Katherina Audley, Portland, Oregon, January, 2010:

“Camille is an inspiring teacher, coach and cheerleader. I walked home after her 2-day writing workshop convinced that not only I can, but must write my story—maybe more than one.”
Peter Esser, Ph.D., Buenos Aires, January 2010

I have done my share of writing classes and workshops over the years and, most recently, started one-on-one consultations with Camille which have proven to be HUGELY beneficial. Camille treads tenderly on my art-side of writing, always encouraging and highlighting the good; then she fearlessly takes a surgeon’s scalpel to the craft-side of the writing and demonstrates and explains in great detail how to make the piece stronger and more compelling. At the end of the session, I am left with a polished piece of writing that is true to my story, but one that I also love reading again Life circumstance now puts us in different parts of the world, but thanks to internet and Skype, our consultations continue! I recommend Camille’s coaching/editing services highly Oga Cho, world citizen, March 2010

Camille’s 2-day workshop was exactly what I needed! I’ve been writing alone and in writing groups for years but have never felt any of my work was finished and ready to submit. Camille helped me get there. Her knowledge of the market, guidance in approaching editors and getting published, and her patient and focused editing of my work helped me rewrite with a clearer focus and feel confident that it’s ready. I’ve written my first query letter, and I’m excited about working on my many other pieces with the same vigor. I came away with a much better understanding of how publishing works, and a much greater confidence in my ability. Thank you, Camille! Angela McCallum, Buenos Aires, http://santelmoloft.com

“I could not have felt more affirmed as a human being or more sincerely acknowledged as a woman who has a story worth telling. Not only to hear Camille’s words, “I want more,” but to see in her body language that she meant it, is more than I even hoped for. – Susan Prosser, Tulsa, Oklahoma

In addition to the scheduled workshops, I’m available through August for on-demand writing workshops — private or group. Whether you are just getting started and want to take the plunge (into the inkwell) or need encouragement and confidence, I offer workshops to suit your and your writing group’s needs. Here is a list of several workshops I teach. Contact me for details and rates – ocaramia@earthlink.net or ocaramia@mac.com:

1. A Thousand and One Words - Find your Writing Setpoint – Just as with body weight, we all have a writing setpoint—a natural length that suits our message and determines our ideal genre. 1,000 words is the mean, from which you assess your need to unpack and flesh out or shrink wrap and tighten. We’ll meet four goals in this class: embracing your personal setpoint; understanding when to unpack or shrink; preserving the narrative arc, no matter what length; and writing with full confidence. All levels writers welcome.

2. Travel Memoir Writing - With the travel-writing market evolved beyond the go-here/see-this approach, personal experience and artful story in travel is more and more in demand. As a magazine editor, I successfully moved from the traditional how-to travel writing to publishing my personal experience travel stories in books and as essays in publications. I’ll help participants understand how they can do this, too. Even if you are still writing for the traditional travel outlets you can infuse your story with sparkle – snap, crackle, and pop. We’ll look at how you can satisfy the reader’s needs and still craft a story with your personal style.  All levels welcome.

3. Tap into your Autonomic Writing System - Much can be said about the Writing Down the Bones and Wild Mind approach to unlocking the writer within. Now is the time to circle back to the discipline and the practice of craft—without killing the golden goose. This class is designed to tap into the autonomic system of writing—where words begins to flow and to arrive on schedule, like breath. All the while, we consider craft. The goal of this workshop is to have participants leave inspired, enthused, excited, perturbed, riled up, having tapped into their own autonomic writing system; and ready to face the empty white page, armed with their own art and skill. All levels.

4. Writing about & from loss (See August 1, Writing as Refuge)- Many of my students found me through my memoir, TANGO, which is my writing about my own loss (and finds) through tango and Zen practice. I’ve worked with aspiring writers who were ready to face the blank page as a place of refuge after tremendous losses and grieving. When we sit down to write about our lives, pain, grief as well as bliss and contentment rise to the surface. Putting down the words gives a sense of meaning to life in dark times.

WRITE WITH CONFIDENCE AND FLAIR

1,000 words is the mean, from which you assess your need to unpack and flesh out or shrink-wrap and tighten your writing. This workshop is for all levels, fresh beginners and experienced writers. It is designed to pump your “autonomic writing system” by understanding your personal writing “setpoint” and thus help you focus your writing, reach your target audience, or just satisfy your own need to finish a piece.

WHEN – Choose from either Saturday, May 29, Thursday, June 3, OR Saturday June 19, 2010, Each workshop is 8 hours  —  10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

WHERE – Fort Mason Center, San Francisco, California – by the beautiful Bay.

GOALS: In this 8-hour workshop, we’ll accomplish 4 main goals—READ ABOUT.

INSTRUCTOR: I bring to my workshops more than thirty years of experience in publishing as researcher, writer, editor, and instructor in a vast array of subject areas including essay, memoir, food, travel, fitness, health, mind/body/spirit, creative non-fiction, fiction, and more. My latest book, a travel memoir, TANGO, AN ARGENTINE LOVE STORY . . .READ MORE.

Price per 8-hour workshop:

$125 (lunch included)

Each workshop is limited to 12 participants.

All participants are entitled to a free follow-up consultation on your progress, in person, by phone, or email.

Workshop Dates

May 29, 2010 $125.00 June 3, 2010 $125.00 June 19,2010 $125.00

Reserve now. Email me with any questions and tell me a little about your writing: ocaramia@earthlink.net or ocaramia@mac.com.

“Camille’s workshop was the perfect first sentence to begin the story of my quest to be a writer.” James Christopoulos, Chicago, IL USA

ON DEMAND WORKSHOPS AVAILABLE

“As a novice writer, I  felt sincerely acknowledged as a woman who has a story worth telling. It was Camille’s words, “I want to hear more,” which  moved me from ‘thinking about the possibility’ of being published to setting my first writing goals to this end.” - Susan Prosser, Tulsa, Oklahoma

“Camille is an inspiring teacher, coach and cheerleader. I walked home after her 2-day writing workshop convinced that not only I can, but must write my story—maybe more than one.” Peter Esser, Ph.D., Buenos Aires, January 2010 - READ MORE ENDORSEMENTS

Please keep checking – Writing workshops for April TBA

This is a great workshop for aspiring memoirists—I’ll talk about Zen, tango, and the writing of my memoir.

The hands and feet are the body parts farthest from the heart, but they are as integral to mind as the brain or any other organ. Writing is as full-bodied as dancing tango.

How, then, does Zen practice inform your writing? My years of Zen meditation played a major role in my writing life—long before I wrote TANGO, helping me to untangle knots of confusion.

I will offer a writing workshop that explores how Zen—the meditation and the everyday living of it—weave with a heartfelt writing practice, just as tango dancing becomes a way to freedom in an arena of intimacy. If you have fear of writing, this is a safe haven for you. We’ll work together to help you through that constricting passage. We will  also do exercises that focus the monkey mind. While I love Natalie Goldberg’s approach in Writing Down the Bones, my teaching method involves more than removing obstacles, but working with them. As we work on the craft as well as the art of writing, each one circles to a center and finds her/his writing niche.

More on my writing/editing services, and workshops.

Please check back for dates and details.

Camille

March 31, 2010. On this day I am saying adios to Buenos Aires—for a while—and returning home to San Francisco. It’s been nearly a four-year Odyssey, completely unplanned. I’m looking forward to hitting Home Shores. As with any hero’s journey, the linear time is irrelevant. It may as well have been a century, a millennium, an epoch, or a hundred-thousand-million kalpas. The “unplanned” part has so much to do with the forging of my new outlooks and insights. Therefore, bear with me, as I’ve become extremely un-task-oriented and very much moved by the moment(um).

I know I am going to be doing more writing workshops, in the San Francisco Bay Area, and In Buenos Aires, and in a little town outside of Buenos Aires—all to be announced as I align my webular thinking with calendars and linear time again. Keep checking here for future dates.

Hold on while I shed a few tears here.

Back to ya . . . Leaving Buenos Aires is very difficult. You come to love the chaos more than you expected. No need to tell you of the easy-to-love stuff of tango, milongas, the kissing, hugging, the good-food-when-you-finally-find-it, the international set of friends who won’t let me leave without promising to be back here someday. I promise.

I have my sights set on November . . .

Meanwhile, I hope you read my book, Tango, an Argentine Love Story—whether you get it from a friend, or buy it in a bookstore, at Amazon or other online stores, or even on Kindle. What I love about that book, my favorite of all the ones I’ve written or worked on, is that I got to write of all the things I love—food, travel, my Zen practice, yoga, my father, my mother, my nine brothers and sisters, Sicily, France, Buenos Aires, and tango, tango, tango. And a lot of other little subjects like love (the many types), life itself—and even death (of my father).

More on my writing/editing services, and workshops.

Hasta la vista!

Camille

UPDATE, February 19, 2010:

The workshops are going great. Note that I had originally called them “Travel Writing 101″—but I’ve changed the title to just “writing,” because the level of talent is above that of  “101″ and I’ve been tailoring the classes to the individuals’ various desires.

Learn more about my teaching here.

“Camille Cusumano’s 2-day writing workshop infused my writing practice with a much needed boost. In the workshop, I generated new material and breathed life into old work. Camille created and held the space for me to clarify and focus my writing for two days, allowing me to take a big step closer to my writing goals. And the one-on-one coaching sessions alone were priceless. I walked away from the workshop with a targeted list of targeted resources, valuable insights from a seasoned author and editor, a polished story, the best query letter I’ve ever written and a fistful of additional tools and tips for use in my writing practice. Camille’s teaching method is compassionate, supportive and focused. No matter where you are on your path as a writer, you will benefit greatly from taking Camille Cusumano’s writing workshop!” Katherina Audley, Portland, Oregon, January, 2010:

“Camille is an inspiring teacher, coach and cheerleader. I walked home after her 2-day writing workshop convinced that not only I can, but must write my story—maybe more than one.”
Peter Esser, Ph.D., Buenos Aires, January 2010

I have done my share of writing classes and workshops over the years and, most recently, started one-on-one consultations with Camille which have proven to be HUGELY beneficial. Camille treads tenderly on my art-side of writing, always encouraging and highlighting the good; then she fearlessly takes a surgeon’s scalpel to the craft-side of the writing and demonstrates and explains in great detail how to make the piece stronger and more compelling. At the end of the session, I am left with a polished piece of writing that is true to my story, but one that I also love reading again Life circumstance now puts us in different parts of the world, but thanks to internet and Skype, our consultations continue! I recommend Camille’s coaching/editing services highly.

Oga Cho, world citizen, March 2010

Camille’s 2-day workshop was exactly what I needed! I’ve been writing alone and in writing groups for years but have never felt any of my work was finished and ready to submit. Camille helped me get there. Her knowledge of the market, guidance in approaching editors and getting published, and her patient and focused editing of my work helped me rewrite with a clearer focus and feel confident that it’s ready. I’ve written my first query letter, and I’m excited about working on my many other pieces with the same vigor. I came away with a much better understanding of how publishing works, and a much greater confidence in my ability. Thank you, Camille!

Angela McCallum, Buenos Aires, http://santelmoloft.com

If you can write, there’s a reader waiting to read what you have to say. Why not start publishing your prose? The time has never been more auspicious—and I’ll tell you why. If you are coming to Buenos Aires for your first time, be prepared to find inspiration daily in this lively Latin city and its culture, full of surprises.

If you’ve already been here, you know there is so much to write home about.

In these two-day workshops we’ll work on one-two-three simple goals:

1. Crafting and streamlining a creative, publishable travel story.

2. Listing the many outlets and publications, both hard copy and online, where you can send your work for serious consideration.

3. Getting your work sent out now.

• The workshops will be given in the beautiful Recoleta neighborhood of Buenos Aires, Argentina, near easy public transportation, hotels, restaurants, and great shopping. (It’s a $30 taxi ride from Ezeiza Int’l Airport.)

• These workshops will be fun, no-pressure, and full of inspiration. Each one is limited to no more than eight participants.

• Each workshop lasts two full (eight-hour) days, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. A typical Argentine lunch (for omnivores and herbivores) is included in the price, along with free beverages throughout the day.

• The workshops are given by me, Camille Cusumano, journalist, book author, and editor with 30 years in publishing.

February is summer’s end in Argentina and the living is easy and exciting. March is like September in the eastern United States – still warm and pleasant.

10 percent discount for members of  Bay Area Travel Writers

Price per workshop:

$195 (for two eight-hour days of instruction)

Choose from any of three sessions:

February 11–12, 2010

March 9–10, 2010

March 17–18, 2010

Extra, at no further charge: Each participant is entitled to a private follow-up consultation on your progress, in person, by phone, or email.

Reserve below, with a $50 deposit, refundable up to a week before workshop starts. Balance due a week before workshop starts. Email me with any questions and tell me a little about yourself: ocaramia@earthlink.net or ocaramia@mac.com.

Workshops by Dates

February 11-12 $195.00 March 9-10 $195.00 March 17-18 $195.00