La Roche Writing Club
Lifelong Learning | FULL (Membership Required)
Unlock your creative voice in a supportive environment with a workshop-style course designed for writers of all levels. Build consistent creative practice with guided narrative and collaborative feedback.
What to Expect:
- Prompt-driven exploration. Each session focuses on curated, thought-provoking writing prompts to spark stories and life reflections for immediate drafting.
- Small group intimacy and interaction. With the group capped at eight participants, you'll work in a tight-knit community where trust, vulnerability, and genuine connection flourish.
- The art of sharing. Practice sharing your fresh work in a low-stakes, supportive setting. Learn to give and receive constructive, craft-based encouragement.
- Process over perfection. Discover themes and styles that emerge naturally in your unrehearsed prose or poetry.
The course isn't about writing the perfect story. It's about finding the story you didn't know you had in you. Open to anyone who has a passion for words and a willingness to share them.
Maria Simbra
Maria Simbra is an author, journalist, and writing consultant. She helps writers achieve their goals through her company, Ironed Words Productions. She provides support via groups, retreats, and one-on-one coaching. Her writing roots are in memoir, with essays published in numerous lit mags and performed across the stages of Pittsburgh. Previously, she was a neurologist before becoming an award-winning on-air medical reporter for CBS Pittsburgh for 19 years. Her formal writing training includes a master's degree in journalism and mass communication.
Currently, she focuses on romance, writing as Em S. A’cor in the subgenres of medical romance and Gen X romance. Her books have hit the top ten on Amazon in medical romance and medical fiction. They’ve been recognized with a TAZ Award and multiple BookFest silver medals in 2024. You’ll find her south of Pittsburgh, coffee in hand, taking on the world one word at a time.