My post the other week about writers of color and greater access to workshops generated much discussion both on the post itself and on social media. Out of these discussions came some great ideas and the hazy outline of a plan. A plan I hope to recruit a few of you to in the near future.

Several people pointed out that in additional to local in-person workshops and online classes there are also workshops at conventions. And Claire had some great thoughts on how non-profit organizations can create workshops that are free or low cost. All of this made me realize that the first step is to create a database of existing writing workshops for speculative authors. This would include all kinds of workshops from the boot-camp style 6 week ones ala Clarion to the online ones that happen either via video chat or email and message boards.

The database would include not only basic information about the workshops but also any information about financial aid or slots specifically set aside for writers from certain backgrounds (POC, LGBT, disabled, low-income, etc.). This is not a requirement for being in the database, but it will help people when searching. I spoke to Mary Anne Mohanraj and she agreed to let us host this on the Speculative Literature Foundation’s website. There are some workshops listed there already, though that info isn’t as comprehensive as this database will be and the goal is to keep it updated regularly.

Creating a database like this will take some technical expertise as well as some other volunteer effort. I think there’s a way to use a Google Docs spreadsheet as a queryable database, which would make gathering the information on the workshops easier. Just create an online form for workshop admins or authors or teachers to fill out to populate the database, then make it searchable. Thing is, I don’t know if this is truly possible, so I would love to hear from those who do. Help setting this all up would be amazing.

This project will also need volunteers to help keep the data current and correct and to run the second part I envision: the mailing list. The list will be for keeping people up to date on new workshops, workshop deadlines, and scholarship/financial aid deadlines. To keep it simple, it only need to go out once per month, and it will rely on information from the database and provided by those offering workshops.

Overall, this project will probably take a significant chunk of time to set up and then very little time to maintain once it’s done. I’m able to head up something like this, especially once we get into April. However, I don’t have the time (or spoons) to run it on my own. So I’m officially looking for volunteers. Even if you can only do a small chunk (like helping set up the database or running the mailing list for 3 months) that would be amazing. If we get enough volunteers, then everyone will only have small, manageable tasks.

Once the database is set up and there’s a clear picture of how many workshops are available, where they’re available, and what financial aid is on offer, it’ll be easier to plan the next phase: getting more writers of color to these workshops.