If it’s 9am in California, what time is it in Italy? A classic by-the-book Amherst Writers & Artists workshop online from Italy, where it happens to be 6pm, which is just about the only time that works for me here in Castiglion Fiorentino and you there in Berkeley or at noon in Brooklyn or wherever you’ve recently relocated to for the cheap rent and better public schools. I’m happy to provide two hours of nonstop AWA fun, fresh prompts provided free of charge, all according to the Five Essential Affirmations and Five Essential Practices on pages 186 & 187 of that classic Pat Schneider book Writing Alone and With Others … the one that got me started on this great journey 15 years ago. –Cary T.

I am a journalist, fiction writer and poet from San Francisco, best known for my popular Salon.com advice column “Since You Asked,” read by millions of fans worldwide. Since 2007 I have taught Amherst Writers & Artists method workshops in California, Connecticut, the Netherlands, France and Italy. These days I do weekly online workshops as well as yearly retreats.

Since the fall of 2015 I have lived in Castiglion Fiorentino, Italy.

And, if you must know, having also played guitar in a punk band, ridden the streets as a bike messenger, been a columnist for The San Francisco Weekly, written for Spin, Details, Creem, The San Francisco Examiner, and published fiction and poetry in numerous small journals, I have now decided to devote my remaining years to the practice of the literary craft. Seriously. Pass it on!