By Bob Comenole

Beginning January 21st, the Writing Academy at Creekside Books will begin its third year of offering courses in professional and creative writing.

The Winter sessions, taught by retired literature professor and local novelist Bob Comenole, will include the following courses:

-Creative Writing 101;
-Constructing Your Novel;
-Writing Mystery & Detective Fiction;
-Writing the Personal Essay (Creative Non-fiction);
-Discovering Your Writing Niche;
-The Hero’s Journey for Storytellers (Using Myth & Archetype in your writing);

Each course is 5 weeks in length, and meets usually on Thursday evenings
(6:30 – 8:00). Creekside will be offering workshops throughout the winter.
Start dates for individual courses will be announced once registration has
completed. Classes are limited in enrollment; to reserve a seat call Creekside at 685-0379.

Please also feel free to contact the Writing Academy for any additional information. Phone: 685-1480; email: snowcap2@hotmail.com

Contributed by: Bob Comenole

Thursday Evenings
February 26th – March 26th 2009

Purpose: To teach the techniques involved in planning and structuring a novel. The course will also cover the craft of creative writing in general, with an emphasis on crafting solid plots, believable characters and satisfying dramatic action. The principles involved can, of course, be applied to several other forms of writing, including short stories, children’s books, creative nonfiction and memoir, among others.

Format: Workshops are conducted at Creekside in an informal, interactive atmosphere. Instructor will offer mini-lectures, conduct small group discussions, and facilitate peer critiques. Participants will refine their own works-in-progress, in and out of class.

Contributed by: Erika Davis / Creekside Books & Coffee

February workshop with Bob Comenole beginning Thursday, February 26th: Novel Writing & The Creative Thought Process 7-8:30pm for 5 or 6 weeks every Thursday. Interested persons should contact Creekside bookstore at 685-0379.

Contributed By: Bob Comenole

Bob Comenole is a Skaneateles resident and author of five books. He is currently working on a screenplay sequel to “It’s a Wonderful Life.” This holiday season he published a five-part serial in the Sunday edition of the Auburn Citizen. Below are excerpts of each part, along with links to the full chapters. 

Chapter 1: A Forgotten Rose
“In those days, Doc Winsor owned the only trampoline outside of Iowa. What they then called the Rebound Tumbler. His own daughter Nellie became a gymnastic wonder, but her best friend Mabel Hazelton was the real draw. Mabel was small for 11, short-legged and bony, but she could propel herself to mind-boggling heights. “No fair,” they teased, “you eat Mexican jumping beans!” On a campaign tour, before he ever became president, Franklin Roosevelt swung by Doc’s neighborhood, awash with children. Trying to gain their attention, he joked about which they’d rather see: the planet Pluto, which had just been discovered, or the newly built Empire State Building. And to his great shock, they shouted back, “wouldn’t he rather see Mabel fly?”"

By Christine Briel / Skaneateles Design
Thursday, February 28, 2008, 10:21AM EST

This last holiday season I came across 2 or 3 parts of Bob Comenole’s wonderful holiday tale “Watchman, Tell Me of the Night”. He offered it as a “gift” to Skaneateles Journal readers. Unfortunately, later when I searched the Internet to try and read the story in its entirety from beginning to end I had trouble locating all of the parts to the story. The stories original appearance was found in 3 separate newspapers:

The Reno Gazette-Journal, December 9th, 10th, 16th, 17th, 23rd, 25th, 2007
The Auburn Citizen, Sunday, December 2nd, 9th, 17th, 24th, 2007
Skaneateles Journal, December 4, 11, 18, 26, 2007
Below is Skaneateles resident and author Bob Comenole’s holiday tale called, “Watchman, Tell Me of the Night” in its entirety, including an epilogue. If you haven’t yet read it from beginning to end, I urge you to go ahead and do so. It’s a wonderful tale that begins in Chicago and ends in Skaneateles at the Stella Maris Retreat & Renewal Center

Contributed by Bob Comenole

This workshop will take place on the following Saturdays: December 6th, 13th & 20th at Creekside Bookstore. Please call Creekside at 685-0379 to register.

You¹ve always wanted to write a holiday tale for your children or your grandchildren, your spouse or a long lost friend! What better gift could you give than to present a loved one with an original Christmas work- whether a poem, fable, fantasy, play, reminiscence or a real-life story – written by you!

Our workshop will show you how to craft a piece of writing that you will proudly give as a unique Christmas gift to someone you love. (Who knows: you may also become the next Clement Moore, or Charles Dickens!)

In this workshop you will learn how to:

Contributed by Bob Comenole

Thursday Evenings at Creekside Books
7:00 – 8:30pm
September 25th – October 23rd 2008

Purpose: Everyone has a great story to tell. Our lives are unique and worthy of exploration. How will your life be documented…what will you leave behind?
This seminar is designed to help participants decide what life story to tell and the most powerful and effective way of telling it. Participants will learn to employ the various techniques involved in the craft of writing memoir and autobiography.

Format: Workshops are conducted at Creekside in an informal, interactive atmosphere. Instructor will offer mini-lectures, conduct small group discussions, and facilitate peer critiques. Participants will refine their own works-in-progress, in and out of class.

Instructor: For 20 years Bob Comenole has taught writing, literature and communications at several colleges, including Miami University, Siena College, the State University of New York and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Mr. Comenole, author of Bushel & Lamp and the novella The Long Night of Clement C. Craggogre, has just completed work on a collection of short stories, Perplexed by the Egg & Other Stories, as well as a collection of essays.

Contributed by Erika Davis / Creekside Books & Coffee

Put your writing cap on! Bob Comenole, local teacher and writer, will be facilitating the Creekside Writing Workshops, a series of topic-related workshops for interested writers. Possible workshop topics include:  Writing Memoir and Autobiography * Writing the Personal Essay * Discover Your Writing Niche * How to Overcome Writers Block * Poetry Workshop * Constructing the Novel * The Hero’s Journey for Storytellers * Creating Characters * The Lyric Essay * Creative Nonfiction

Interested persons should contact Creekside bookstore at 685-0379.

Thursday Evenings at Creekside

May 15th – June 5th 2008

Write the book

you’ve always wanted to write!

Objectives: You have not forgotten the great wonder and mystery of being a child… You want to extend your own imagination to the young of today… And you have 101 ideas but no clear guide to help translate them into a polished, attractive book for children. This seminar will give you the tools to transform those ideas into well-constructed products, whether you are interested in developing picture books for young children, chapter books for older youth or other creative material for those in between.
In this course we will cover all aspects of getting started: generating ideas, developing plot, character, theme and structure. We will explore how writers appeal to the sensory and verbal worlds of children. We will also look into myth, folklore, and a little child psychology.

Format: Workshops are conducted at Creekside in an informal, interactive atmosphere. Instructor will offer mini-lectures, conduct small group discussions, and facilitate peer critiques. Participants will refine their own works-in-progress, in and out of class.

Instructor: For 20 years Bob Comenole has taught writing, literature and communications at several colleges, including Miami University, Siena College, the State University of New York and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Mr. Comenole, author of Bushel & Lamp and the novella The Long Night of Clement C Craggogre, has just completed work on a collection of short stories, Perplexed by the Egg & Other Stories, as well as a collection of essays. He was also the producer of the children’s television series, StoryBrook.

Fee: $50 for four 90-minute sessions / Thursdays, 7:00 – 8:30 pm

for more information, please phone the store at 685-0379