The Maine Press Association will continue its series of half-day, hands-on writing workshops this spring. We’ll once again bring together small groups of writers to assess the strengths and weaknesses of their own work, critique colleagues’ work and, most importantly, exchange ideas for writing better stories.

The workshops will be led by Bill Nemitz, former MPA president and Journalist of the Year, who will discuss the way he reports and writes his columns for The Portland Press Herald and Maine Sunday Telegram. Nemitz and the group will examine specific aspects of the reporting and writing process, including story ideas, storytelling, interviewing and anything else the writers want to explore.

Participants will be asked to do some homework in advance so they can make the best use of time they will have to meet. Preparation, plenty of time and a limit of 12 writers per session will enable each group to focus on many things forgotten or ignored in the daily grind.

Workshops will be held Wednesday, April 27, and Friday, May 13, at the Times Record in Brunswick. Each workshop will start at 9 a.m. and end around 12:30 p.m. A working lunch will be provided by MPA as part of the $25 registration fee. Interested in this unique hands-on training opportunity? Contact Maine Press Association at mainepress@hotmail.com.