by Writing Workshops Staff
7 hours ago
Some stories arrive fully formed. Others begin as a single prompt—and then refuse to let go. For Michelle Boyer, a writer in northern Michigan, “Beef and Noodles” was the second kind. The seed was planted during one of Lynne Golodner’s monthly Writealong sessions in early 2026, and within months the story had found a home.
Michelle is a retired elementary and middle school teacher who now finds her stories in the connections between the natural world and human experience. Her work has already appeared in Bear River Review and a regional anthology of Northern Michigan arts and culture. What keeps her returning to the workshop community, she says, is the mix of “the varied content, the quality of instruction, and the comradery of fellow writers.”
She first met Lynne in September 2025 as a participant in Lynne’s writing retreat on Mackinac Island. Months later, that Writealong prompt became a rough first draft—and Michelle did what serious writers do with a promising mess: she took it to be workshopped.
She brought the early pages to Tom Andes’s Advanced Short Fiction workshop, where Tom and her fellow writers gave her the focused feedback she needed to tighten the piece before sending it out. As a longtime teacher herself, Michelle recognized the craft behind the room—instructors who set a generous tone and gently refocused the group when it drifted.
“I was struck by the high degree of positivity and support offered by both the instructors and the students in all of the workshops I have taken.”
That sense of direction deepened in Robert Anthony Siegel’s workshop on linked stories, which helped Michelle imagine a larger shape for her work. She is now assembling a linked collection that will feature “Beef and Noodles” at its center. Looking back, she puts the shift plainly: before the workshops, her writing life was “less focused,” but now she has “a vision for where I want my writing to go and more tools to reach my goals.”
“Beef and Noodles” will appear in When We Gather to Eat: An Anthology of Hunger, Heritage & Healing, forthcoming from Scotia Road Books—the independent press Lynne Golodner founded. For a writer drawn to the meeting points of memory, food, and family, it’s a fitting first home for the story, and a cornerstone for the collection taking shape around it.
Ask Michelle how she pushes through the hard days and the answer is gloriously low-tech: reread the personal writing vision statement pinned to her bulletin board (a habit she credits to Lynne), reread the kind notes from readers she keeps there too, and—when all else fails—take a walk in the woods or by the water to reset. Her advice for anyone hesitating at the edge of a first workshop is just as grounded: “You’ll be supported by instructors and peers who are knowledgeable and compassionate.”
These days, Michelle is circling back to the longest story she has ever written—a piece she has revised and restructured for five years and now calls “a living tool for practicing all that I am learning about story writing.” This, she has decided, is the year she finishes it: proof to herself that she can. We have no doubt she will—and we can’t wait to read what comes next.
Every writer’s path is their own—but no one has to walk it alone. If Michelle’s story stirs something in you, there’s a seat waiting in a community of working writers, where expert instructors and generous peers help good drafts become published ones. Take the first step toward your own success story.
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