support, accountability, and craft lessons for writers of novels and memoir.

In this three-month Book Incubator accountability and craft group, our focus is on supporting each writer’s novel or memoir writing journey.

book incubator

Sept 8-Nov 17, 2027

with author and book editor Susanna Daniel

Sept 8—Nov 17, 2026, 530-730p CT

6 sessions / every other Tuesday

Location: Hybrid (live in person and on Zoom)

Limited to 8 writers

let's write a book

There’s no reason for writing to be a lonely business.

During each session, we’ll discuss aspects of novel and memoir writing, including time management, overcoming obstacles, developing and introducing characters, problem solving, pacing and plot, balance of scene and exposition, and how to stay focused. 

deadlines + encouragement + feedback

= your best book

This accountability group offers community, encouragement, and craft-based guidance as you draft your novel or memoir. We’ll start by developing sustainable goals, then move on to crafting an effective beginning, building characters, structuring your messy middle, making a great climax, and bringing resolution.

Unlike a deep-dive workshop, we’ll focus not on the pages you’ve written but on your process, craft, characters, decisions, and obstacles. During each meeting, each writer will have the opportunity to share obstacles and progress and goals, as well as a few pages of fresh work. We’ll take turns offering concrete praise, suggestions, and encouragement. We’ll also talk nuts-and-bolts of your ongoing plot and character choices, and offer a forum for testing your ideas.

is the book incubator right for you?

This workshop is meant for anyone ready to commit to writing a book, whether you’ve barely formed an idea or fully finished a draft.

Our priority is encouragement and accountability, with a secondary focus on useful and concrete feedback.

Book Incubator writers have completed sci-fi, fantasy, young adult, thriller, crime, and literary novels and a variety of personal memoirs. Our commitment is to meet every book on its own terms, regardless of each writer’s reading preferences or experience.

The craft skills we’ll cover in this workshop apply to writers of all experience levels, whether this is your first book or your tenth.

This class is most useful for writers who struggle to prioritize their writing in daily life. Each writer’s primary focus will be on writing forward and preparing excerpts to share in class. We’ll start by defining our individual writing schedules and goals, then we’ll spend 5 sessions on solving problems of plot, structure, characterization, and pacing.

By the close of the Incubator, each writer will have written at least one-third of a full novel or memoir draft, plus a plan in place for finishing.

 

book incubator format

Meets in a hybrid format, locally in Madison and on Zoom, every other Tuesday from 5:30-8p CT from Sept 8 through Nov 17, 2026.

Meet the Instructor

  • Susanna Daniel, author and editor

    Susanna Daniel is the author of three novels. Girlfriending is a spinoff of her award-winning short story, "The Goddess of Illicit Choices," Stiltsville, was awarded the PEN/Bingham prize, and Sea Creatures, was a Target Book Club pick.

    Susanna is the co-founder of the Madison Writers’ Studio with author Michelle Wildgen, and she’s been leading the Book in a Year workshop since 2013. She’s coached and edited more 100+ novelists and memoirists, either from the blank page or from the full draft.

    Susanna is a graduate of Columbia University and the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop, and was a Teaching-Writing Fellow at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and a Carl Djerassi Fiction Fellow at the UW Institute for Creative Writing. She’s been awarded residencies at the MacDowell Colony and UCross, and has been published in the Sewanee Review, Newsweek, Slate, One Story, Wisconsin People & Ideas, Significant Objects, Epoch, and elsewhere. Before co-founding MWS, she taught college-level creative writing for ten years.

    You can learn more about Susanna at her website, and you’re welcome to contact her about Book in a Year via email.

The workshop fee is $495

Returning students receive 10% discount.

Schedule
530 – 8pm CDT / 630-9p ET

Meets in a hybrid format: live in person in Madison, WI or live on Zoom

Introduction September 8, 2027 September 22, 2027
October 6, 2026
October 20, 2026
November 3, 2026
November 17, 2026

  • We won’t read submissions a head of time, but each time we meet, each writer will share a few pages of new work and we’ll offer feedback on craft.

  • No. In Book in a Year, every writer submits 25 pages per month, and every writer prepares for workshop by reading and responding to everyone else’s new work. In the Incubator, we share excerpts aloud and work through issues of craft and process together.

  • Some Incubator writers are working on their third or fourth books, but most haven’t written a book before. The craft lessons imparted at the table are useful for writers of all levels of exeperience.

  • Many writers come to our introductory meeting with no pages written; others come with a complete first draft.

  • Most writers miss one meeting, but our group depends on mutual support and trust, so it’s recommended not to miss more than that. If needed, we’re always open to talking about alternative dates.

  • Collaborative, honest, and straightforward. We're here to guide the process, bring ideas to the table, and keep things moving.

Let's Incubate!

  • “You’ve just been a fantastic inspiration to me. I really can’t begin to say how much I appreciate your encouragement and help. I would not have committed to my novel without your support.”

    — Jim C.

  • “I’m so incredibly grateful to have been in your BIAY workshop this year. I learned so much from you and the other writers. I’ll be recommending the Madison Writers Workshop to anyone who wants to write a book. ”

    — Vivian B.

  • “Susanna and the other members of our little troupe picked me up when I stumbled, encouraged me when I doubted, slogged through the messy middle with me, and we came out the other end together. Twelve months later, we’ve handed each other completed first drafts. We’ve done the unimaginable, often driven by nothing more than Susanna’s unwavering belief that we could.”

    — Eric B.

  • “Susanna was able to show me the most important things I had to offer as a writer: authority and authenticity. That knowledge vastly increased my confidence to trust in my own creative process.”

    — Clelia M

Let's get your book off the ground together.

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Let's get your book off the ground together. *

Is the Book incubator right for you?

Susanna is happy to jump on a call to discuss your book and situation.

Book an appointment or email her to make time.

let's start my book!

Enroll in an MWS workshop

We’ll get in touch with details and an invoice within 48 hours of receiving your registration.

Please note that all returning students receive a 10% discount on workshops.

We look forward to getting to know you and your work!