This is an in-person workshop that takes place at Inprint House.
“You Had to Be There”
Your car stalls in the middle of the desert on a cross-country drive. You get lost in a foreign city and don’t speak the local language. You meet up with an online match and go on the worst date of your life.
We all have experiences that stick with us and shape who we become. But when we try to tell these stories to our friends, we get blank stares or shrugs. “So what?” they seem to ask.
Defeated, we utter the familiar refrain: “You had to be there.”
But what if they didn’t have to be there? What if you could take the strange, funny, painful, or miraculous experiences of your life and turn them into stories that carry their own meaning?
In this workshop, we’ll shape the raw material of our lives into compelling nonfiction. We’ll consider what makes something a story, where to begin and end, what details matter, how to build tension and momentum, and how to communicate what an experience means without simply explaining it. We’ll also explore performance as a tool for discovering voice, rhythm, and pacing.
Through writing exercises and workshop feedback, participants will develop a finished piece of nonfiction that can live on the page or the stage—from a literary publication to The Moth or Houston’s own Grown-up Storytime.
Emily J. Hynds is a Houston writer, artist, and theater maker, and a co-producer of Grown-up Storytime. She is a former Co-Artistic Director of BooTown, where she spent a decade creating experimental theater and performance. Her plays include The Intervention (2023), The Interruption (2024), The Imp (2025), and No Kiss (2026). Since 2020, she has documented Houston City Council through Emily Takes Notes, for which she was named “Houstonian of the Year” by the Houston Chronicle editorial board in 2025. Her writing has appeared in Houstonia Magazine, Arts & Culture Texas, The Architect’s Newspaper, One Breath Houston, and Rice Magazine.
Monica Winston is a Houston writer, reader, and co-producer of Grown-up Storytime. Her work explores narrative across writing, comics, film, and performance. She has written graphic novels and film criticism, and her minicomic Den (2012), created with illustrator Claire Connelly, is held by the Library of Congress. She holds a BA and MA in English from Montclair State University and has taught writing and film analysis to students and adult learners in a variety of educational settings.
Amanda Shih is a Houston writer, community organizer, and co-producer of Grown-up Storytime. At GUST, she helps curate and edit the series, shaping its stories and programming, while also writing, performing, and leading storytelling workshops. Her writing explores generational trauma, cultural connection, caregiving, natural wonder, and community. She has developed and led storytelling and writing workshops in schools, community organizations, colleges, and other educational settings.
