COURSES & WORKSHOPS
Writing is the core tool we use, but polished writing skills are not a prerequisite for productive participation.
Anyone willing to put pen to paper and to engage creatively will benefit from the sessions.
WHAT'S YOUR STORY?
A 3-hour workshop for anyone who wants to explore their life story with words and images. We will use guided activities and creative prompts to spark your thinking, get your creativity flowing, and invite you to represent the story you hold within you. No formal writing experience is required. All you need is an interest in telling your story — or finding out what your story is!
LIFE SKETCHES IN WORDS
This is life-writing in short form: We each have our own story to tell. No matter your age, the life you have lived — and are living — is the stuff of story. It is your story and it is worth capturing on the page. But where to start? How to generate material? How to shape it? This 6-session course will focus on generative writing, guided by weekly themes to stimulate your thinking. By the end, you will have a collection of memoir vignettes (18 or more) to continue working with. The objective is to generate material in a supportive environment that includes free-writing to prompts; reading aloud with feedback as you feel comfortable; and conversation about life-writing and memoir.
SPARK YOUR WRITING I & SPARK YOUR WRITING II
Fuel your writing practice with a weekly prompt sent to your email inbox on a specific day, followed later in the week by a collaborative, supportive conversation with a 16-person (max) cohort of enthusiastic and committed writers just like you.
You will be inspired by reading your work aloud and by receiving constructive and encouraging feedback.
Spark I is about writing on your own, then reading aloud in the group.
Spark II continues with writing and reading aloud, and incorporates a focus on the writing process and different writing forms.
NOTE: Spark I is pre-requisite for Spark II.
Our course offerings...
...are continually evolving in response to our participants' developing needs.
We create courses grounded in learning as fun, exploration of self as essential, and collaboration as the highest form of creative respect for one another.
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We are in our fifth year of teaching in community settings, and we are delighted in the growth of writing community.
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Join us by taking a course!
Where do we teach our courses?
We teach some courses on site in McNally's Community Classroom, some via Zoom, and others in a private teaching setting that depends on group size.
Join us...
...for writing-based creative work that will ignite your thinking and nurture your empathy and understanding -- for yourself and for others. We each have a story to tell, and creative activities that include writing, images, music and conversation can help unlock the words and their meaning for us. We'd love to see you in one of our courses.