COURSES & WORKSHOPS
While writing is the core tool we use, 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
new for Fall 2023
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.
WRITING: Principles, Process and Pleasure
Experience the joy of becoming the writer you want to be. Join us for an exploration of writing — from elements of style to foundational principles of composition and forms of revision. Much of what makes writing pleasurable is being able to bend language and structure to our command, because we know what we are doing and why we're doing it. Bring your interest in writing and in reading, your joy of language and your questions, as we dive into the writer’s sandbox of principles and processes. In a creative and generative way, you will respond to existing texts and compose your own. Whether your goal is pleasure or publication, this course is open to writers of any genre or subject matter.
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 and reading aloud. 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.
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.