I am teaching a Level 1 class in creative nonfiction and memoir starting in April. If you have a story or book that is burning inside you, now is the time to begin.
It happens for 6 weeks in a row on Tuesday evenings from 7-9 Eastern, which means April 4 | April 11 | April 18 | April 25 | May 2 | May 9. In that class you get to write; think about writing; hear about writing; shore up your writing life; craft micro-memoir, flash essay, outlines, timelines, and stories. I break the process down for you step by step, and I’m forcing myself to slow down and move at a speed where I don’t leave anyone behind.
This class will be larger than usual, and I say this because it helps shy people. You won’t be one of 5 people, feeling obligated to show up, turn your video on, and interact. You will be invited to and welcome to interact, but in truth, this will be me leading you & guiding you & holding your hand as you navigate the dark and stormy world of making yourself do the hard work.
People of all ages, skin colors, regions, nationalities, identities, neurodivergencies, genders, sexes, and faiths—we need all stories—are invited to participate.
I talk a lot about craft, meaning technique and structure, and I also talk a lot about the invisible forces that help push your work along. I’ve had many scientists take my courses, and they don’t seem to mind me talking about the imaginal, spiritual realm.
In my current class I have a New Orleans writer who has no children, but is determined to leave a book of family stories for their beloved nieces. I had a 1:1 conference yesterday with a new writer, a farmer, who began to cry when they received my edits on one of their essays—they told me that they finally felt seen. I got tears in my eyes too. I have an Episcopal priest writing a much-needed memoir about their work with immigration reform. I have a therapist from Utah who just got approached by a press for a book proposal. I have a writer exploring their childhood as an adoptee; they are looking at what family means for them. I have a Virginia writer who completed a book and loaded it to a self-publishing platform, only to find that their grown child disapproved of the book, so they took it down and are rewriting it. I have a Michigan academic writer who is allowed, for the first time, to explore the emotional landscape of their childhood. I have an Atlanta writer who just decided to quit her job and move home to the Black Belt of Alabama.
(I usually use he/she/they, but I’m using “they” in that last paragraph to protect the identities of the folks with whom I work.)
I say again, this class will not be a tiny (online) circle. It will be a large (online) room filled with comfy chairs and soft lighting. It will be you in the comfort of your home, working on your secret wish to leave a legacy or up your game or get a better job or improve your writing skills or write a bestseller. And that secret stays with you and me.
I will not be teaching intense structures or schemas in this course. It will be slower, happier, lighter, more inclusive—hopefully a pleasant way to spend a couple of hours a week, motivate you to sit more with your typewriter, and get your vital, useful, interesting stories on the page.
Your dream is not going to happen without you. It’s not going to happen without hard work. I promise you that. It’s not going to happen without some information.
But it can happen.
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