Online
Six Sundays
1:00 to 3:00 pm (Pacific)
February 24 to March 31, 2021
Enrollment limit: 8 students
$315 new; $285 returning

In this six-week mixed levels class designed for both short story writers and novelists (poets and screenwriters also welcome), we will break down the writing process using twelve interrelated questions to help structure your work. The questions are taken from the instructor's recently released craft book The Thorn Necklace: Healing Through Writing and the Creative Process. Each week, students will meet online for a short lecture on craft and receive a five-ten page assignment of scene work. These assignments will be completed and then emailed to the group for online discussion a week after they are due. We will also address the way the writing process, including the development of character and plot, can provide healing for the author on his or her own personal journey.

This class is open to students of all levels and will meet online in real time using the Zoom platform. We will contact you with details closer to the date of the class.

Online
Two Saturdays
11:00 am to 1:00 pm (Pacific)
March 2 and 9, 2019
Enrollment limit: 8 students
$130 new; $120 returning

There’s one thing all writers need in their stories: conflict. It’s the propulsive element that elevates the work’s tension and drama. So how do we tell when a work-in-progress has enough heat on the page to arouse the curiosity of a reader? In this two-day online seminar for fiction and nonfiction writers, we’ll talk about techniques to generate dramatic action. We’ll ponder how to establish and nurture our protagonist’s internal and external stakes, all the while making sure we’re putting the right obstacles in their path to impede their journey. The seminar will feature a range of influences, from the modernists to pieces published last week. Great works of art all have conflict thrumming through their pages, and students will leave our time together with a deep understanding about how to maximize the dramatic opportunities in their stories.

This class is open to students of all levels and will meet online in real time using the Zoom platform. We will contact you with details closer to the date of the class.

Online
Two Saturdays
11:00 am to 1:00 pm (Pacific)
March 16 and 23, 2019
Enrollment limit: 8 students
$130 new; $120 returning

Is writing about music like dancing about architecture? Let’s find out! Whether you’re writing a musician character, a story inspired by a song, an essay about the impact of music on culture (or vice versa), or a review of an album or a musician’s memoir, great things happen when literature and music meet. In this two-day online seminar, we will look at various models of music writing and students will write and share two new original pieces: one short essay and one piece of fiction, review, journalism, or a hybrid of these forms.

This class is open to students of all levels and will meet online in real time using the Zoom platform. We will contact you with details closer to the date of the class.

Online
Two Saturdays
11:00 am to 1:00 pm (Pacific)
April 6 and 20, 2019
Enrollment limit: 8 students
$130 new; $120 returning

Have you been working on a novel or other long project and have a multiple drafts all over your computer? Do you have folders of notes from all the workshops you’ve taken your project through? Do you have a long, glitchy Word document that takes forever to load? Along with talking about practical analog tools for drafting and revising longer projects, this two-day online seminar will walk you through how to use Scrivener—a software word processing and project management program aimed at writers—to help you draft and organize your novel or memoir.

We’ll work on figuring out the best way for you to divide your manuscript and upload it to the Scrivener interface, plus how to use tools like the virtual index cards and how to easily save multiple drafts. We'll also talk through alternatives to Scrivener like organizing your writing through Google Docs. This class is recommended for students who have longer projects, but it can be useful for anyone interested in learning about Scrivener and gaining tools for structuring and revising your writing. Students will receive a discount code to purchase the Scrivener 3 program before the class starts.

This class is open to students of all levels and will meet online in real time using the Zoom platform. We will contact you with details closer to the date of the class.

Online
Two Saturdays
11:00 am to 1:00 pm (Pacific)
March 23 and April 6, 2021
Enrollment limit: 3 students
$550 new; $500 returning
(Payment plans available to returning students.)

Publishing companies and small presses are increasingly asking authors to do more of their own publicity, and agents often consider platform as part of a query’s appeal. As a result, it is more important than ever for writers to have a well-designed website. However, a professional website by an experienced designer can cost over $1000 and easily much more, leaving the writer without knowledge as to how to update content.

This two-day online seminar will walk you through creating your own Squarespace site from scratch. In the first week, we will cover best practices for author websites, discuss the different considerations that go into choosing a template, and learn the basics of how to navigate Squarespace and create a site. Writers will then spend the week customizing their own websites. At the second meeting, we will reconvene to provide feedback on the sites and discuss any questions or issues that have come up. The second meeting will also offer a basic introduction to setting up a newsletter and social media, using CSS to code design workarounds, and how to use the Squarespace forum when in doubt.

The class will meet online in real time using the Zoom platform. We will contact you with details. Even if you’re not a writer, you’re welcome to come create a website with us.