Course Announcement -- Fall 2015

Happy Memorial Day, all! 

Spring is here, which means that animals are coming out of hibernation, flowers are blooming again, and Community Writing Workshops in Morgantown is gearing up for another ambitious Fall offer. And when I say ambitious, I'm not kidding.

For the first time ever, I will be offering three miniature semesters (what I am calling "courselets") for prose writers. These five-to-six week classes will focus on the craft of writing, as well as the act of revision, taking a practical hands-on approach to one of the most important aspects of the writing process. These classes may be taken together or individually:

• Semester A: Create-Your-Own Curriculum: Have you ever sat in a seminar, or a workshop, and thought, I know this already. Why don't we ever cover the subjects I want to cover? Well, today is your lucky day. In this five-week open-design courselet, you call the shots, choosing what we cover and directing your own education according to your personal needs as a writer. Each student will be responsible for deciding what prose topic (or topics) the class will cover for one week. Your instructor will design a curriculum from the ground up based around your choices, featuring in-depth discussion, instructional handouts, hand-selected reading assignments, and spirited writing activities designed to help us improve upon our Achilles' heels. We will also explore the complexities of craft and consider the benefits of writing slowly in an otherwise fast-paced world, approaching our work as a long-term process that benefits from focused attention, nuance, and an understanding of our personal productivity.

• Semester B: Prose Revision Workshop I (invitation only): This invitation-only courselet is open to students who previously took last fall's course, So You Want to Write a Novel. Over six weeks, we will review and collaboratively revise our class novel Under the Harvest Moon, taking the manuscript through its first round of rewriting. Class discussion will focus on issues related specifically to long-prose revision.

• Semester C: Prose Revision Workshop II: We are often lectured about the importance of revision--"you cannot be a writer if you do not revise"; "writing is revision." Yet, we rarely receive any hands-on instruction on how to revise our early drafts, aside from the commentary we sometimes receive during workshops. It is as though we are expected to just know how to revise, or else figure it out on our own. This courselet interrogates the notion that revision is somehow "instinctive," and for six weeks, we will attempt to demystify revision through discussion, practice, and active participation in the process. We will see, firsthand, just how much work goes into revising even one story (how the act of revising differs from, say, standard editing). We will talk about how to utilize the feedback we receive from others. And each student will have the opportunity to substantially re-envision one piece of short prose with the guidance of the instructor and the rest of the class. This courselet is designed to be forgiving of students with busy schedules, and its objectives may be met through a number of different approaches, which your instructor will outline for you in class. (You will not be forced to workshop a story, if you do not want to!)

These classes will also be fee free! Yes, you read that correctly! While donations are always happily accepted, you are not required or expected to pay for any of these classes. All you have to do is head over to the registration page and sign up today!

For more information, check out the course description page (click here).

As always, these classes are designed to meet the needs of both new and experienced writers. Seats are filling up fast (we're about halfway enrolled already), so don't hesitate!

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