To read recent blog posts on these topics, click here.  Or click on the dates on the calendar.

"If you don’t do your work, it might not ever get written."  Madeline L’Engle

Over the past few years, I have been engaged quite a lot more in teaching.   It seems to me that there is a great need for circles of encouragement among writers, and that is what these classes are designed to do.  Each class is meant to foster creativity and friendships, as well as inspire writers to find and produce their own special body of work.

BACKGROUND
For several years, I wrote a column
called The Care and Feeding of the Girls in the Basement for Novelist’s Ink, the newsletter of a group of published
commercial novelists. (The title comes from a phrase coined by Stephen King, though he calls his "boys in the basement." Of course.)  It’s a working group, with a number of writers
who’ve been producing novels for decades, and it seemed to me that the
newsletter offered plenty of business and writing advice, but there
wasn’t much attention given to the idea of how to take care of the
vulnerable, more delicate creative of the personality.  What I was seeing around me were a lot of exhausted, demoralized writers who needed desperately to fall back in love with their writing.  So I started writing about it.

Which lead, in a roundabout way, to teaching creativity and voice to both aspiring and published writers, and helping to create circles of support for writers at all stages of their careers.  There are lots of people who tell you how hard this career is, how impossible the statistics, how challenging, and how very few writers ever get published.  I believe that no one is called to writing by accident, and what most writers need is encouragement and some illumination about how to stay healthy and productive and allow the process of creation, rather than forcing it.

CREDENTIALS (such as they are)

I have been writing for my bread for virtually all of my adult life, through ups and downs in both my personal and professional life.  By some miracle, I am still madly in love with the process and the product, but it hasn’t always been easy.  These classes are the product of all those years of writing professionally, and they continue to grow and expand as each class teaches me something new.  As my  career continues to grow and expand, it feels more and more important to stay grounded in the day-to-day tending that an artistic path requires, and this is one way I have found to continue to feed my own "girls in the basement".*

Email me with questions

ONLINE CLASSES

VOICE I
A six-week class on the basics of voice, including family and place influences, as well as illustrations of how each voice is naturally unique.

VOICE II
A continuation of the previous voice class, taking the study of voice into more particular and individual levels.

GIRLS IN THE BASEMENT
A nourishing and step-by-step journey though the cornerstones of building a healthy writer’s life, from the basics of health to figuring out your best work styles.  Best for emerging writers who are in earlier stages of their careers.

CIRCLES OF QUIET
An anonymous course for published authors, 9-weeks, utilizing some of the same aspects of Girls in the Basement, but more particular to the needs of long-time writers who might have lost their way, or simply want to connect with others in a safe and supportive environment.  (Email me if you are interested in more details.)
     (begins June 16)

ON THE ROAD
Santa Barbara Writers Conference, June 22

Romance Writers of Australia, August 25

ONLINE CLASS

Many students have asked for a continuation of the voice class, and after much thought, I have fashioned a syllabus that will build on the foundation we use in Voice I.    Using the same format of small, intimate groups, timed exercises, and discussion, we will discuss the passions, ideas, and compulsions we want to express in writing, as well as the practicalities of finding times, fitting ourselves to the right markets and learning to shape voice to style.  As with the other classes, there are scholarships available.

Prerequisite: Voice I or my permission.

Cost: $225
Length: 6 weeks
Class limit: 8

2008 start dates:  March 11; October 22
Email me to hold your place.

SYLLABUS 
Week One–Holy Callings

Week Two–Genres and connection

Week Three–Seminal events

CHAT

Week Four–Practicalities

Week Five–Path

Week Six–Pulling it all together

THE CARE AND FEEDING OF THE GIRLS IN THE BASEMENT
12 week online class designed to nurture writers and help create circles of support
$340
Email me to reserve a space

 No classes scheduled until next spring, 2009.

“If you don’t write your books, they might not ever get written.” Madeline l’Engle.

There are a great many how-to-write courses and many great teachers of how to write a novel. This is not one of them. The Care and Feeding of the Girls in the Basement is meant to help inspire and encourage you, to help you learn (or remember) how to nurture your creative spirit. It’s a chance to renew your joy, tap into the original delight you once felt for writing, and make a powerful commitment to yourself and your writing. We’ll draw from several texts, including The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron; Women Who Run With The Wolves by Clarrissa Pinkola Estes, and Writing Down the Bones, by Natalie Goldberg, among others.

BACKGROUND

For several years, I wrote a column by this name for Novelist’s Ink, the newsletter of a group of published commercial novelists. It’s a working group, with a number of writers who’ve been producing novels for decades, and it seemed to me that the newsletter offered plenty of business and writing advice, but there wasn’t much attention given to the idea of how to take care of the vulnerable, more delicate creative of the personality. I’m writing my last column this month, and have developed the material into a 12-week class.

CLASS FORMAT

The class will be conducted online via email and chat. Each Monday morning, I’ll send out the week’s lessons and exercises to the group. In addition, we will meet three times during the course in a chat room, to gather and ask questions, talk about the week’s lessons. Unlike my voice classes, you’ll be doing your work privately, and we’ll use the email loop to discuss whatever comes up, rather than posting lots of material.

THE CARE AND FEEDING OF THE GIRLS IN THE BASEMENT
12 WEEK CLASS
SYLLABUS**

Each week will include lecture material posted via email, discussion, and 2 hour chat time. There will also be recommended readings (most available online and all available through your library—a list will be distributed at the start of class). Occasionally, I’ll post a link to an audio. You will need to do the exercises and should plan to take an hour-long artist date each week. There is no grade, of course, so how fully you participate is up to you.

WEEK ONE–Basics
The care and feeding of the body
Artist’s Dates and how they work
Making your sacred space

WEEK TWO–Safety
The Good Girl Syndrome
Setting boundaries and creating a safe zone
Learning to play
Building an altar

WEEK THREE–Drama
Crazymakers
Keep the drama on the page
Methods to recognize false drama and get rid of it

Chat

WEEK FOUR–Fear
Working with fear
Countering victimhood
Finding symbols of your own
Chat

WEEK FIVE–Abundance
Abundance—what it is and what it isn’t
If I have all I want, won’t someone else suffer?
Suffering as a secret virtue
Chat

WEEK SIX– Scar Clan
Scar Clan and Descansos, working with sorrow and anger
The good luck/bad luck game

Chat

WEEK SEVEN—Belonging
The odd woman out
Finding your tribe

WEEK EIGHT—Passion
Dreams and ambition as a road map
Drama and jealousy as road block
Passion as a calling

WEEK NINE—Power
Power corrupts…or does it?
Getting over fears about power
When you get what you want and it’s not what you thought
Chat

WEEK ELEVEN—Love
All you are is love
Writing as an offering and a joy
Accepting love, accepting play

WEEK TWELVE—Trust
You have everything you need
If you don’t write your books, they might not ever get written
Play as the rule of thumb

Chat

 TWO FULL SCHOLARSHIPS WILL BE OFFERED. I’ll draw two names from a hat a week before class begins.

Email me  if you’d like to be considered, or to nominate someone else you think would benefit and can’t swing the fees. Put "scholarship" in the subject line and specify which class you’d like to be considered for.

THE WRITER’S VOICE

A six-week writing intensive designed to help writers understand voice as a whole, and to understand the elements that make her own voice unique.

The exercises are mostly timed writings, and are designed to build, week by week, to help you see what you have to offer the world with your work. Are you a funny ethnic writers with a thread of poignance? A serious historical novelist with roots deep in a particular time?  What influenced you to become a writer and what do you want to get from it?  Who taught you to speak, and what have you read and loved?  These are all elements of the writer’s voice.

The class runs from Tuesday to Tuesday, and is comprised of lecture, exercises and discussion. Due to the reading and writing requirement, class size is limited to 8.  A 20% discount is offered for groups of five or more, and there is one scholarship available for each segment.  To be considered, email me with "scholarship" in the subject line and specify which class and date you want to be considered for.

Questions? Email me.

COST: $225
DATES:  October 1, 2008 (to give us time to finish before the holidays begin)   

Voice II will begin on October 22