Make a new commitment to your writing in the new year!
THE CARE AND FEEDING OF THE GIRLS IN THE BASEMENT
12 week online class
$310
“If you don’t write your books, they might not ever get written.” Madeline l’Engle.
EDIT, 12/11/06: I’ve had several emails inquiring–yes, there is still room in the class.
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 start the year with 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.
To take advantage of the power of fresh starts, class will begin January 1st, which just happens to fall on a Monday this year. The first email will go out the Friday before, to make sure everyone is online and can access the chat site.
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. EDIT in response to several queries: for those who have taken the voice class, you’ll be doing the work in private, rather than posting to the group, so it is much less reading intensive.
WEEK ONE–Basics
The care and feeding of the body
Artist’s Dates and how they work
Making your sacred space
Exercises
Recommended readings
Chat
WEEK TWO–Safety
The Good Girl Syndrome
Setting boundaries and creating a safe zone
Learning to play
Building an altar
Exercises
Recommended readings
Chat
WEEK THREE–Drama
Crazymakers
Keep the drama on the page
Methods to recognize false drama and get rid of it
Exercises
Recommended readings
Chat
WEEK FOUR–Fear
Working with fear
Countering victimhood
Finding symbols of your own
Exercises
Recommended readings
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
Exercises
Recommended readings
Chat
WEEK SIX–Pain
Scar Clan and Descansos, working with sorrow
The good luck/bad luck game
Exercises
Recommended readings
Chat
WEEK SEVEN—Belonging
The odd woman out
Finding your tribe
Exercises
Recommended readings
Chat
WEEK EIGHT—Anger
Dancing with demons—accepting anger
There is no good or bad, grasshopper, only what is
The flip side…passion
Exercises
Recommended readings
Chat
WEEK NINE—Passion
Dreams and ambition as a road map
Drama and jealousy as road block
Passion as a calling
Exercises
Recommended readings
Chat
WEEK TEN—Power
Power corrupts…or does it?
Getting over fears about power
When you get what you want and it’s not what you thought
Exercises
Recommended readings
Chat
WEEK ELEVEN—Love
All you are is love
Writing as an offering and a joy
Accepting love, accepting play
Exercises
Recommended readings
Chat
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
Exercises
Recommended readings
Chat
**The syllabus is still fluid and may change a little here and there as the lesson plan develops more completely. I also reserve the right to shuffle the lessons if it seems the group needs to go a new way.
PAYMENT
$310 for the 12 week class
Full payment is appreciated at time of registration. A minimum deposit of ½ is due at registration, with full payment due by Jan. 15.
TWO FULL SCHOLARSHIPS WILL BE OFFERED. Email me if you’d like to take the class and can’t swing it, or nominate someone else you think would benefit and can’t swing the fees. A week before the class start, I’ll pull two names from the hat.
Any questions? Email me.
