Creative Writing Seminars
Creative Writing MFA-level style courses taught by a university instructor
There are many writing programs out there that want to help you finish your book and workshops that want to help you craft your story. This is different from that type of course. My seminars are built on the foundation of how MFA courses in Creative Writing are taught in universities. Courses with the deep study of texts that have students looking at form, narrative, and technique. Seminars with syllabi and intense reading schedules that will stretch you as a writer (and reader).
The seminars that I teach are built around independent study in what I call “Voice in your Education” within a community/cohort of other writers committed to rigor, curiosity, and investigation. There is an expectation that you are willing to put in the hard work of self-study and bring the insights and questions into the community. We are all coming at this creative work from our own journey and have our own blocks and struggles as a writer, and as part of the semester, we have built-in coaching sessions. In addition to getting a graduate-like seminar, you also gain one-on-one time with a writing coach.
Now, enrolling in a university MFA program is no longer necessary to get that same type of study. I offer a range of seminars, including a full-semester (13-week), a minimester (5-6 weeks), and a two-week intensive that examines the craft of writing through reading and examining texts with generative exercises.
So, if you have been interested in getting an MFA but didn’t want to go into debt, quit your job, or move to a new state. . . or if you love to be in a classroom setting to learn. You can now take a graduate-level-type course without the grades and final seminar project. Get the instruction and deep study without the high cost and added pressure of earning a degree. Learn what the intensive study of narrative can provide to your understanding of craft and how it can inform your own work.
Undergraduate degree and previous graduate work or degree not required.
**These seminars are not connected to a university or MFA program, nor are they credited. Taking these seminars will not lead you to an MFA degree or certificate. They are for personal study only.
“Reading widely makes you a livelier, richer person and that would feed into your writing” –Lisel Mueller
How It Works
No admissions testing/No application/No writing sample required. These entirely virtual courses are for writers at all levels (and you might not even consider yourself a writer but are interested in the deep study of text).read more
This program is informal, outside academia, and therefore not subject to bureaucracy. This program does not lead to credits or a degree, but it is designed to align with the same rigor and study as a graduate-level course.
And by taking one of the courses, you gain access to an editor and coach who cares about you and wants to see you thrive and grow as a writer. Learn more about my editing and coaching and the ways we can work together.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.
Pricing
Payment plans are available for all courses.
read more
2024 MFA-like Creative Writing Courses:
May – June (5-week minimester)
Graphic Memoirs
June (2-week intensive)
The Language of Ocean
Aug- Oct (13-week seminar)
Writing Grief
Sep – Oct (2-week intensive)
Memoir & Poetry – What is the Intersection?
Nov – Dec (5-week minimester)
The Personal and Intergenerational Narrative
2024 MFA-like Creative Writing Courses:
May – June (5-week minimester)
Graphic Memoirs
June (2-week intensive)
The Language of Ocean
Aug- Oct (13-week seminar)
Writing Grief
Sep – Oct (2-week intensive)
Memoir & Poetry – What is the Intersection?
Nov – Dec (5-week minimester)
The Personal and Intergenerational Narrative
“Culture is lost when we neglect to tell our stories, when we forget the power and craft of storytelling” –Deborah A. Miranda
Tuesday Course
May 7 – June 4, 2024
Thursday Course
May 9 – June 6, 2024
In this course, we will read beautiful and haunting prose and poetry and study the interconnection of genres. In this 2-week intensive, we will take a deep dive into the work of Ocean Vuong – author of Time is a Mother and On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous, which won the Mark Twain Award, and the author of the critically acclaimed poetry collection Night Sky with Exit Wounds.
June 2024 (2-week intensive)
June 17 – 28, 2024
In this course, we will examine the intersection of creative nonfiction/personal narrative and poetry. Our discussion will raise questions regarding the two genres and how they can inform each other. As writers, we will dive into using both form and genre to investigate ways to develop and share our stories. As a cohort, we will walk through this intensive study to inform our own writing.
Sep – Oct 2024 (2-week intensive)
September 23 – October 4, 2024
This course will examine the interconnection of personal, familial, and ancestral narratives. We will discuss how stories do not need to follow a linear structure and that circular/spiral retelling often aligns more with the interconnection between stories
Nov – Dec 2024 (5-week minimester)
Tuesday Course
November 5 – December 3, 2024
Thursday Course
November 7 – December 12, 2024
How It Works
No admissions testing/No application/No writing sample required. These entirely virtual courses are for writers at all levels (and you might not even consider yourself a writer but are interested in the deep study of text).read more
This program is informal, outside academia, and therefore not subject to bureaucracy. This program does not lead to credits or a degree, but it is designed to align with the same rigor and study as a graduate-level course.
And by taking one of the courses, you gain access to an editor and coach who cares about you and wants to see you thrive and grow as a writer. Learn more about my editing and coaching and the ways we can work together.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.
Pricing
Payment plans are available for all courses.