More Free Writing Classes!

If you’ve wondered what the heck is going on in your brain when you want to write and can’t or don’t, you’re going to love this!

I’m teaching a two-hour class called “Why Is It So Hard To Write Even When I Want To?”Absolutely free!

This and two other classes I’m teaching at Scott County libraries are part of their new “Inkslingers: Writers in the Libraries” series of free writing classes and author visits in October and November made possible with funding from the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Funding.

You have your choice of six different two-hour classes:

• Writing Life for Teens taught by Kate St. Vincent Vogl
• Beginning Memoir: Finding Your Story taught by Angela Foster
• Making It Real taught by Kate St. Vincent Vogl
• The Creative Process (I’m teaching – see details below)
• Getting Started (I’m teaching – see details below)
• Why Is It So Hard to Write Even When I Want To? (I’m teaching – see details below)

The Creative Process on November 16 from 6:30 to 8:30 pm at the Savage Library. Getting words on the page is essential, but there’s a lot more to writing. There are six stages in the creative process and only one involves fingers on the keyboard. Find out what these six stages are and what you need to do in each of them to complete the creative process. The class will include some in-class writing exercises. Class size is limited; registration is required – call (952-707-1770) or contact the Savage Library.

Getting Started on November 17 from 6:30 to 8:30 pm at the Shakopee Library. Do you have great ideas for stories, articles, essays— maybe even a book? Learn tips and techniques to get those ideas out of your head and onto the page. We’ll practice brainstorming, clustering, freewriting and other ways of kick-starting the writing process. You’ll also complete an interest inventory and learn about habits that will sustain your writing in the future. The class will include in-class writing exercises.
Class size is limited; registration is required – call (952-233-9590) or contact the Shakopee Library.

Why Is It So Hard to Write Even When I Want To? on November 29 from 6:30 to 8:39 pm at the Prior Lake Library. Why do nearly all writers have an embrace/avoid, push/pull relationship with writing? It’s not because we’re lazy, undisciplined or lack ambition or intelligence. It’s because we don’t have a brain—we have a brain system. In easy-to-understand terms, learn what’s going on in your brain when you want to write (or do anything else), but can’t or don’t. Most importantly, learn what you can do to move through resistance and into the writing you want to do. The class will include in-class writing exercises. Class size is limited; registration is required – call (952-447-3375) or contact the Prior Lake Library.

I hope to see you in one (or more) of these Inkslingers classes!