Writing Classes Worth Paying For

With all those free writing classes to choose from at the libraries, why pay for a class? Because multi-week Loft classes give you what the free ones can’t: consistency, continuity and more content.

Consistent Practice Builds Habits You Can Count On

My Writing Habit class, for example, gives you a chance to experiment and fine-tune the Process, Self-care and Product Time habits that will sustain your writing, not just in the 6 weeks we have together, but long afterward.

During weekly check-ins, you observe what does and what doesn’t work for you. While you’re doing that, I make sure you are discerning and compassionate with yourself. This sometimes requires that I gently and firmly redirect you away from the tendency to judge yourself and encourage you to keep stretching and challenging yourself.

In addition to developing sustainable writing habits, you will:

• learn the six stages of the creative process and what Product Time looks like in each stage
• identify your priorities
• use action-mapping to reach your writing goals
• find writing allies who will continue to encourage you.

Six Weeks of Writing Play Gives You Writing Tools for a Lifetime

The same principle of developing your skills over the course of 6 weeks and beyond also applies to my Spontaneous Fiction class. Each week, you get different ways to experiment and play with writing exercises that apply:

• random generation tools
• improv games
• mind-mapping
• found objects
• clips from News of the Weird
•  collage-making and more.

You’ll have the time and inspiration to get your characters and story out of your head and onto the page. Each week we’ll review samples of published fiction to explore and discuss a different element of fiction like character, dialogue, setting, motivation, and conflict. You’ll add tools to the writer’s toolkit you’ll use for years to come.

The best part of the Spontaneous Fiction class is that you don’t have to outline or plot the whole story before you start writing; you can discover what happens as you write. This spontaneous, a.k.a. organic, just-sit-down-and-write-something writing can:

• move you out of a slump
• introduce new characters and situations
• allow you to practice and develop your craft
• infuse fresh energy into stories that have gone stale or stalled out.

If you’re concerned about cost, Loft classes have member discounts, low-income discounts and work-study options. And I always offer one full scholarship in all my in-person classes at the Loft.

I hope to see you in a writing class soon!