New Courses, Workshops, & an Ebook

So... I do this weird and counterproductive thing sometimes. I work like a madwoman behind the scenes getting new projects ready to unveil to the world, I post them to the site, and then I neglect to tell you about them. Not the most sense does this make, I know. The thing is, I get so tired with all the planning that I decide to take a little breather to catch my breath. Not a bad idea in general, but I know some of you have been waiting for me to announce my new writing courses.

Something new this time around is that I've made sure I have something for writers at many different levels...

...from introductory (you've never written before or have just dabbled)...
...to intermediate (you write a little bit to a good bit, but you want to learn and grow)...
...to intensive (you've been writing for awhile now and you're ready to share your work and get serious feedback on it).

And so, with a bit of an apology for the delay, without a drum roll, and perhaps with just a smidgen of fanfare...they're here!

I thought I'd give you an overview of everything now, and then do a few separate posts about the story behind each offering.

First up is something completely new here: The Word Cellar Writing Workshops. I'm pretty excited about them. These are intensive level, MFA-style workshops in which a small group of writers share their work and offer each other feedback. Each session is limited to just four writers, and the first round starts February 1.

**If you write prose (fiction or nonfiction) and have been longing for serious feedback and community with other creative souls who are dedicating themselves to the writing life, please consider joining us.

**You'll get five group calls (with one call devoted to your work), a private blog for resources, inspiration, and support, plus a private 50-minute coaching session with just you and me.

**I've tricked out these workshops with so much support and feedback because I know some of you are out there aching for this kind of community and growth.

The exact dates for the first session are posted over here, but if you want in on this experience and can't do those dates, please contact me first before you write it off. Since the group is so small I can be flexible in a way that I can't with my other courses. So if this is calling to you, let me know. (I'll post more later about why sharing our writing in a safe environment can be so good for our work. And if you have no workshopping experience, fear not! None required. One of the components of this experience will be learning about how to give -- and how to receive -- useful, kind, respectful feedback.) Sign-ups are now open. (And questions are welcome.)

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Next up, I'm calling all stalled writers and all of you wish-to-be-writers! Calling all artists who dabble in words, all photographers who think they might want to write a poem. Calling all dancers and cooks and mamas and accountants and lawyers and teachers and anyone and everyone who has a secret (or not so secret) desire to put a few words together, to whisper their stories onto the page, to tell a truth or weave a tale or just write one sentence at a time. You are all invited to my newest Alchemy ecourse: Alchemy Inspiration: Start Writing. This is a 4-week online course (introductory to intermediate level) for anyone who wants to write. It all starts Februay 6.

This is a fun, gentle, and inspiring course to help you do the following:

**Find the stories around and within you

**Uncover and use your writing voice(s).

**Explore your unique creative process.

**Give yourself the time, space, and permission to write.

**Connect with other writers in a private online community.  

Registration for Alchemy Inspiration is now open, and class starts February 6. I would love to have you join us!

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Back again for its fourth appearance is Alchemy: The Art & Craft of Writing. This 6-week course (for intermediate to intensive writers) starts April 2 and is designed to help you deepen and  w i d e n  your writing. It's packed with writing techniques, tips, and inspiration to help you transform your words and ideas into meaningful stories.

**Learn writing techniques to create beautiful, meaningful stories that connect with readers.

**Discover tips and tricks to overcome your writing challenges.

**Embrace the creative life and enliven your writing.

**Connect with other writers in a private online community.  

Plus, you've been asking for it, and I'm finally going to have it for you: an ebook of the lessons in Alchemy: The Art & Craft of Writing.

And good news for alumni of this course: you'll be able to get the ebook, too. It won't be ready until this spring, but I will contact all past participants when it's available.

As always, this course will overflow with a beautiful combination of the practical and the inspirational. Registration is open for the session that starts April 2. This course is a piece of my heart's work. I love and deeply believe in the material in it, and I'd be honored if you joined in.

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And finally, not a course exactly, but a new body for a past course. Alchemy Daily is now available as an ebooklet over in The Word Cellar bookshop. These 30 prompts and tidbits of inspiration are appropriate for all levels. I have a love-hate relationship with prompts (leaning more toward love all the time), so I'm pretty picky about the kinds of prompts I included. I also tried to include a wide variety of prompts so everyone will find something that gives them a creative spark.

I may bring Alchemy Daily back as an ecourse again, but for now it's available anytime, anywhere for immediate download.

(A note to Alchemy Daily alumni: This edition of the ebooklet contains most of the prompts that were used during the 30-day sessions of Alchemy Daily during 2011. If you participated in a session of Alchemy Daily that did not include the ebooklet, you can purchase it for a discounted rate. Details are over here.)

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As I said, I'll be back with some stories and behind-the-scenes stuff about each of these. Any questions? Just let me know!

MFA Alternatives (In The Word Cellar)

This installment of In The Word Cellar is a bit late, either by a few days or a whole month, depending on how you're counting. I started it in December and then lost it when Squarespace hiccupped and deleted it. I put it on hold until last week, and I'd intended to have it up on Wednesday, but I was sucked down the vortex of project planning as I whirled and twirled like a dervish to get my new courses and workshops ready. (Last week's column was all about overcoming my sticking points between brainstorming and implementation. I'm happy to have forged ahead through the sticky parts.) And now, onward to this week's column! 

So you've read about my road to MFA-ville, pondered why someone might pursue a graduate degree in writing, looked at how to research and choose a program, and learned all about the low-residency model. Maybe you've started your own list of prospective schools or put the MFA experience on your bucket list.

On the other hand, maybe you've decided hell-no-I-don't-want-to-go-to-grad-school! Or maybe it's just not a feasible option for you right now. Well then, this post is for you.

As I've said all along, I don't believe that you must get a degree to become a better writer or to be published. I knew that I could have found everything I wanted (a writing community, feedback on my writing, craft lessons, and connection to the writing world) inside an MFA program or outside of it. I chose one possible path, but there are many others.

Here are my suggestions for alternatives to getting an MFA in writing. (These also serve as reminders for myself, post-MFA, of what I can do to keep growing and learning and writing.)

Read. Read a lot. Read literature. Read in your genre and far outside of it. Read for pleasure. Read for osmosis.

Reading good literature—the kind we'd like to write—infuses us with a knowledge that goes beyond what we may learn from textbooks or lectures: good literature settles deep within us so, when we write, we can summon what we've received from our predecessors—to emulate, to build. ~ Renee Ronika Kluug, "On Writing: Why Reading Matters," guest post on Rogue Writer

Read books about the craft of writing and about the writing life. (Randy Susan Meyers' post "My Homemade MFA" on Beyond the Margins has a nice collection of quotes of writing advice.)

Learn to read like a writer. This is one of the most important skills I've acquired. How do you read like a writer? Ask yourself why you like a piece of writing. What do you admire in it or dislike? What do you want to do in your own work? Try to see how an author does what she does. I know this sounds techical and like I'm telling you to kill the joy and magic of the written word, but it's not like that. Study other writers as the artists and the technicians that they are. Identify authors' strengths, and turn to them when you need help with something in particular. Let your bookshelf be your writing apothecary. Are you struggling with structure, voice, or incorporating humor into your work? Read the authors who do these things well. Learn from them through osmosis and through conscious study.

Get critical and respond like a writer. One way you can learn to read like a writer is to write critical responses to or papers on a piece of writing. (Yes, write papers for yourself.) I explain what critical means here in this post; here's an excerpt from it: 

First off, it's not nearly as dry, boring, or terrible as it sounds. Part of the MFA program is learning to read as a writer; to dive into another author's work and begin to figure out how she made the magic happen on the page. This is learning to look at creative work with a critical eye. Not critical in the sense of being harsh or belittling. Rather, this is about applying critical thinking skills to the craft of writing.

[Keep reading here (scroll down to the subheading called "The critical work."]

Read critical and craft essays in publications such as The Writer's Chronicle and Hunger Mountain's The Writing Life.

Write. I know this should go without saying, but I'm saying it because I need to hear it. Write. A lot. Keep writing. And do it again the next day.

If you write a bad story, the way to make it better is to write three more. Then look at the first one. You will have grown in understanding, in honesty. You will know what to do to it. And to yourself. ~Brenda Ueland, If You Want to Write: A Book about Art, Independence and Spirit

Mind the gap. There's always a gap between who we are and who we're becoming, between our current skill level and what is possible. Jen Lee talks about the gap in The Emerging Icon Series. Ira Glass (from "This American Life") talks about the gap between your ability and your taste. Don't let the gap stop you from creating. Be aware of it and keep forging ahead.

Set goals, deadlines, and dreams. If you, like me, are not to be trusted to hold yourself accountable, call in back-up. Support and accountability are priceless in all of life, and your writing life is no exception. Do you need external deadlines to make sure you get shit done? Do you need people to ask you what you're working on? Do you need project and submission deadlines to make sure you actually write? I do. I wish it weren't that way, but it is. Forget the shame and guilt of how you think a writer is supposed to operate, and do what works for you. If it works for you, then it's working. If you're writing, then there's no need for guilt or shame about not writing.

Share your work. Support and accountability, baby. Share your drafts with writers and readers that you trust. It's a good exercise in courage, and it's a good way to learn about your blind spots. And that leads me to the next point...

Workshopping is a verb. Share your work with trusted writer-peers and get their input on what's working well and what isn't working as well in your writing. Words are wonderful and slippery things. They will mean different things to different people. You don't have to change things based on another person's vision or opinion, but if nobody in the group understands that your main character is a ghost, and you wanted readers to understand that your main character is a ghost, well, it's time to rethink how you present Ghosty. (I've written more about dealing with feedback here.) (If you're looking for a small group to workshop with, I'm facilitating one here.)

Give good feedback. This is still about sharing your work and workshopping with other writers -- and about reading/responding like a writer. Practicing giving useful, respectful feedback on your peers' work will deepen your own understanding of your craft. It will make you a better writer.

Submit. Send your work out into the world. Publish it on a blog. Submit to magazines, newspapers, literary journals.

Literary journals! Read them, subscribe to them, and send your work to them. Volunteer with them. If you don't know much about lit journals (I didn't just a few years ago), check out NewPages.com to get the lay of the land. (Are you interested in learning more about lit journals? Should I write a separate post about them?)

Find a mentor. Living or dead, real or imaginary.

Attend conferences and readings.

Take writing classes (online or in person).

Go on a writing retreat.

Travel. Seek adventures. Do stuff. Write about it.

I'm getting a little punchy here at the end of this list, but it's all advice that I myself need to hear. 

What about you? What MFA alternatives can you share with us? Please chime in below.

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{In The Word Cellar normally runs on the second and fourth Wednesday of the month. Read other posts in the series here.}

Poetry on a Sunny January Friday

Midwinter spring is its own season
Sempiternal though sodden towards sundown,
Suspended in time, between pole and tropic.

~ T. S. Eliot, "Little Gidding"

photos shot on a Canon EOS Rebel T1i with the 38mm Super Wide Diana+ lens (using this adaptor available from Photojojo and Lomography) (fun!)

Overcoming Your Natural Sticking Points (In The Word Cellar)

This week for "In The Word Cellar" I'm taking a short break from the MFA mini-series. I'll be back next Wednesday with a post about MFA alternatives.

I am neck deep in project-planning over here, swimming around in the alternately murky and luminescent waters of creation. To be honest, I feel like I've been treading water for a few months now, trying to find a current to carry me through 2012. This phase of the process -- the sorting, organizing, and choosing phase -- is where I struggle the most. I have lots of ideas! So many potential directions! So many exclamation points! It's exhausting. I tend to be able to see so many sides to a potential project that I get mired and lost in the details. I can't find a way forward because I'm so worried about choosing the "just right" path.

This is the first time I've tried to map out a year's worth of projects at one time. Over the past few years I've been doing bits and pieces as they came to me, which was a big step forward on my creative path. First, just having one or two ideas that I loved felt like a win. Then, figuring out how to execute one at a time was a milestone. And then I started to juggle a few things together, which made me proud. And now I have a full roster of ideas for the next 12 months, plus the seedlings of other goodies just starting to grow into themselves for the future.

But I'm still struggling during the same phase each time, this purgatorial time in-between idea generation and the beginning of true production. I swim in circles, tiring myself out before I begin the core creative process that requires big bursts of energy. Tonight, as I lamented this recurring "stuckness," I realized that I should be celebrating instead. At least I recognize that this is the hard part for me. And knowing is half the battle, isn't it?

Plus, I realized that each time I find myself stuck here it's actually a new place, no matter how much it looks like the old places of being stuck. It's a new place because of the progression I mention above: planning one project, then a few, and then a year's worth at one time. So tonight I'm celebrating this growth instead of bemoaning the frustration.

As I thought about all of this I remembered a post that I wrote for Magpie Girl back in October 2009 called "Overcoming Your Natural Sticking Points." I re-read it tonight and thought, "Wow, this is really insightful. What good advice!" And then I had a big chuckle because I realized that I was finding kinship and direction with my own words. (That's actually quite lovely, when I think about it.)

In that post I explore our natural tendency to be good at specific phases of the creative process, and I offer a few concrete tips on how to move through the "stuckness." You can hop on over to Rachelle's site to read the original article here, or just keep reading, as I've reposted it below.

Oh, and good things are coming, including downloadable ebooklets, Alchemy writing courses (including a new one!), personal coaching packages, and a brand new intensive, small group workshop. More on those in the days to come....

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Overcoming Your Natural Sticking Points

I can't figure out how to start this blog post, which is absolutely perfect. Perfect because I'm trying to write about overcoming your natural sticking point in a project. And mine just happens to be this exact point: the point between brainstorming/mapping out the idea and refining/finalizing the project. I get stuck at the beginning of production and creation.

I used to wonder why "everyone else" has such great ideas and gets so much done. My husband, ever my cheerleader, pointed out that I do have a lot of potentially great ideas, all floating around in my head or stashed away in notebooks. He regularly reminds me that I do manage to get stuff done, even big things like starting a freelance writing and editing business; researching/applying to/enrolling in graduate school; and navigating the treacherous waters of real estate and mortgages to buy our first house.

So what's the problem, I wondered. Why do I sometimes get so stuck that I jump ship and leave my ideas to languish on the deck?

Then a friend shared the concept of the Wheel of Work with me and the pieces fell into place. The wheel tracks the eight phases of a project and can help us to see where we thrive and where we need support. (Note: I don't know the original source of the Wheel of Work. If you do, please tell us in the comments.)

The Wheel of Work

The four sections along the top half of the wheel (Advise, Innovate, Promote, and Develop) are conceptual skills. The four along the bottom half (Organize, Produce, Inspect, Maintain) are skills of execution. 

 I'm naturally skilled in the conceptual half, particularly Advising, Innovating, and Developing. This means I'm good at brainstorming and connecting ideas, thinking about things in new and unexpected ways, researching, and collecting resources. But when it’s time to Organize and Produce, I seize up. All those possible directions and a desire to "do it right" can stymie my attempts at creating. I dream things up, but then I have trouble Organizing my thoughts and moving into Production.

If you look at the wheel, you'll see that Organize and Produce are opposite of Advise and Innovate. This is usually the case: The pieces of the wheel furthest away from our natural strengths are the pieces we find to be most difficult. 

If you get stuck at the point of creation, here are four tips on getting from idea generation to post-production.

1. Collect your project ideas in one place. I struggle with this and tend to have scraps of paper and journal pages littered with ideas. But I do my best to put them all in one notebook that's segmented for different idea types, like essay and article ideas, resources to consult, and possible collaborative projects. This way, I know where everything is and can keep track of my brain jumble.

2. Consider the path of least resistance. Natural-born innovators often end up with long lists of potential projects and no sense of direction. When you have too many projects to choose from, or even too many possible directions within a single project idea, you can end up quitting before you start because you feel overwhelmed. If you can’t figure out what project to focus on, prioritize your list of ideas. The criteria you use for prioritizing is up to you. Maybe you want to pick the project that you think has the most money-making potential. Maybe one project seems ripe for the picking because your audience is hungry for it. 

When in doubt, I say go for the one that most appeals to you. We tend to think that anything "good" has to be "hard," but I say do what works and feels good. Don't think of it as the easy way out. Rather, think of it was the easy way through. The same thing applies to choosing a direction within one particular project. For example, I just kept on writing this post, going in the direction that seemed easiest as I went along. As I got further down the path, I could more clearly see what needed to come next and where I needed to go back and revamp things.

3. Stop assuming and get the facts. One of the ways that we sabotage ourselves is by making assumptions. We assume that we can’t afford a graphic designer, so why bother to start writing that ebook? We assume we won’t find a vacant room at the bed and breakfast we love, so why bother to plan that getaway? We assume we’ll run out of ideas halfway through the article, so why bother to create an outline? Stop it with the what-ifs! Don't let a lack of information dictate your progress. Worrying about what may-or-may-not-be just keeps you stuck. Get the facts you need to figure out the next steps. And remember that not every step of a project is contingent upon another step. Figure out what you can do concurrently, like writing the ebook content while waiting to hear back from designers. If you stay committed to the project, you’ll find a way to make it work.

4. Enlist help. Chances are you have friends and colleagues who are naturally skilled in other parts of the Wheel of Work. When you’re stuck on how to begin or what to do next, ask for input from someone you trust. Even someone with the same sticking points as you may be able to help. For example, although I struggle to see my way forward at the beginning of my projects, I do it with ease and confidence when working with my clients. We tend to create drama and fear around our natural sticking points when it comes to our own projects because we’re emotionally attached to them. An outsider doesn’t have the same baggage and can point the way forward.

This is how I get past my natural sticking points. What are your sticking points along the Wheel of Work and how do you overcome them?

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{In The Word Cellar normally runs on the second and fourth Wednesday of the month. Read other posts in the series here.}

Seven into '12 (#7)

home. (iphone; instagram)

starting the new year at home

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"Seven into '12" was my impromptu little countdown to the new year. I posted a photo every day between December 26, 2011 through January 1, 2012 to celebrate, ponder, and chuckle at the world around me.

Thanks to everyone who played along in the Flickr group.