If you’d like some company or guidance on your writing journey, here are a few writing workshops/classes offered in March and April. All classes are online (virtual) unless otherwise indicated.
If you are an instructor and have a writing class you think would be of interest to the Writer-ish community, you can submit it here for consideration.
Scholarships are available for Writer-ish workshops. To be notified of upcoming classes and discounts, join the Writer-ish newsletter.
Ancestors Calling: Divining the Family Narrative
with Darien Hsu Gee (Hugo House online), March 4, 2023, Saturday, from 10 am-1:00 pm PST. $90/$81 members. Sign up here.
Do you speak to the dead? Just kidding, except … not really. As writers, our ancestral history breathes through our bodies and appears on the written page, whether we realize it or not. The stories of those who came before us—and the legacies they bear, for better or worse—are what we carry. We'll explore ancestors both known and unknown through a series of micro narratives (300 words or less) and prose poems. No Ouija boards required.
Women’s Creative Writing Workshop
with Stephanie Han, March 11-April 17, 7-9 am HST. $432. Sign up here.
This mixed-level class emphasizes voice and narrative and comes with the opportunity to have a one-on-one session. You will leave class with more confidence about what you are writing. You will become familiar with your own creative process and learn what you need to do to write the work that you were meant to write. Includes an optional one-on-one 30 minute private workshop session.
Great Essays Kill Clichés: Unearthing Fresh Language and New Forms of Expression
with Jaswinder Bolina (Craft Talks), March 22, 2023, Wednesday, from 2 – 3 pm est. $25.00. Sign up here.
Writing is an art of disruption. Our best writing resists and overturns familiar patterns of thought and language, inventing new forms of expression. I have yet to meet a writer who set out to say nothing interesting. Yet, when our essays fail to interest editors, agents, and readers, we are often at a loss for how and where we went wrong. This webinar will study how our choices of diction, syntax, and sentence construction often underlie greater missteps in our work. Cliché means so much more than the overuse of familiar phrases. It can also mean our tendency to use familiar sentence structure in our writing–and worse, in our thinking. We’ll discuss what constitutes a cliché, why we’re so inclined to use clichés, and how avoiding dead language brings power to our ideas.
March Micro Memoir Workshop: The Familiar
with Darien Hsu Gee (writer-ish.com), March 26, 2023, Sunday, from 1-2:30 pm PST. $49. Sign up here.
If you’re ready to get a few stories on the page, come join me! We’ll start with a check-in and quickly outline the micro memoir format, then jump into some writing. You’ll leave with two to three pieces, plus inspiration to keep you going. This workshop is perfect for writers who need a little push to get the words flowing, writers who want to develop a consistent writing practice, or writers who are working on a more extensive body of work.
Writing for Modern Love: Tips & Tricks for a Passionate, Publishable Essay
with Peter Mountford (Craft Talks), March 29, 2023, Wednesday, from 2-3 pm EST. $25.00. Sign up here.
Love is hard. Writing about it doesn’t have to be. Writing a great Modern Love column can be surprisingly straightforward if you have the right tools and techniques. After reading hundreds of Modern Love columns over the years, publishing my own in 2015, and talking with past contributors, I’ve distilled the essential elements of a successful Modern Love essay.
Clear and Descriptive Writing
with Jessica Barksdale Inclan (UCLA Ext), April 3 to June 20, online/asynchronous. $745. Sign up here.
This class focuses on the basics of sentence and paragraph, providing tools to enable clear, focused, and descriptive essays and other writing objectives. Starting with focused sentence exercises, you move toward creating clear, thoughtful, and organized paragraphs that employ tone, voice, and diction. Students develop one essay-length piece of writing and leave with skills they can apply in various settings and with different writing projects.
Writing About the Women in Your Family
with Darien Hsu Gee (Hugo House), April 11 to May 9, Tuesdays, from 5-7 pm PST. Registration opens February 6th. Sign up here.
Who are the women in your family? What stories need to be told? How have these women helped you claim your place in the world, or what secrets might be holding you back? We’ll explore the roles of these women in our lives and how they’ve shaped us by generating micro narratives of 300 words or less. We'll consider how pieces may be submitted individually or organized as part of a chapbook, memoir, or more extensive body of work.
Novel Writing Four
with Jessica Barksdale Inclan (UCLA Ext), April 12 to June 20, online/asynchronous. $720. Sign up here.
For those with a minimum of 50 pages of a novel-in-progress, this workshop guides you to generate at least 50 new pages, as well as learn essential self-editing techniques with the instructor and peers reviewing each participant's project in detail. Refinements of character, structure, emotional content, and the development of the writer's voice are also explored. The goal is to produce a substantial portion of your novel.
April Micro Memoir Workshop: Found Objects
with Darien Hsu Gee (writer-ish.com), April 16, 2023, Sunday, from 1-2:30 pm PST. $49. Sign up here.
If you’re ready to get a few stories on the page, come join me! We’ll start with a check-in and quickly outline the micro memoir format, then jump into some writing. You’ll leave with two to three pieces, plus inspiration to keep you going. This workshop is perfect for writers who need a little push to get the words flowing, writers who want to develop a consistent writing practice, or writers who are working on a more extensive body of work.
The Micro Prose Chapbook: The Body
with Darien Hsu Gee (Hugo House), April 19 to May 24, Wednesdays, from 5:00 to 7:00 pm PST. $305/$210 members. Sign up here.
In this six-week generative workshop, we’ll write micro prose (300 words or less) with an eye towards a finished chapbook draft by the end. We’ll use prompts inspired by the body to discover the stories that are waiting to be told. Think Maggie O'Farrell's I Am, I Am, I Am. We'll explore how these pieces may be submitted individually or as part of a larger body of work. For writers who are open to seeing where their writing takes them.
Jenafer Joy’s Inspired Inquiries
with Jena Owen. Sign up here or use code DARIEN for an additional 10% off.
A series of guided “story-based art journaling” that helps you access your deeper intuition. I (Darien) have done several of Jena’s Storywalking classes and they are ALL excellent. They help me access a tender, necessary part of myself that ultimately shows up in my writing. Also, I like collage and art, and Jena makes it easy and accessible. I highly recommend trying at least one class if this resonates with you.
If you’re more private and would like to work with me one-on-one, consider a 75-minute literary consult. If you can’t find a date that will work, reach out via the contact page. I’d love to help you reach your creative goals.
Looking for more resources? Check out the Writer-ish blog for free writing prompts and recommended books.
