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| Photo by Chris Hardy |
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| Creative Caffeine: This online workshop is designed to act like a shot of espresso for the writer's brain. Creative Caffeine members receive a writing prompt everyday, and share their work with other members and the Creative Caffeine barista (Janis Cooke Newman). The best writing is posted on the Creative Caffeine blogsite. Memberships run for 4 weeks, and cost $100. You can join any Monday. For more information, visit the Creative Caffeine blogsite by clicking here. To become a member, click here.
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Classes at the SF Writers Grotto: For Fall 2010, Janis will be teaching the following classes at the SF Writers Grotto (Second & Bryant Streets). To sign up for any of these classes, email Janis by clicking here.
How to Break into Travel Writing: A Travel Writing & Photography Workshop
Saturday, 10 am to 4 pm, September 17
$155
Taught with Chris Hardy, Pulitzer Prize-nominated photographer
This one-day hands-on workshop, taught by a well-published travel writer
and Pulitzer Prize-nominated photographer, will teach you everything
you need to know about writing, shooting, and selling your travel
stories.
Concentrating mainly on writing destination travel
stories for newspapers (one of the easiest places to break in), we'll
talk about...
Coming up with angles that editors find irresistible
How to structure a travel story
Writing leads that will keep readers (and editors) reading
Avoiding travel-writing cliches (i.e. 'off the beaten track')
How and where to market your stories
Ways to keep your travel affordable
And
since newspaper editors are always more likely to buy travel stories
backed up by terrific pictures (for which they also pay), we'll also
spend time covering the nuts and bolts of travel photography...
What types of photos are travel editors looking for?
What makes a good travel photo?
To Photoshop or not to Photoshop?
What equipment you should take on the road?
How, and in what format, should you submit your photos?
Captioning
Writing the Novel/NoNoWriMo Prep
Wednesday evenings, 9/22-10/27 $375
If "being an author is like being in charge of your own personal insane
asylum," (Graycie Harmon), how do you manage to wrangle the inmates
without going insane yourself?
In this 6 week class, we'll focus on the
specific challenges of writing a novel. How to develop a narrative
structure and plot line that will carry readers through a book-length
project. How to keep from losing your way in your own story. How to
keep yourself motivated and believing in your work.
During our
lectures, we'll cover every aspect of the craft of fiction (voice,
character, dialogue, scene vs. summary) - particularly as it relates to
the novel, looking at examples from published work, as well as from
your own writing. We'll also come up with strategies to take you
through the revision process, without getting bogged down. We'll even
discuss the business of publishing, i.e. how to get an agent, whether
to self-publish, e-books vs podcasts vs traditional paper books.
To
help you maintain your writing practice - and dive deeper into your
story - you'll work from weekly writing triggers tied to our craft
discussions. To make sure you get plenty of feedback - and develop your
skills as judge of your own work - we will allow time for every student
to have his or her writing workshopped. And for those of you who are
thinking of participating in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month in
November, see http://www.nanowrimo.org/ for more details), we will give
you all the tools and inspiration you need to get going.
Note:
This class is equally appropriate for writers who are just beginning
their novels, as well as those who are in the middle of revision.
Strictly Workshop/All Genres
Mondays, 9/27-11/1, $375
This workshop is designed to give writers of both
fiction and non-fiction the 2 things they need to keep writing:
Deadlines and Feedback.
Here's how it will work... Each week, half of
the participants in the workshop will read their writing for the group.
Working together, we'll discuss what resonates, what draws us in, what
compels us to keep reading. We'll also talk about places where the
writer might go deeper, explore character more (even when that
character is him or herself), or take the story in another direction.
Our goal with the feedback will be twofold. To help every writer become
better. And to send every writer out of the room eager to get back to
writing. Think of this as a teacher-lead writing group. While there is
no formal syllabus of lecture topics for this class, from time to time
craft discussion will be generated by the work being presented.
Note: This class will be limited to 10 students.
NaNoWriMo Support Group
Wednesdays, 11/3-11/24 $255
This workshop is designed to motivate, inspire, encourage, and console
those who will be participating in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing
Month in November, see http://www.nanowrimo.org/ for more details).
Using a combination of daily writing prompts, trigger exercises,
deadlines, and workshopping, we'll work to keep you going while you
write your novel in a month. You'll even get some of your writing done
during the class! Note: You do not have to be enrolled in Writing the
Novel to sign-up for the NaNoWriMo Support Group.
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Editing Services
Janis Cooke Newman also provides editing and consulting services for writers, at both an hourly and flat fee basis.
To contact her about editing, click here.
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