November 15 @ 12:00 pm – December 13 @ 1:30 pm EST
Creativity is a practice that requires showing up. Get the support and guidance you need to take risks and build a bold, honest writing practice.
Open to 25 writers | 2 need-based scholarships are available—please email info@writingcraft.com to inquire before purchasing.
Live On Zoom | Every other Sunday, November 15–December 13, 12–1:30pm EST
Do you remember what brought you to writing? Have you lost your momentum and curiosity along the way? Writing is hard and life is full of (important!) interruptions, but with real structure and a cohort that has your back, you can return to your writing practice with courage and honesty.
In Art and Fear, David Bayles and Ted Orland write about the fears that keep us from making work at all, and in The Artist’s Way, Julia Cameron insists that creativity is not a rare gift but a practice—one that requires showing up, again and again, especially when it’s uncomfortable. This course draws from both, alongside additional interviews, videos, and texts, to guide us in building a sustainable creative practice.
This is not a craft lecture series. Instead, the course is designed to give you space for introspection and artistic risk-taking. To allow you to commit—to yourself and to the group—to showing up at the page and to build the muscle that makes showing up possible long after the class ends.
Each session, you’ll commit to one artistic exercise to bring back and share at our next meeting. You’ll take yourself on weekly artist dates. You’ll journal daily. You’ll be asked to stretch and take risks with a cohort who will quickly become your writing community.
Between our three main sessions, you’ll also have an optional co-writing hour, where we’ll put the week’s exercises into practice together, in real time. You’ll also have access to a private online forum to check in, connect, and share with your cohort.
This is the first time this particular group will be doing this particular thing. Much of what we build here, we’ll be building together for the first time.
If that excites you more than it scares you (or if it scares you exactly the right amount), join us.
Schedule
Session 1 (Nov 15)—Where have you been? Why are you here? Where are you going? We start by taking stock: what’s brought you to this practice, what’s gotten in the way, and what you’re actually hoping to build. Expect honest reflection and the first artistic commitment of the course.
Co-Writing Hour (Nov 22): 12-1 pm EST
Session 2 (Nov 29) — Working in Uncertainty. The messy middle. With two weeks between sessions to actively pursue the finicky muse, we’ll sit with not-knowing, explore what it means to make work without a guaranteed outcome, and share the exercises from Session 1.
Co-Writing Hour (Dec 6): 12-1 pm EST
Session 3 (Dec 13) — Making Plans and Promises. The last week includes a culminating discussion. We close by naming what we want to carry forward—concrete commitments to our own practice—and share the final round of work.
In this workshop, you will …
- RECONNECT with why you create and identify what’s been getting in the way
- BUILD a sustainable, repeatable creative practice
- COMPLETE exercises to discover surprise and new avenues
- COMMIT to yourself and your work
- PRACTICE sharing unfinished, risky, or vulnerable work in a small, trusted group
- SIT with uncertainty instead of rushing past it
- LEAVE with concrete plans and promises for your ongoing practice
This course is for writers …
- want to jump-start a creative practice that’s stalled or start a conscious practice for the first time
- are willing to stretch and take risks
- are ready to commit to weekly accountability
- want a variety of exercises and approaches to draw from
- desire a community and mutual accountability over solitary practice
Closed captioning is available. ✔
Think you might miss a class? No worries, replays will be available. ✔
ABOUT YOUR INSTRUCTOR
With over 20 years of teaching and writing experience, Sharla Yates is devoted to helping people recognize that their creative pursuits matter—more than that—are vital. She’s the author of the poetry chapbook What I Would Say if We Were to Drown Tonight (Stranded Oak Press, 2017). She hosts CRAFT TALKS, a webinar series for writers, and co-hosts The Writers Bridge with Allison K Williams. Her essay “Address,” published on Short Reads, was a finalist for the 2015 Columbia Journal Writing Contest and the 2016 Penelope Niven Creative Nonfiction Award. She teaches creative writing at the University of Pittsburgh.
Testimonials From Past Students
“Sharla has a clear passion for what she teaches!”
“I really enjoyed Yates’ class. She did a good job at channeling your inner ‘creative process.’ Def recommend!!!”
“I like the variety of exercises we were assigned that let us try different forms of writing.”
“She did a great job organizing specific workshops and readings to make sure that we knew what we were working on and how to accomplish what we wanted out of the project.”
“I grew not only as a writer but also generally as a creative. I was a big fan of the journal and journal prompts.”
THE FINE PRINT
We understand that life can get in the way of your plans. We want you to be able to get the most out of your course, and our refund policy is designed to balance your need for flexibility with our deadlines and obligations to our teachers.
Before the first class, you may request a refund (less a $25 processing fee).
After class begins, you may request a refund for the remaining value of the course (less a $25 processing fee). No credits or refunds will be available after the 2nd class.
Questions? Please email Info@writingcraft.com
