Writing

Self-Guided Writing Courses To Make You a Better Writer

| GretchenGales

There are plenty of reasons why self-guided writing courses work for so many writers. Busy, unpredictable schedules are just a fact of adult life. Some people prefer to learn in the comfort of their home or in a bustling cafe on a Sunday morning. Think of the Hermit, the introspective tarot figure that encourages you to look from within for the answers. No matter where you are in your writing journey, there are many options to supplement your education.

For me, self-guided writing courses provided me a space to learn even when I was bedridden from illness and bored or downright lazy. Visualize me in pajamas with a box of store brand tissues by my side, some tissues shoved up my nose, trying to write a poem in a tiny notebook, then you can believe that learning can be done under any circumstances.

Psst…if self-guided writing courses aren’t your jam or jelly, there’s plenty of other writing class options out there, including in-person, live Zoom, or interactive online courses with other participants. Check out ones that offer scholarships and discounts here.

Self-Guided Courses for Writers

LulLabies & Alarms

Elisabeth Blair offers writing classes and workshops that are self-paced through her website Lullabies & Alarms. Self-guided courses are offered on Wet Ink, the platform for creative writing courses. Right now, she is offering a course called “Our Liminal Minds: Writing from Our Own Galactic Outer Rims” that sounds…SO cool. For $100, you can go through the course at your own pace.

You must email her to register for the course.

Muse Writing & Creative Support

Run by Joanna Penn Cooper, Muse Writing & Creative Support offers several courses per season. On occasion, she’ll throw in a self-guided course through Wet Ink that writers can enjoy at their own pace. They often have great angles and themes, so there’s a direction beyond just your typical fiction or poetry workshop. I was a big fan of The Call: A Self-Guided Course on Creative Witness.

While it doesn’t seem like the site has any available right now, keep an eye out for more opportunities to join a self-guided writing course.

Poetry Barn

Poetry Barn has a barnyard full (yes, I had to) of poetry courses, including self-paced writing workshops. You can even filter the options for self-paced courses on the website. You can choose from topics such as Queer Poetics, 30 Poems in 30 Days, Journaling for Poets, and so much more. Click here to explore your options.

Be mindful when you type this into Google to not accidentally click on the Pottery Barn ads. You think I’m kidding. But I am not.

Hugo House

Hugo House offers a plethora of online and in-person courses for people around the world. Based in Seattle, this nonprofit has so many innovative courses to take and enjoy. With that said, there is only one asynchronous writing course, which is the Writer’s Welcome Kit. You can expect online workbooks, excel spreadsheets, and other resources to get started with your publishing journey.

DIY MFA

It is a truth universally acknowledged that MFAs can be competitive, expensive, time-consuming, heartbreaking, or all of the above. If you are fortunate enough to get into an MFA program that is fully-funded and have the time and means to pursue it, do it. But for many, these programs are difficult to get into or inaccessible for many people.

That’s where DIY MFA comes in. Both a book and a company/concept, DIY MFA runs on three main principles: write with focus, read with purpose, and build your community. While not a true “self-guided course,” the book is similar to this journey, including graduate-level techniques and skills you can use to boost your writing. The website has various articles and resources to focus on refining your craft. The Facebook group hosts events every Sunday evening for those who wish to attend, including curated sessions on certain poets, themes, and more.

If you decide to attend an MFA program later, you already have the skills and tools to upgrade your writing and be prepared for in-depth workshop time.

The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron

Calling this a self-guided course is…bold. I know, I know. It’s more like an experience or a total mind flip. But when writing this blog, how can I NOT include the quintessential artist’s guide to transforming their art, writing, and way of being?

I’ve been seeing this book trending on TikTok even though it was originally published back in 1992. (Yes, that was over 30 years ago.) The verdict is in: it is one of the most influential books for your craft you could own. No matter your craft, any writer or artist can benefit from the gentle affirmations and exercises the book includes.

At the very least, you can take one of its most common and poignant practices: “Morning Pages.” I don’t know of any of my mentors who went a day without morning pages to spill their thoughts and ideas. Give it a try for a week and see how it changes your approach and practice.

Do you Loate Self-Guided Courses? Or JUst Looking for All of your options?

I get it. There are some times in my life when I need someone to be my accountabilibuddy. (Is that the spelling? It’s not a real word, but I’m still concerned.)

If you’re looking for a teacher in the Richmond, Virginia area or are cool with a virtual writing teacher to be your guide, I host many workshops with constructive critiques and personalized feedback from yours truly.

Head on over to my Events & Workshops page to see what I’m currently offering. If you don’t see anything you’d like, reach out to me and we can talk about 1:1 or private workshops for you or bigger groups.

Or if you just want to send me suggestions to add to this list, I’d love to hear from you.

Writer’s Craft: My 2021 in Review and Tips For Writing Goal-Setting in 2022

| GretchenGales
Photo by Olya Kobruseva on Pexels.com

Writers are supposed to reflect and reflect often. In college, I had to reflect on my writing in every writing-based class. I still do it when looking at older pieces, ones I haven’t yet placed and ones that have been published for a long time. What was my process? Did I even have one? Does it matter if there is one? What about my long and short term goals for my writing?

I take part in the 100 Rejections Challenge, a challenge for writers to be, well, rejected from literary journals, fellowships, scholarships, and anything else in our wheelhouse at least 100 times. There are no extra zeroes, you are reading the correct amount. When I announced my total rejections for the year — 90 as of today, but there’s always a chance within the next two days that I will get 100 — I mostly got encouraging responses about my perseverance, how people couldn’t understand how I could do it. I took a moment to remember how just a few years ago, any rejection would have crumbled my self-esteem. Today, I get “No, thank you” repeatedly…for fun. You could say my process is simply being very annoying, and I would not disagree.

Towards the beginning of December, I read If You Want to Write by Brenda Ueland. I picked it up one day on a whim at Second & Charles and read it out of impulse. I’m not familiar with any of Ueland’s other work, and I saw plenty of problematic or privileged takes in some sections of the book. Thankfully, most of the advice in the book is universal and could have been written today, such as this:

“The only good teachers for you are those friends who love you, who think you are interesting, or very important, or wonderfully funny….And if you have no such friend,–and you want to write,–well, then you must imagine one. “

Brenda Ueland

Without context, the quote can seem like it’s pointing towards finding those that only fill your ego, the ones that are “yes people” and will say anything to please you. However, when relating to my own writing journey up to this point, the most helpful teachers have been the ones that encouraged me in some way. Simply pointing out things that they liked, miniscule, microscopic moments I wouldn’t have thought mattered at all that they asked me to elaborate on further in my writing, was enough to explore other avenues in the revision process. Those who picked them apart like vultures did the opposite. For writers like me, it makes you want to leave your works in progress out to rot and hope that the scavengers take every part of it away, like it never happened.

A couple of times this year, the rejections did hit harder, because I was so close to getting an acceptance, only to be a semi-finalist, or to be the one they told they didn’t have enough room for them in their collections. Then there has been the journey with not one, but two poetry manuscripts that get so close to being chosen, only to not find a home. So encouraging, yet so crushing at once. Somehow those hurt more, but also spur more motivation and action once the grieving period is over.

But hanging onto the parts of the encouraging rejections that have the energy of the TikTok sound “Go Little Rockstar” keeps everything running, another day, another try.

Setting concrete goals, such as getting 100 rejections or a certain word counts can help you realize how much you can and do achieve, especially if you are someone like me and are especially hard on yourself. Thanks to my rejection goals, including submissions from 2020 that weren’t accepted until 2021, I was able to publish a lot more creative writing than I initially thought I did this year.

2021 Poetry

Plainsongs – “Gonna Tell My Kids”

Flora Fiction – “Pandemica VII”

Heart of Flesh Literary Magazine, Issue 6 – “a·poc·a·lypse”

Headlight Review – “Refuge” (forthcoming in 2022)

Sheila-Na-Gig Online – “Projection”

2021 Prose

Monstering Magazine – “Rating Suggested Cures for My Various Mental and Chronic Conditions”

YourTango – “You Don’t Actually Care About My Health If You Congratulate Me On My Unhealthy Weight Loss”

The Mighty – “Targeting ‘Illness Fakers’ Doesn’t Help Disabled People”

Setting Writing goals for 2022

Want to keep track of your goal(s)? I tend to use phone apps or simple Excel spreadsheets to keep track of where and when I’m submitting. I make a new one every year to keep track of the number of rejections. In a few days, I will reset with another one. If 100 rejections is too intimidating, start with smaller numbers. Raise your goal once you surpass smaller milestones.

If there’s anything you should take away from this, it’s to set yourself up for success in the new year by embracing a lot of failure.