Table of Contents for all 19 lessons
What you’ve just seen above this cover image is a video writing tip on “Point of View”—Something we’ll talk about as we move forward.
So, who am I? To be just a tad of a smarty: That’s the tautological question that begins and ends where it started but, seriously now, it’s also the stuff of all good writing.
What I’m sure about is this: Everyone has a story. Could be your troubles or someone else’s and how they coped or didn’t whether long -term writer with a q,, stuck with a writing problem and want to ask a q.
I’ll be available to answer questions
I’ll reply to comments
I’ll create a safe place for you to take risks
Here’s the first question you should ask me: Why should you trust me? You might want to check out my three books on my click ➡️ Amazon bio page.
I’ve been teaching creative writing for a long time. Here’s some stuff: author, professor, radio interviewer—graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Maryland with a BA in English, from Oberlin College with an MAT in English and education, from Ohio State University with an MFA in Creative Writing. Taught creative writing at George Washington U. and the Smithsonian’s Campus-on-the-Mall for over a decade. More student accolades than I could possibly list here. At the Smithsonian’s Campus-on-the-Mall, I taught how to improve or start your writing through a highly original approach that made me the most popular teacher for nearly a decade. Some seventy to a hundred folks attended each of my courses and many repeated the course they liked it so much. I’m also a Fellow in The Institute for Citizens & Scholars and the CIC Visiting Fellows (formerly aka Woodrow Wilson Fellow).
I’m the author of Who by Fire: a novel, the memoir (Re)Making Love and The Woman Who Never Cooked: Short Stories. Numerous awards and prizes for my short stories and books. You can find that stuff: click ➡️ HERE.
And now for a taste of how I’ll begin with first lesson “Inspiration Versus Perspiration” The lessons are all numbered.
Let’s answer this question first: Q.: Should I wait for lightning to strike? In other words, how do I get started?
A: Don’t wait for inspiration. Writers work all the time—even when they’re sleeping— and, when they’re lucky, the muse joins them. Part of that work is reading, good stuff and not-so-good stuff, and watching, yes, movies, anything and everything. The reason is that to write a good story, non-fiction or fiction, we need to understand the rules of narrative: How narrative that holds the reader or watcher works its magic.
To close today, here’s Eudora Welty*.
The lessons are in order and I provide a link to each next lesson at the close of the lesson. More to come after Lesson 19 … And! Here’s the collaboration … with marvelous author Eleanor Anstruther.
Credits:
*Eudora Welty, The Eye of the Story: Selected Essays and Reviews, Vintage International Edition: New York, August 1990.
Cover design: Shannon Kellie
Click ➡️ Lesson 1 Inspiration versus Perspiration
Love,
Write it! How to get started: Intro