The Writers Studio

Note: This class is open to students who have completed four terms of Advanced Workshop or Level 3 at The Writers Studio. The purchase of three Craft Class recordings from the Writers Studio Craft Class Archive and access to the associated books are required to participate this class.

Imagine writing about a personal subject you’ve never really been able to deal with before, overcoming whatever emotional barriers you’ve previously encountered. This eight-week class provides the private space and opportunity to explore our most intimate feelings about our most important subjects. The journal form frees us from our more self-conscious ambitions—imagine using such literary personalities and masks as Kafka, Peter Handke, Virginia Woolf, Dostoevsky, or any of our more contemporary poets and writers as a lens through which to view our lives and subject matters.

In this level 4 workshop, we continue to utilize and advance the Writers Studio techniques to allow the writer to gain greater emotional freedom and depth in their work. In addition, we will dive deep into how writers use journals to develop a deeper understanding of the interests and material that most deeply fuels their desire to write.

This workshop will examine and focus on creating exercises from craft classes in recent years that discussed journaling by several specific writers. Three craft class recordings will need to be purchased from the archive as a requirement to participate in the class; the list of specific writers we will study, along with the appropriate books, will be emailed before the start of the session. Participation in the current craft class session is recommended but not required. Students attend class via Google Meet, and all critiques and feedback will be completed live in the virtual meet-up with the class each week.