Focus your vision, bolster your writing practice, and sharpen your craft tools regularly.

Writers’ Inlet Monthly Craft Intensive Winter/Spring Trimester: Carrying Your Craft.

NEW! BONUS MEETINGS. Now meets TWICE a month for three months on Zoom, Feb-April.

THE WINTER/SPRING 2022 TRIMESTER now meets TWO Thursdays a month, Feb 17 & 24, March 17 & 24, April 14 & 21, from 6:30 – 7:30 pm central time. Fee: $89 ($5 discount if you’re a newsletter subscriber)

How do you carry your craft from project to project, through the years, and maintain a thriving writing practice that suits your goals, even if that means adapting when those goals change?

In this three-month intensive, we’ll start with mindset and habit setting in February: how you persevere, build good habits and break the bad, entice the imagination and keep the wind in your sails over choppy waters or placid.

Then what about keeping your craft ship shape? We’ll zero in on craft maintenance in March—how to enliven your reading habits, sharpen craft tools and build self-editing skills so you can do heavy lifting without overstraining—or depending too much on others to do it for you.

And many writers don’t like to think about marketing their work, but you can start getting your feet wet early, little by little, and slowly build up the business of being a writer and connecting with readers eager to read your work, even before you put your work out there. We’ll talk macro marketing—from submitting to author platform to networking.

HOW DOES THE MONTHLY CRAFT INTENSIVE WORK?

Here’s how you access the course materials, and meet together:

Each month I’ll post the written lecture on a password protected Writers’ Inlet website page (plus bonus video tutorials months 2 and 3).

Then we’ll meet on Zoom TWO Thursdays a month for three months (rather than one Thursday).

The first monthly session features a craft talk and/or author interview, followed by a group Q&A.
The second monthly session includes a group discussion where you get sorted into cohorts to talk about how you’re applying the topic tips to your writing practice (I’ll supply discussion questions). The session may also include either creative writing prompts or prompts about your writing process.

Craft Intensive Schedule

Feb 17 & 24 from 6:30 – 7:30 pm central time.
March 17 & 24 from 6:30 – 7:30 pm central time.
April 14 & 21 from 6:30 – 7:30 pm central time.

Take away strategies for establishing the right conditions for writing good work, maintaining your craft, and returning to the page ready to write—so you can sustain your writing practice for the long haul.

To sign up, email Angela at angelarydell@gmail.com.

The monthly sessions compress the learning process into an intensive, multi-media, interactive experience. You can attend each session live or watch in replay.

Get live access to a professional writing coach monthly on Zoom, plus coach and peer interaction on the monthly blog.
Periodically pick the brain of guest authors and find out more about their writing practices.
Receive tips on how to sustain a satisfying writing practice and become your own best editor.
Participate in a growing writing community.
Meet with a small group to discuss your writing practice & progress, and experiment with the prompts on writing practice and imaginative play.
Work through prompts in small group, and on your own, to help strengthen your writing practice.
Establish the right conditions for writing good work, so you’re more likely to return to the page again and again.

And if you can’t join us for the craft talk/interview session, I’ve got you covered—you’ll get access to a video replay you can watch at your leisure, as well as a PDF of the Intensive session’s PowerPoint. (The small group sessions will not be recorded.)

The Zoom talks/interviews and Power Point Presentations from our Zoom talks will be posted on the trimester Hub in the dropdown menu, which participants can access with the password for their respective trimester.

To inquire about joining the craft intensive, contact Angela at angelarydell@gmail.com.

This group doesn’t offer written critiques. Email me to inquire about upcoming classes, or to apply be put on a waitlist for ongoing workshops, retreats, critique groups & online salons for novelists, flash fiction writers & poets: angelayrdell@gmail.com.

Writers in the Monthly Craft Intensive agree to be part of a recorded Zoom session shared in replay with other writers in the course. The video will also be edited for viewing on www.writersinlet.com to help any guest authors promote their writing.

HOW CAN THE CRAFT INTENSIVE TAKE YOUR WRITING TO THE NEXT LEVEL?

It’s true that you can learn by reading for pleasure, devouring craft books, and receiving feedback, but your technique improves faster when you get tips on process and practice from writers in the know. You can ask questions, live, and get answers right away from a professional coach (and at least two guest authors).

The writing practice tips will help you deepen your engagement as a reader, strengthen good habits and break the bad. And self-editing tips will help you know just what you’re looking for when you revise, and how to more effectively achieve your goals when you draft new work. You’ll become better able to identify your own strengths and where you need to improve—and return to the page refreshed and ready to write again.

WILL YOU MEET OTHER WRITERS TOO?

Yes! You’ll become part of a growing community of writers in the same boat. I’ll send favorable winds your way every month, and help you clear a channel for your craft.

Gaining craft skills along with community of peers makes the writing process less solitary. Having a group to meet with and talk shop with provides support and camaraderie. And we have fun together, too.

You also get hear others voice questions you may not have thought of—clarifying the writing process month by month.

DOES ANGELA TEACH THE CRAFT INTENSIVE, OR DOES SOMEONE ELSE?

I run the whole intensive, so yes, I’m here for you each month. You can pick my brain when we meet—and on the blog. I’ll share my 15+ years of experience as a writing coach and cheerleader for writers in the UW-Madison Division of Continuing Studies for Writers, which closed its doors in the summer of 2021.

A FEW MORE FAQ’s

How can I take advantage of all the features?

For full immersion in the intensive:

Send questions to ask the guest author in advance (you’ll receive a prompt to ask those early in the intensive).
Read the written lecture/blog early, before the Craft Talk and/or Author Interview.
Comment on the blog post.
Attend the mid-month Craft Talk on Zoom and bring questions.
Watch the Craft Talk and/or Author Interview in replay.
Attend the follow up cohorts and discuss your writing practice. Use the cohorts for creative play and gentle accountably.

What will you do in the small group cohorts?

You’ll go over discussion questions I’ll share with the group ahead of time. They’ll cover the monthly topic, and encourage you to apply the topic to your own writing and/or writing practice, and discuss how that application is going in your small group. So it’s a chance for light accountability, and deeper engagement with the community.

Do I have to attend the talk and post on the blog/written lecture? Is there flexibility?

You can pick and choose blogs to read and Zooms to watch at your leisure, and opt in or out of interacting. Or you can be one of the first writers to read and post on the blog and attend the Zoom Talk live. It’s up you! But the small group sessions are not recorded. If you want to engage in those sessions you must attend.

How do you access the month’s Craft Intensive materials, and interact with them?

You’ll receive password & email notification when the blog’s posted at the beginning of the month, and can comment through the trimester.
You’ll receive the Zoom link a few days before the Craft Talk, and a reminder the day of the talk. You can attend live and/or watch in replay at your leisure.

Do I submit my writing for the Craft Intensives?

No. The craft intensives will not include assignments or submissions. But in the fall of 2022, the group will expand into a community that invites students to mix and mingle and find readers for their work. So stay tuned for new changes ahead.

JOIN US!

The Inlet Craft Intensive keeps you connected to craft, plugged into a community, and recharged for writing each month.

contact Angela at angelarydell@gmail.com