- Book Publishing 101
- Breaking Into the Freelance Greeting Card Market
- Creative Writing 101
- Creative Writing Workshop
- Freelance Writing 101
- How to Write a Short Story 101
- How to Write Short Stories for Children 101
- Humor Writing 101
- Journaling and Memoir Writing 101
- Mystery Writing 101
- Nonfiction Writing 101
- Novel Writing 101
- Poetry 101: The Way We Word
- Poetry Writing 101
- Poetry Writing Basics
- Romance Writing 101
- Travel Writing 101
- Writing the Great American Short Story
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Course Description:
1.0 Continuing Education Units are available at course completion.
Getting a book published can be one of the most exciting things you will ever do. It can also be one of the most frustrating. Not only is the book industry incredibly specific about how they want you to go about approaching editors, literary agents, and other publishing professionals, but you have to compete with thousands of other aspiring authors. This course will explore what you need to do to transition from a completed manuscript or nonfiction book idea to book publication, including traditional avenues, options in self-publication, and even ebook applications. It includes everything you need to know about crafting the perfect query letter, creating a nonfiction book proposal, and even what to do in the face of rejection letters. With a comprehensive list of resources to top it all off, there is no better place to turn for learning how to get your book on the shelves and into the hands of readers.
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Course Description:
1.0 Continuing Education Units are available at course completion.
Fun, easy course in greeting card writing - and you don't need to be funny! We all have great ideas but if they're not submitted in the proper form, it's the same as having no idea at all. And the proper form is easy. Maybe you'd like the extra income $$$$ . I'll show you how I have added a sweet side income to my life. I'll share with you my experience in this field learned in over 35 years writing greeting card text. Everything you need to know will be presented within this course. I'll give you honest feedback on your ideas marketability. And it's not just greetings cards -- there's other markets like post-it notes, stationary, games, slogan buttons, mugs, bumper stickers and more! I'm always available by email and interested in your success. One student made $75 for TWO words on a post-it note: When's recess? The company added a picture of a frazzled looking teacher and sent him a $75 check! When's the last time you made $37.50 per word? That check could have been YOURS.
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Course Description:
1.0 Continuing Education Units are available at course completion.
'Creative Energy-Flow and the Written Word' is an attempt to capture what cannot be held in hand or thought--the elusive riddle of human creativity as we find it in our writing. Here we look at various forms and genres (books, dramas and plays, poetry, essays, film-writing, stories in general, etc.) as they relate to the creative impulse. We also talk about the Writer's Voice and personality, writing as therapy, illusions about writing, legend and mythos, and other areas where a creative writer may find inspiration, advice or enlightening conjecture. This self-paced course is offered to writers everywhere with hat-in-hand, for what it may be worth. Test and review questions, and also lesson exercises are included at the end of each lesson to build mastery.
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Course Description:
1.0 Continuing Education Units are available at course completion.
Do you dream of writing poetry, short stories, or novels? Have you ever watched a movie or a play and felt the desire to write a script of your own? Or have you already done some writing but want to find ways to bring more creativity, more originality, to your writing? Have you ever read a so-so novel or seen a lousy movie and told yourself, I bet I could do better? Do you find yourself excited and intrigued by words, and by their sounds and meanings? If you said yes to any of these questions, then this course is for you. A creative writer makes art just as a painter or sculptor does, but with different tools. Instead of brushes, canvas, and pigments, the writer uses words. While the painter produces a painting we can see in front of us, the writer makes magic of a different sort. With a simple palette of letters and punctuation - just lines and symbols scratched on paper or scattered on a computer screen - the writer can create pictures and even entire worlds within a reader's mind. There are many forms of creative writing, from fiction, to poetry, to stage play and screenplay. Within each form there are countless genres and flavors. As a writer, you can (and should) try your hand at as many forms as you like, or you can specialize in one. There are techniques and practices that are common to all forms of creative writing, and we will discuss those here. We will also touch on the challenges and techniques that make writing in the different forms unique. Throughout this course, you will find numerous exercises designed to get your brain - and your hand - moving.
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Course Description:
1.0 Continuing Education Units are available at course completion.
If you have ever dreamed of being a freelance writer this course is for you. Get started today learning about this exciting field and in no time you can be on your way to earning a living, extra income, and more, by doing something that you love – writing! Chock-full of all the inside information you need to understand the career field and be successful in it, this course can teach you what freelancing writing is, how much you can expect to make, how to find markets, creating successful queries, what to do once you get an assignment, and how to market your skills. You will also learn some of the tools of the trade that will help you be successful, such as how to build a portfolio, where to get ideas and topics from, common writing rules that are outdated, and various ways you can increase your earnings as a writer. This course will not only give you a look at everything you need to know to become a freelance writer, but when you finish, you will be ready to put what you learn into action to build a freelance writing career. Whether you would like to freelance on a full time basis, do it to supplement your current income, or learn freelance writing skills to get your product or service noticed, this is the place to start!
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Course Description:
1.0 Continuing Education Units are available at course completion.
If you're a reader and thought you might like to try your hand at short story writing but just don't know how to get started, this course will help! We'll take you through the entire process…preparing your mind, getting ideas on paper, and help you through the editing and proofing process. You'll learn new skills, and find new ways to express yourself. As you advance through this course, you're going to learn the correct way to write a short story. More than that, you're going to learn the aspects of every good short story as well as learn how to create your own wonderful works! Amateur short story writers try to write their stories like miniature novels. Their stories read as either an excerpt or a condensed novel. Unfortunately, undisciplined writers do not write short stories that are complete. They overlook the fundamentals--such as--what sets the short story apart from a novel, and why one can never be substituted for the other. This course will show you how to write effectively and creatively. So join us today! And let's write some short stories that people will want to read!
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Course Description:
1.0 Continuing Education Units are available at course completion.
Do you long to write but feel like you're too busy? Writing for children can be the answer. Children's stories are generally far shorter and simpler than stories for adults. You can draft an 800 word children's story during a couple of lunch hours or during your child's nap times. Many noted children's authors started writing in short bursts when their own young children were sleeping or playing nearby. Writing for children is by no means easy, however. Children's book and magazine editors expect well developed characters, engaging plots, and vivid description, all in a very small package. Good children's writers learn to make every word count. Communicating effectively with kids means using language they can understand but not talking down to them, and this is easier said than done. In this course, we will look at the elements that go into an effective children's story, from initial idea to finished manuscript. If you've always wanted to write but don't know where to start, we'll cover that too. And once you have a few good stories under your belt, you'll want to find publishing outlets for them. We'll go over the basics of submitting to publishers and even of publishing books yourself. Writing stories for children can be a fascinating hobby or a challenging career. You can write for your own kids, or publish stories and books that will reach thousands of eager readers. Either way, you will gain the satisfaction of knowing that you are making a difference in the lives of children who hear or read your words.
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Course Description:
1.0 Continuing Education Units are available at course completion.
Humor Writing There's no trick to being a humorist when you have the whole government working for you. (Will Rogers) Laughing- the salve of the soul. When we feel at our lowest sometimes the only thing that can turn our mood around and lift us up is a good hearty laugh. The comedy capers of some people can at times save our sanity. We envy those who can readily laugh and even more so those people that can make others laugh. This course will help you join this group, by covering things such as the advantages of keeping your humor in flow, how to guarantee laughs, the power of shock value, the importance of preparation and humor as a group effort -- and that's all just for starters! Writing- when we think back to the things that have moved us deeply, that have stirred us emotionally, many of those have been pieces of writing. It takes skill to create a piece of writing, one word after another, one sentence after another and put it together in such a way that people really want to read it. During this course you'll not only be given advice on how to write, but what not to write, how to market your material in a way that gives you the best possible chance of establishing a continuing comedy writing career and some tips you can utilize to assist you in writing good humor. This course is not like many others, in that it is not exercise after exercise and so-called hot tips guaranteeing to give you instant writing success, there is no such thing. What it will do for you is give you the best possible advice on how to build a solid foundation for your humor writing future, i.e. a career in writing that lasts!
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Course Description:
1.0 Continuing Education Units are available at course completion.
It doesn't matter if you're a famous politician, suburban homemaker or someone in between, the fact of the matter is that everyone has a personal story worth telling. Whether you want to honor someone who's made a difference in your life, heal old wounds, document unique experiences or travels, record your family history, or leave a legacy to future generations, Journaling and Memoir Writing is a comprehensive step-by-step guide that will demystify the process of finally putting your story on paper. No matter if you're a novice or a professional writer interested in the memoir form, Journaling and Memoir Writing is designed to help you decide what story to tell and the best way in which to tell it. Whether you are interested in writing a memoir exploring your personal struggles such as addiction, abuse or divorce or a travelogue based on your experience backpacking through Europe, this course will help you narrow the focus of your life story and define the underlying theme that will connect you with an audience. You will also learn how to find your true voice that will make your story unique and authentic. Through varied and comprehensive writing exercises you will learn how to sharpen your instincts and hone your storytelling craft. Journaling and Memoir Writing will also teach you how to dig deeper into your life and mine important memories that will enable you add incredible depth and richness to your story. In addition to the extensive writing lessons, you will learn what to do with your memoir once it is finished. Whether your goal is pass on your memoir as a family heirloom or to become a New York Times best seller, Journaling and Memoir Writing will address the various publishing options available to you. Everyone has a story to tell. Let this online class help you write yours today.
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Course Description:
1.0 Continuing Education Units are available at course completion.
This course is perfect for those who have an interest in either Creative Writing or the Mystery Genre . If you love to write and want to move into this popular genre, or you love to read a great mystery and have often thought you could do it, this course is for you. Taking you through the processes of creating your Mystery Novel, this course begins by looking at the mystery genre itself and examining this type of writing attribute. We'll then move on to helping you become inspired and motivated as you get started. We'll also focus on some of the important elements of a good mystery--the setting, the characters, the plot, etc.--and help you to become familiar with all the tools the mystery writer uses to create multi-layered, addictive mystery fiction that a reader just cannot put down. Our innovative writing exercises will get your creative juices flowing by bringing out the writer in you and sparking new ideas. Additionally, there are questions after each lesson which will allow you to recap what you have learned and test your knowledge. The entire course is designed to offer you great information in a way that will get you thinking about your own mystery and personal writing practices. Whatever your age, experience or level of ability, this course constantly challenges and informs you so that your writing can't fail to improve and you will learn how to stay motivated and inspired through the entire writing process. For new, aspiring writers--become the mystery writer you have always wanted to be! And for seasoned writers looking to expand their horizons--we'll help strengthen your writing abilities with this very informative course. So join us today!
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Course Description:
1.0 Continuing Education Units are available at course completion.
The famous Ayn Rand once wrote, Like every human activity, [writing] requires practice and knowledge. But there is nothing mystical about it. Any person who can speak English grammatically can learn to write nonfiction. This is as true today as when Ms. Rand first penned it, and you will find it true for you as well as you begin to venture into the world of writing. Nonfiction writing is the most common and broadly dispersed form of writing known to mankind. Nonfiction is based in truth, experience, events or in all of them. It is what the reporter reports; what the biographer writes; what the course writer explains. Everything that is not imagination and invented by the creative mind is nonfiction. This course is designed to take you beyond the basics and to guide you through the writing process to the finish line. In the course, you will learn how to think like an editor, how to choose your subject matter and examine your competition. You will learn how to structure your writing and what to do when you inevitably hit the infamous writer's block. If you have basic writing skills and if you follow the course content, you should be ready to submit your writing by the end of the course material. You will know what to do with your article or book when you are finished and how to polish it for presentation to a publisher. Remember, Writers Write – so get to writing!
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Course Description:
1.0 Continuing Education Units are available at course completion.
From character and plot-conflict development to infusing a unique style and specialized writing techniques, the steps to writing a novel--while not utterly impossible--do require a dedicated, disciplined approach. By committing to the steps outlined within this course, aspiring (and even experienced) novelists can find the structure they need to create a well-crafted manuscript, one they will be proud to shop to potential agents and publishers. While some creative types may balk at the idea of adhering to a framework, the truth is that following such guidelines actually frees up writers to focus on the genesis and flow of ideas as opposed to be bogged down by the myriad of format and publishing style particulars. That is why we have provided you with insights into how, from start to finish, you can develop the varying elements of your novel: characters, plotlines, setting, tone, conflict, climax, and resolution/denouement. Labeled as dramatic construction, every novel ought to have a foundation in these basic principles. Plus, we will help take you one step further by offering you the specifics as to what is required to submit your completed work to potential agents and publishers. With an end goal in mind, this will help inspire you to actually finish your novel. Outfitted with both practical and creative writers' tools, there is no reason you can not successfully write a novel and get it published. If indeed you are truly committed and willing to invest the necessary time and effort to put your literary skills to the test, there should be nothing, absolutely nothing, stopping you from producing memorable prose.
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Course Description:
1.0 Continuing Education Units are available at course completion.
An introduction to the tools of poetry: imagery, metaphor, sound, rhythm, rhyme, and form. By the end of the course, students should have a clear understanding of what makes a poem a poem, as well as a handful of new poems that they have written. Through a series of six lessons, we will hit upon the essential tools for creating a poem: imagery, metaphor, sound, rhythm, rhyme, and form. Each lesson expands upon the previous lesson to show the interconnectivity of these essential tools, but each one also looks at the tool in and of itself. In the process, we will look at how these tools are used in various poems, by means of definitions, explanations, and examples. The focus is not on poetic terms, but on processes; while designed for the beginning poet, the course would also be a good brush-up for intermediate and even advanced poets. Lesson by lesson, you will then apply these tools to poems of your own creation through assignments. So that we can all learn from each other, these original poems will be posted and workshopped, meaning not only will you write poems, but you will comment on others' poems. Similarly, you will receive feedback from others on your own poems. Think of the workshop aspect as one of constructive criticism, a means of creative revision, of growing as a poet.
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Course Description:
1.0 Continuing Education Units are available at course completion.
This poetry course is created for the lover of poetry who wants to learn how to appreciate the art even more. It is also for student poets who want to improve their craft. This course is thorough in teaching all students everything they need to know about reading, interpreting, and writing poetry. This course is a must-take for any budding poet out there who wants to hone their skills and learn to write high quality, great poetry that others will appreciate. Through various assignments and essays, each student will learn to do the following: Determine and understand the meanings of poems. Recognize and utilize the devices used in writing poetry. Understand the theory and history of poetry to strengthen their skills and appreciation. Write different types of poetry. Become a skilled, knowledgeable poet or lover of the art. Identify different types of poetry. Create a chapbook suitable for publication. And much more. Poetry is a verbal art form that requires both understanding and appreciation to master. Simply reading a few poems and having their meanings explained to you is not nearly enough to fully appreciate poetry – or to become a great poet. That is why this course will provide each student with a great deal of lessons, explanations, essays and assignments to deepen understanding and apply what has been learned.
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Course Description:
1.0 Continuing Education Units are available at course completion.
Have you ever admired the rhythm and rhymes of famous poets such as Robert Frost and Emily Dickinson? Have you ever wanted to express your ideas in sharp, concise language? Have you ever wanted to express your feelings to friends or loved ones, or create a special poem for an event or gathering? If so, then this Poetry Writing Basics class is right for you. In this class, we will be looking at the basic tools of poetry, such as imagery, metaphor, concrete language, rhythm, and description, as well as different schools of contemporary poetry. We will be using assignment prompts and model poems to help you to write your own poetry and come up with ideas for future work. For this class, a basic interest in poetry and proficiency in English is required.
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Course Description:
1.0 Continuing Education Units are available at course completion.
Writing a romance novel is the dream of many people all over the world. It's no wonder: as the most popular fiction genre in the United States for the past three decades, there are more opportunities in romantic fiction than ever before. What's unique about the romance genre is that it is a very specialized industry. There are standards for plot, characterization, novel length, and even formatting that are required before most literary agents or publishers will even consider turning your manuscript into a published novel. Most readers know exactly what they expect from a romance novel, and you have to meet these expectations in order to succeed. This course will take you through everything you need to know to write the kind of romance novel that gets noticed. From creating a hero and heroine that sizzle to understanding point-of-view and knowing where to go for more resources, you'll get access to insider information on making the most out of your manuscript.
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Course Description:
1.0 Continuing Education Units are available at course completion.
Travel writing is a fun, interesting and fulfilling career. If your goal is to become a full-time travel writer who is able to live off your income from writing alone, it is important to understand that travel writing, like any other career, requires you to develop specific skills and to have perseverance in order to succeed. There is a lot of competition in the field of travel writing. Some highly successful writers in this genre have compared their climb to success with those who aspire to become actors, songwriters or musicians. In other words, most aspiring writers work at other jobs while they build a reputation strong enough to financially support themselves on payment for their writing alone. How long it takes you to achieve that goal is dependent upon how ambitious you are and how well you write, but the average is between three and six years. Alternatively, you may only wish to earn extra money as a travel writer and continue working in the field you are already in; perhaps you travel frequently for your current job and feel you have a lot to share with others about the places you visit. You can create a great additional source of income as a travel writer this way. Whether it is a full or part-time profession you desire, this course will help you get started, provide you with the necessary information you need to build a strong portfolio, as well as improve your overall skill set required to succeed in the travel writing industry. So join us today!
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Course Description:
1.0 Continuing Education Units are available at course completion.
A pair of hands on the keyboard, a blank screen, and a single wish: You want to write the Great American Short Story! You've read many of them -- Poe's Black Cat, Cheever's Enormous Radio, Welty's The Worn Path -- but have you come close to writing a tale that lingers with readers after the last page is turned? In this class, you will gain the inspiration and the discipline to write a short story of 1000 to 8000 words. We will use examples from all genres, exploring the techniques of plot, style, flow, voice and tone that will make your fiction sing. This close reading of master works is accompanied by tried and true methods for putting words on the page, revising, and handling criticism from others. One thing's for sure: Your stories are ready to tell themselves to you. And, if all goes well enough, they'll tell themselves to the world as well. So, are you ready to start writing?
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