642 Things to Write About: How to Jumpstart Your Writing, Sunday evenings, Feb. 24 – March 17

Janis Cooke Newman (Photo by Chris Hardy)

Instructor: Janis Cooke Newman
Contact: j-newman@comcast.net
Number of sessions: 4
Meeting time: Sunday evenings, 5:30 pm – 8 pm
Dates: February 24 – March 17

Course fee: $275, $100 deposit required to register.

To register, contact the instructor. All deposits are nonrefundable.

Description: Think of this class as a training session for your writing brain. Just like any set of muscles, the ones you use to write get out of shape when you don’t use them.

Working with a combination of creative prompts, in-class writing & feedback, daily exercises, partner writing, and maybe even some nagging, we’ll get your writing brain back into shape. We’ll also cover some key craft techniques along the way. And we’ll help you develop a consistent writing practice to keep that part of your brain limber.

Students will be required to purchase a copy of the Grotto’s writing book, ’642 Things to Write About’ (Chronicle Books).

This class is open to writers of fiction, narrative nonfiction, and memoir. It is equally useful for beginners and more experienced writers. It’s also fun.

Instructor Bio: Janis Cooke Newman is the author of the Bay Area Bestseller, Mary, a historical novel about Mary Todd Lincoln. Mary was a Los Angeles Times Book Prize Finalist, chosen as USA Today’s Best Historical Fiction of the Year in 2006, and a Booksense Year-End Highlight. Newman is also the author of The Russian Word for Snow, a memoir about adopting her son from a Moscow orphanage, which was published internationally. Her writing has appeared in numerous anthologies, as well as in several magazines, and newspapers including the NY Times, LA Times, and San Francisco Chronicle.