Have you taken a Round Robin or other generative writing classes at The Writing Salon and started stories or poems you want to continue? Do you have fragments of writing you’d like to bring together to create something more finished? Are you ready to revise and polish? This online creative writing workshop will enable class members to deepen reflection on their own work, receive focused feedback from classmates and instructor, and inspire development toward class members’ finest hopes for their writing projects.
"The course has a very clear mission," says instructor Kathy Garlick. "Students will devote time every week to submitting their own work, in any genre, and to doing feedback on classmates’ work. The class will be divided into several small groups, so you’ll be responding to just a few classmates in a week rather than to the whole group. An important objective for us is to keep the workload manageable. As well, I will be doing closely attentive, comprehensive feedback for students on weekly submissions."
The course will use the online platform Wet Ink, which allows for clear, targeted commentary on sections of submissions. Kathy will give weekly assignments appropriate to students’ revision needs based partly on a questionnaire filled out before the class begins. Students will finish the class with not only a completed, or close-to-completed, project, but with increased critical capacities and craft knowledge derived from close commentary on their classmates’ work.
*This class does not have set meeting times. Throughout each week, participants will set their own schedule for writing and critiquing. The class will require 2 hours a week for workshop critiques, and participants will make their own decisions in terms of the number of hours a week they'd like to spend on creative submissions.
Kathy Garlick’s poetry and prose have appeared in Art and Ideas, Fourteen Hills, Field, and other publications. Her chapbook of poems, The Listening World, was published by Momotombo Press at St. Mary’s College. Kathy currently teaches creative writing and academic writing at University of San Francisco and creative writing and literature in the English Master’s program at Holy Names University.
There are no mandatory live class meetings from January 19 – March 2. This class gives students an opportunity to determine their own flexible work schedule. There will be one optional Zoom meeting that your instructor will arrange with you.
I loved the exchanges I had with group members. Kathy's feedback was incredibly helpful to me - encouraging and specific, suggesting ideas for expansion without being overly directive.
Being a part of this group was a big confidence-booster, and, whether it shows or not, I think my writing will be better for this experience.
I took the class to have more accountability in order to generate new writing and because I wanted critical feedback. The class has provided both. I feel like the class gives helpful critiques, and I appreciate the depth and thoughtfulness of comments.
This class was enormously helpful in shaping my thinking for where to take my stories/non-fiction pieces. I was blown away by the quality of feedback from the majority of my peers. My confidence also grew through this experience. It was just the boost in the arm I needed to kick the year off right and I look forward to taking more classes.
Kathy Garlick is a masterful teacher -- kind and accurate in her feedback. She is fair to every single writer. This particular configuration of students was excellent. The critiques were almost always insightful and the conversation was honest and warm.