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WOW! Women On Writing Launches Classes & Workshops
FOR WOMEN WRITERS
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Greetings!
Are you an education junkie? At WOW ! Women On Writing, we are! That's why we've scoured the wild, wild web to bring you excellent instructors and classes we know you will love. Over the past few years, we've received a tremendous amount of requests for classes, and we've listened. Some of you requested help with fiction writing, poetry, freelancing, or book proposal writing, so we handpicked professional instructors who are friends of WOW !, and asked them to participate in our classroom. All of these ladies are fantastic mentors and are here to help you reach your writing goals.  How the courses work: All of the courses operate online--whether through email, website, chat room, or listserv, depending on the instructor's preferences--and are taught one-on-one with the instructor. The flexibility of the platform allows students to complete assignments on their own time and work at their own pace in the comfort of their own home. It's a wonderful experience and an excellent way to further develop your skills, boost your income, or to try your hand at something completely new! Below are the courses we have coming up, listed by date. Be sure to enroll early for guaranteed placement. Some of the instructors only take 8-10 students per course, so make sure you look at the requirements. Enjoy!
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MAGAZINE WRITING SUCCESS
THERE IS STILL WORK IN MAGAZINE WRITING.
HOW TO GET IT--AND KEEP BUILDING ON IT
INSTRUCTOR: Wendy Meyeroff
START DATE: Wednesday, May 20, 2009
DURATION: 6 weeks
COURSE DESCRIPTION: This is a class for writers who'd like to build a portfolio (and make money). Magazine articles are a great place to start. The class not only discusses writing non-fiction articles for well-known publications (e.g., Cosmo, Good Housekeeping, Wired), it teaches students to look beyond them and points out other avenues for both income and recognition. This is NOT a how-to-write class; it's about finding saleable story ideas, marketing yourself and your work, and getting the best price for it. At the end of class, students receive a free e-zine summarizing top 10 class highlights, for easy review.
WEEKS AT A GLANCE:
Week 1: Broadening Your Horizons. Includes introducing students to outlets beyond well-known publications
Week 2: Tricks of the Trade to Help You Get In (Includes a Checklist for Magazine Analysis)
Week 3: Creating More Effective Query Letters
Week 4: Setting Your "Hourly Rate"
Week 5: The Art of Negotiating
Week 6: Going Green: Extra Income Through Recycling Stories
 ABOUT THE INSTRUCTOR: I started as a reporter and then also an editor at a variety of trade magazines (pharmacy, optical and telecommunications). My work on the pharmacy magazine eventually got me a freelance assignment: a newspaper column, "Health & Beauty Hotline," which was distributed to over 250,000 readers weekly for three years. These clips got me into Family Circle magazine and then to Woman's Day, Working Mother, and Weight Watchers (plus many other publications). That led me to become one of the first writers for webzines, like CBSHealthwatch.com. And all of this helped me get commercial contracts for much more money down the line.
COST: $120 (reduced from $150), which includes access to a private Yahoo! Group, email support and feedback from your instructor, weekly assignments, and a FREE e-zine offering top 10 highlights from class, for easy review. Limit 25 students. Early registration is recommended.
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BECOME A FREELANCE WRITER!
YOUR COMPLETE GUIDE TO FREELANCE WRITING BASICS
INSTRUCTOR: Nicole LaMarco
START DATE: Monday, June 1, 2009
DURATION: 10 weeks
COURSE DESCRIPTION:
This class is for beginning freelance writers
or for those who are interested in becoming freelance writers. It
includes all of the basics of freelance writing: overviews of the
different fields in freelance writing, what is needed to begin, how to
store ideas, where to get ideas, how much you should make, where to
find clients, and how to get clients.
In this
class, I am your writing mentor through every lesson and every
assignment. Make some extra money with your writing or create your own
full-time freelance career! Learn from my personal stories,
information, resources, goals, activities, lessons, and assignments.
This class will provide the you with the structure and guidance you
need to receive compensation for your writing. A certification will be given to those who
pass the entire class.
WEEKS AT A GLANCE:
Week 1: Let's Get Started!
This is the introduction to my class. I will outline the goals of this class. You will receive my email address so you can contact me with any questions you may have throughout the class. I'll also discuss what it takes to become a successful freelance writer.
Assignment: Assess why you want to become a writer, how well you can work on your own, and the importance of business skills in freelance work.
Week 2: Choosing a Writing Field
You will get my ebook on the different fields of freelance writing to study. I will talk about the most lucrative freelance writing careers and how the economy is changing the world of freelancing. I will also discuss the importance of choosing a freelance writing niche.
Assignment: Choose your freelance writing niche.
Week 3: Creating Your Portfolio
Every writer needs a portfolio. This is especially important for those just starting out. I will show you how to put together a portfolio even if you don't have any clips. I will also show you how to store your work and stay organized.
Assignment: Put together a portfolio.
Week 4: Yes, You Need a Resume
I'll teach you how to write an eye-catching resume that will include all of your skills, experience, and education. I will give you a freelance writing template to help you create your own resume.
Assignment: Create your writing resume.
Week 5: Bagging Your First Client
At this point, you will be ready to obtain your first client! I will show you how to market and promote your services in the freelance industry. I will also teach you how to stand out from the competition, where to get clients, and how to find potential clients.
Assignment: Obtain your first client.
Week 6: Money Making Writer
This lesson will discuss how much money most writers and editors make in their respective fields. I will help you figure out how much money you want to make, and how you can calculate your hourly rate.
Assignment: Calculate your hourly rate and set up a fee schedule.
Week 7: At Home and at Work
I will help you find your own office space in your home, and you will learn how to let your family know when to leave you alone so you can work. You will get tips on setting up a home office, eliminating distractions, and discussing working from home with family and friends.
Assignment: Have a discussion with family and set up a home office.
Week 8: Bookkeeping 101 for Writers
Tax time can seem difficult for the self-employed, but it is actually really easy. I will discuss how important record keeping is, how to stay in a budget, and how to file taxes. A tax expert will be available to answer your questions!
Assignment: The assignment will be how to keep a space for tax purposes in the office and how to store records.
Week 9: Writing Resources
I'll guide you to the greatest resources for writers on the web: blogs, websites, forums, and more. You'll see where I get my writing gigs and I will even give you links to places where I currently work so you can apply for a writing job! I will also give you links to the best writing resource books out there so you can add them to your bookcase.
Week 10: You're a Writer!
You are now a writer and you need to get used to saying it. I will teach you about maintaining a good clientele, keeping resumes up to date, making more money, setting goals, and more. You are ready to go it alone.
 ABOUT THE INSTRUCTOR: Nicole LaMarco has been a full-time freelance writer for 8 years. She
specializes in ghostwriting and copywriting. She enjoys helping other
newbie writers find success with her website and ezine, Writing Pays, as well as with her email class Become a Freelance Writer.
COST:
$150, which includes email support and feedback from your instructor, weekly assignments, and a FREE ebook, Paying Markets for Writers, (valued at $19.95). Paying Markets for Writers contains direct links to over 1,000 paying publications online! Limit: 25 students. Early registration is recommended.
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CREATING A CHARACTER SKETCH
INSTRUCTOR: Janie Sullivan
START DATE: Monday, June 1, 2009
DURATION: 3 weeks
COURSE DESCRIPTION: Developing a character sketch for each character in the story is essential to the success of the story. The writer needs to know who the characters are, what they are thinking, and why they do the things they do in order to make them believable to the reader. This course will teach writers how to develop their characters so their readers will identify with them--whether or not they like them.
WEEKS AT A GLANCE:
Week 1: Review character sketches, analyze the elements, and determine why they do or do not work.
Week 2: Develop a character sketch and share it with classmates for constructive critique.
Week 3: Set the character in a short story for possible submission to a contest or magazine for publication.
 ABOUT THE INSTRUCTOR: I have been teaching online at the undergraduate level since 2004. I also teach faculty in the art of online teaching. I wrote and taught the entire curriculum for a 21-course certificate in Online Teaching Strategies and am currently working on a book of the same title. I have been writing since I was 16 and have published articles in newspapers, magazines, and journals. I won a writing contest with my character sketch at WritingForMoney.com. I currently write online for eHow.com, Suite101.com, and HubPages.com.
COST: $125, which includes access to a private blog group, email support and feedback from your instructor and peers.
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SHORT FICTION WRITING
INSTRUCTOR: Gila Green
START DATE: Tuesday, June 2, 2009
DURATION: 8 weeks
COURSE DESCRIPTION: Through writing exercises and classmate and instructor feedback we will delve into the fundamentals of short fiction with a view to publishable work. We will explore a variety of craft elements including: character, plot, point of view, description, dialogue, setting, pacing, voice and theme.
Course objectives:
- To complete at least one work that is publishable.
- To encourage you to read published short fiction including, short stories, personal essays and flash fiction (Fiction under 800 words).
- To increase your confidence and skills as a writer.
- To develop a foundation for the skills of crafting, editing, and revising.
WEEKS AT A GLANCE:
Week 1: Discuss: What is the difference between a short story and an anecdote? An anecdote and a joke? A personal essay and a short story? In-class exercise: Write an anecdote.
Week 2: Discuss descriptions (character sketches). In-class exercise: Write a character sketch of someone you cannot forgive.
Week 3: Discuss: Two students will present and their pieces will be workshopped. In-class exercise: Revision of previous exercises.
Week 4: Discuss: Two students present their pieces for workshopping. In-class exercise: Let's talk about beginnings. How do you "enter" a story?
Week 5: Third pair of students' work workshopped. In-class exercise: Choose the first line of a previously published story and rewrite it.
Week 6: Fourth pair of students' work workshopped. In-class assignment: Endings. Identify the last section of a story and rewrite it. Let's examine the style of the ending and contrast/compare with the style of the beginnings we looked at previously.
Week 7: Fifth pair of students' work workshopped. In-class assignment: Discuss in-class assignment from last week (Endings).
Week 8: The importance of revision. Revisions due. In-class assignment: Revise any previous in-class assignment. Share with the class. Final discussions.
 ABOUT THE INSTRUCTOR: Originally from Ottawa, Gila Green's stories have appeared in tens of literary magazines in the U.S.A., Canada, Australia, Israel, and Hong Kong. Her short story collection, White Zion, is a finalist for the Doris Bakwin Award (Carolina Wren Press, 2008). Her stories have been short listed for WordSmitten's TenTen Fiction Contest (2008); The Walrus Literary Award (2006/7); the Eric Hoffer Best New Writing Award (2008) and the Ha'aretz Short Fiction Award (Tel Aviv, 2006). Gila has an MA in Creative Writing from Bar Ilan University (Israel) and a Bachelor of Journalism degree from Carleton University (Ottawa, Canada).
COST: $150, which includes access to a private Google Group, email support and feedback from your instructor, weekly assignments, as well as downloads from the Google Group files. Skype & Skype chat. LIMIT: 8-10 STUDENTS. Early registration is recommended.
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HOW TO WRITE A NONFICTION BOOK PROPOSAL THAT SELLS
INSTRUCTOR: Andrea Campbell
START DATE: Monday, June 8, 2009
DURATION: 8 weeks
COURSE DESCRIPTION: Let me show you through my intense, 8-week-long workshop how to get a nonfiction book proposal ready for publishers. This is your opportunity to gain a serious business advantage over other writers who will try to wing it. And even if your first book doesn't sell, you will have the skills and the template to apply to other ideas and other projects. You may even come up with more ideas for more books as you work through this course.
And my workshop is different. I keep the classes small so you receive a lot of individual attention; class size is limited to 10 students. In addition, you will have e-mail feedback on all assignments. Another thing I do in my workshops is to have weekly chat sessions. Yes, every Thursday night, we will meet online to ask questions, discuss the lesson plans, and talk about additional information or details that you might have missed. Chats are an important tool for learning (and camaraderie) and why shouldn't we work together to leverage our knowledge? And to make it worth your while, you will also receive additional materials to help illustrate important points from the lesson plans or that you can use to aid you in staying abreast of what is happening in the publishing industry.
This course is for intermediate level students. Try to clear your plate of other things that may distract you and be prepared to work hard. If you want results, you will get them but this class involves work and preparation week after week.
In this class, you can expect to learn:
- If your idea is a good one
- The essential ingredients of a book proposal
- What the format and overall look of the actual proposal should be
- How to write your proposal letters and the best markets for your book
- Why you must exploit your "intellectual capital"
- The nuts and bolts of the nonfiction book publishing industry
By the end of class, students will have a marketable, nonfiction book proposal package ready to send out to agents, including a query letter, along with the confidence to market his/her product.
WEEKS AT A GLANCE:
Week 1: Introduction and Your Idea or Concept, Book Proposal Overview, Titles & Categories
Week 2: Your Idea Sculpted, The Market (& Your Audience), About the Author
Week 3: Marketing Tone; About the Book, and the Competition
Week 4: Table of Contents, The Outline, Organization & Structure, Chapter Summaries
Week 5: Production Details, Promotion, Selling Points, Media, Information Sources
Week 6: Sample Chapters & Creative Nonfiction
Week 7: Agents, Editors, Query letters, Cover Letters, Appendix
Week 8: Format, Packaging Tips, Success or Return, Ethics, Final Tips & Goals
 ABOUT THE INSTRUCTOR: Andrea Campbell is the author of twelve traditionally published nonfiction books on a variety of topics including forensic science, criminal law, primatology and entertaining using interactive games, among others. Her latest book is the 2nd edition of Legal Ease: A Guide to Criminal Law, Evidence and Procedure, which has just been updated and fashioned into a college law textbook. Her next book, a historical-biography about the world's first detective, will be out in January 2010 with Overlook Press.
Andrea is a member of several professional organizations and stays current with book business. Her classes always offer students much more than they thought they'd get. One of her students recently got a "very good deal," and, according to Publisher's Lunch, a $100,000-plus book contract.
COST: $379, which includes access to a private Yahoo! Group, a weekly 1 hour chat, a weekly critique and assessments/corrections done by the instructor.
LIMIT: 10 STUDENTS. Early registration is recommended.
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POETIC PASSION: IMAGE, STORY, LINE, & LANGUAGE
INSTRUCTOR: Melanie Faith
START DATE: Friday, July 3, 2009
DURATION: 4 weeks
COURSE DESCRIPTION: Ever wonder why some poems fall flat while others hum with the kind of energy and fire that draw us nearer as readers? In this 4-week, workshop-style class, we will focus on four key elements in crafting a successful poem. We will delve into several poetic examples, noticing how literary techniques shine within the poems. A weekly assignment from our springboard text, The Poet's Companion, and thematically-linked prompts will be the next steps in enhancing poetic skills. The instructor will provide a helpful weekly critique of each student's submitted poem, offering suggestions as well as positive feedback on elements which work well. This class is meant to inspire your own poetic Muse--from strengthening your knowledge of literary techniques to providing a bridge for sparking your own life-breathing, imaginative poems from pen to printed page.
 ABOUT THE INSTRUCTOR: MELANIE FAITH is a poet, educator, and photographer who holds an MFA in Poetry from Queens University of Charlotte, NC. In addition to her current poetry chapbook, Bright, Burning Fuse, which was a finalist in the 2008 Keyhole Magazine Chapbook contest and was published by Etched Press in Dec. 2008, she is the author of Restless: Relative Poems (published by Foothills Publishing in 2003). Her poems and landscape and architectural photography recently appeared or will appear in Newport Review, MO: Writings From The River (Montana State University, Spring '09 issue), The Broken Plate (Ball State University, April '09 issue), Shape of a Box (Dec. '08), The Binnacle (University of Maine), Mademoiselle's Fingertips, Emprise Review and The Iguana Review. She has been a small-town newspaper journalist, an ESL classroom teacher for international students, and (currently) a literature and writing tutor at a private high school in rural Pennsylvania. In addition to writing two novels seeking representation, her articles about creative writing appeared in RWR (Dec. '08) and will be published in The Writer (Nov. '09) and Writers' Journal.
COST: $100, which includes one-on-one support and critiques through email. LIMIT: 8-10 STUDENTS. Early registration is recommended.
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We hope you are excited about these new classes!WOW ! Women On Writing ensures that our instructors will work with you one-on-one. In most cases you will receive emailed course materials and assignments, or for those with groups, you will be able to download course materials. Your instructor will give you assignments and personal feedback, and guide you through a charted course of learning. Our instructors are wonderful ladies who go above and beyond to help you achieve your writing goals. If you have any questions, or would like to suggest a course topic you are interested in, we'd love your feedback. Email us at: classroom@wow-womenonwriting.com. We'll be updating our classroom page periodically with new classes and workshops, so please check back often. Write on!
Warmest,
Angela, Marcia & Team WOW!
WOW! Women On Writing
Invest in yourself, write now.
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