Two Writing Courses Start Soon

Please join me.

Water Taxi by Raven Waters

Craft, Personal Power & Magic

If you have any desire to study writing and to do it with me, I am offering a virtual writing course in creative nonfiction starting in early January and running through March 2023. It’s a Level 1 class called The Magical Craft of Creative Nonfiction. We will meet via Zoom on Monday evenings from 7-9 pm Eastern Time for 7 sessions over the course of 14 weeks, bi-weekly.

You will learn the essential secrets to writing creative nonfiction--memoir and essay.

It sounds like I’m bragging, but I truly believe that this is the best creative nonfiction course that money can buy.

Meeting dates are Jan. 2, Jan. 16, Jan. 30, Feb. 13, Feb. 27, March 13, and March 27. This schedule gives you a longer time to commit to your writing, an extended period of time with me, more days to read and write between classes, and a larger container to create transformation.

When I was a young writer, I thought I could teach myself what I needed to know. I thought that if I read enough Welty and O'Connor and Hurston, I could figure it all out. Unfortunately, I lost years. I could be moved by what other writers were doing, but I couldn't understand on my own how they were moving me. Finally I began to study with great writers, and finally I began to learn things that I could have never untangled on my own.

We'll dive into craft and structure, including one one crazily effective and never-before-published schema for the narrative essay.

However, what I've learned after publishing a dozen books is you need more than craft to be a great writer. You need magic. There's no other word for it.

And I know where you find magic.

In this time together we’ll peer into the deep sources of our power, discover how to tap that power, and learn how to transfer it to the page. We will be wilding our stories and wilding ourselves. We'll be calling on our ancestors to help us. We'll be calling on plant medicine.

This course can transform your life. It can give you the tools you haven't been able to figure out for yourself to make a story fly. It can set your writing on fire and make you want to sit down and nail your shoes to the floor under your writing desk.

What you get:

• seven evenings where I pour my heart & soul into your heart & soul.

• my honest, authentic belief in you.

• a chance to share your stories in a safe space.

• pages and pages of useful handouts in pdf form.

• accountability check-ins.

• a private, 45-minute Zoom session with me where you get to envision the Life You Dream or lob your writing questions or think through your writing project.

• my edits on pages of your work.

The cost of the semester is $600. You can register here, or you can mail a check to Janisse Ray, 895 Catherine T. Sanders Road, Reidsville, GA 30453. Move yourself from stuck to empowered with one decision.

---

The Angel Placed the World in Her Hand by Raven Waters

Love & Accountability

I’ve designed a semester-long course starting in early January for women who are ready to get on with a writing project. The class convenes online every Monday afternoon from 1-2:30 pm starting Jan. 2 and running through April 3, 2023. It’s called Story Trust: A Writing Semester for Women Who are Ready to Get On With the Story and is a loving accountability group.

There’s a certain story inside you that is asking to come out. All along you’ve had some deep sense that part of your job on earth is to tell this story you’ve been given. And yet, so many things get in the way—jobs, relationships, people to take care of, plans to make, a noisy house. You accomplish many things. You enjoy the work and the play. But you never seem to be able to find a room of your own.

The time has come to get on with the story.

Maybe you’re retired. Maybe you don’t have to worry so much about money. Maybe the children are grown. 

• With guidance

• with someone to break down the process

• with important instruction

• with accountability

• with built-in trust

• with someone believing in you (that would be me!)

• and with a little gold dust sprinkled about….

you can tell this story.

This is a 14-week workshop for women who have not yet finished their work, which is to write.

We will meet weekly at 1 pm Eastern on Monday afternoons for 1.5 hours. Part of each session will be instruction, part will be a check-in. The program includes a one-on-one conference with me. 

Our goal will be the accrual of words on the page for people who hoped for it but thought it might not be possible.

Perhaps you already started the story. Perhaps part of it is written already. Then I can help you finish.

The reason to do this? When you honor the story you were given, you change how you feel about yourself and your life. You get beyond the narrative that others wrote for you long ago, and you write your own narrative. You move closer to self-actualization. You begin to feel that beautiful salve that you are doing the work you wanted to do. You get that lovely feeling of having finished something you set out to do. And you start to create a community of other creative women who find themselves in the place you’re in.

My job is to guide you to do the writing you dream of.

No one can do the job except you. However, the work of creating goes much more smoothly if you’re not facing a blank page alone. You’ll find that writing is easier than you thought. You’ll find that it’s fun. You’ll find that, with someone believing that it’s possible and with a plan, you’ll begin to cherish your time with the story. The story itself will help you tell it. 

One last note: Deciding to show up for your work is better accomplished with support. If you have a friend who finds herself in a similar place, meaning with a story to tell, see if she will sign up for the course with you. The number of participants will be limited, but most things are more fun with a friend. And if you don’t have a friend to bring along, no worries. You’ll have some soon.

Sessions will be recorded in case you have to miss a class.

What you get:

• 14 meetings where I pour my heart & soul into your heart & soul.

• a place to connect with other women working on a longer writing project.

• my honest, authentic belief in you.

• a chance to share your stories in a safe space.

• pages and pages of useful handouts in pdf form.

• a private Zoom session with me where you get to envision the Life You Dream or lob your writing questions or think through your writing project.

• my edits on pages of your work.

The cost of the semester is $600. You can register here, or you can mail a check to Janisse Ray, 895 Catherine T. Sanders Road, Reidsville, GA 30453. Get the loving support you need with one decision.

---