Feeling Resource-Full
Friday, May 25, 2012 at 2:51PM 
Word count: 268 Reading time: 1-2 mins.
One spring when I was a teenager, a dream came true with the gift of riding lessons. What I learned about horses in ten short hours stayed with me through my own horse ownership and beyond.
Still, when I started to write fiction, I thought I could do it without the help of good instruction. For one thing, I thought the creative process was meant to be inherently obvious. The other dilemma was the worry that someone would call my bluff; they would say I had no business trying to write.
So I wrote in isolation until I stumbled on a course with Kathy Page on Salt Spring Island. The island setting was magical. Kathy was warm and helpful. At the end of that workshop, she offered a further online course that was enormously productive. After that I joined a cyber-class with Pearl Luke. Pearl’s weekly lessons were rich in writing technique and involved a group of five critiquing each other’s work. I met my writing partner in that critique group and that was an unexpected bonus.
Currently I’m taking Sarah Selecky’s course, Story is a State of Mind and it’s the best online classroom I’ve found so far. It is also the most reasonably priced and allows a person to work at his or her own pace. Margaret Atwood called this course “smart, encouraging, practical.” How much more of an endorsement does anyone need?
If you’re not in a writing class now, how do you hone your craft? Did you just jump on that horse and ride? Or are you home-schooling yourself with reference books and courses?
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Photo by: Melinda Fawver
Reader Comments (2)
My procrastination skills have prevented me from signing up for a writing course. But after reading your blog, I realize I should rely more on some study skills. Thank you for the reminder. It is time for me to go back to school.
As I was writing the blog I remembered how much I learned from each of those courses and thought, 'it's time for me to work a little harder on my lessons.'
It's so easy to put them last.
Maggie