This is an online workshop that takes place via Zoom.

The Writer Errant: Personal Narratives as Discovery

“A man of genius makes no mistakes. His errors are volitional and are the portals of discovery.” – James Joyce, Ulysses.

Our greatest and most human gift—fallibility—can in fact be an aid in discovering worlds and possibilities for telling our stories in ways we never could have conjured out of intention. Have you struggled with creative block in your nonfiction storytelling? In this 6-week online course, open to writers of all levels, we will venture into possibilities for memoir pieces and personal essays with creative approaches to exploring such rife moments in our histories.

On our twisting and adventurous road toward discovery, we will read and discuss work that formally and thematically engages with error and chance, such as the poetry and prose of Dean Young, Native American ledger painting, the poetry of Harryette Mullen, the art of Andy Goldsworthy, excerpts from Don Quixote, the hybrid works of Lydia Davis, and more. We will learn and practice with elements of craft like word play, associative logic, disjunction, and dialogue in order to generate new material that we workshop every week, both as first drafts and revisions. All written work will receive detailed feedback from the instructor, as well as verbal feedback from the class participants.