ONLINE CLASS

Writing Again: Rekindling Your Creative Spark

With Amanda Oliver

    📍 Where

    Zoom

    🕒  WHEN

    Tuesdays, 5/7, 5/14, 5/21 & 6/4 (No class on 5/28)

    7PM - 8PM EST

    💲 HOW MUCH

    $500

    ($425 Early Bird)

    🧑‍🤝‍🧑  WHO

    12 Writers

    About the Class

    The goal of this class is to help you find new entries and access points to your writing. Whether you’re struggling with writer’s block, haven’t had time to write, have been going through a life transition that has made it difficult to meet yourself on the page, or any of the other many bits of life that can interrupt the flow of a writing practice, this class is designed to bring you back to writing again.

    Throughout the class we will look into how and why writing stops and how we can work against it, individually as well as within a community of writers. Through a combination of cross-genre readings, guided exercises and meditations, writing prompts, discussion threads, and weekly 90-minute group meetings, we will gently, but powerfully, return to writing again.

    Course Takeaways

    Throughout the class you will write at least four new pieces of writing, most likely in forms you have not tried before, and gather a toolbox of techniques and tools to help you write. You’ll receive peer feedback from myself and fellow students on your weekly writing assignments and potentially meet future writing and accountability partners.

    Who is this class for?

    This class is for creative writers of all genres. 

    Above all else, this class is intended to be experimental, supportive, joyful, and generative for all participants. It is my goal that at the end of the course you see a clearer path forward with your writing.

    This is not the right class for you if you are working on a specific project and want feedback on that or if you are seeking specific guidance on editing and/or publishing. We will naturally touch on these things throughout the course, but it will not be a focus. (I do work with writers one-on-one on specific projects and please feel free to reach out if that is what you are looking for.)

    It is the right class for you if you are looking for new access points to writing and feel open to experimenting in a safe, supportive group environment.

    Class Structure

    All class content will be available on a private online platform and we’ll have four 60-minute Zoom meetings throughout the course.

    Course Syllabus

    • Week 1: Building Writing Routines & Aphorisms

    • Week 2: Establishing Routines & The Personal Essay

    • Week 3: Flash Fiction & Hybrid Forms

    • Week 4: Revision Techniques & Epistolary Novel

    Meet Your Instructor

    Amanda Oliver is the author of the nonfiction book Overdue: Reckoning With the Public Library and her essays have appeared in Electric Literature, the Los Angeles Times, the Rumpus, PANK, and Medium, among many others.

    Amanda was the nonfiction editor of Joyland Magazine from 2018 to 2023 and has worked as a literary editor for more than 10 years. She has taught creative writing for the University of California at Riverside and with Gotham Writers. She holds a BA and an MLS from the State University of New York at Buffalo, and an MFA in nonfiction from the University of California at Riverside.

    Course Testimonials

    Kyrié O.

    In Amanda’s writing classes, writers feel accepted in bearing their hearts through creative nonfiction by creating a space where people feel comfortable embracing vulnerability. Her two-fold teaching style emboldens one’s experiences—workshops become a supportive community space for all participants to support one another, while one-on-one time allows her to work with you on your piece in depth. She is skilled in discerning the essence of your work, offering constructive critiques that foster its growth, all the while preserving its core sentiment.

    Tara P.

    Amanda is the best writing teacher I have ever had. In her classes she creates a culture of constructive kindness -- she helps students find ways to write more consistently and offers useful feedback while always being gentle and encouraging. Without her guidance and support I never would have had the courage to write and publish vulnerable work. Amanda made me a better writer.