Establishing a Creative Writing Practice

Engaging in creative activity lightens our hearts, helps us make peace with our experiences, and reminds us how to play.

Creative writing is especially accessible; it requires no special equipment and can be done anytime.

But many of us either internalize messages that we aren’t good enough or let life’s demands get in the way.

This course is designed to change that, revitalizing your creative writing practice through a combination of daily prompts and live weekly guided adventures.

You will be encouraged to try fiction, nonfiction, and poetry, with preliminary exercises to launch each practice.

You’ll also learn myriad ways to tap into your creative flow, such as reexamining meaningful experiences, using mindfulness to explore the richness of everyday life, and collaborating creatively through writing games.

You’ll leave with a portfolio of new pieces as well as the habits of mind to maintain a regular creative writing practice.

This is a large-format course designed to be used flexibly by students who have varying amounts of time to devote to it.

The course will include a live, one-hour videoconferencing session each week that includes creative exercises.

Because of the high enrollment capacity, students will not receive instructor feedback on daily writing posts.

Section WA and Section WB of "Establishing a Creative Writing Practice" have the same objective—to foster a daily practice—but use different prompts and creativity-related links.

Students may register for Section WA or Section WB, or for both.