Learn & Grow Together With Us

• Empower you to know and use your voice as a writer
• Focus and refine your unique message
• Define your audience
• Nourish your creative soul
• Draw on the virtues of courage and compassion in your writing
• Teach you to write and refine a first draft that will connect with  your audience
• Equip you to think in healthy ways about platform and how to build/extend your community of readers
• Show you how to overcome obstacles on the road to publication
• Prepare you to publish books and articles
• Offer you a supportive community
• Give you access to writing industry professionals 

Our cohort will learn and grow together in community through monthly instructional videos that cohort members can access and watch at their own pace, along with suggested readings and writing assignments. You'll be able to share your work and your reflections on the suggested readings in a private Facebook group. We'll also have a couple of live sessions that will allow cohort members to get to know each other and interact with Marlena, Michelle, and guest editors and other published authors. We also plan to offer an in-person writing weekend retreat. Our cohort members will be eligible for advanced registration and discounts. 

Cohort course sessions include:

1. Your vocation as a writer: Naming what moves and challenges you in the world, digging into your own story for clues and clarity, identifying what only you can say. 
2. A deep dive into your writing (and rewriting) process: Using the rubric created by poet Betty Flowers, we will explore how to befriend and create in the company of your own inner "madman", architect, carpenter, and judge. 
3. Your mission, message, and audience: Who are you trying to reach with your words? Why? Articulating the answers to thse questions will guide you as you seek to connect and communicate, no matter what your genre.  
4. Teaching through imagination or information–understanding genre: We believe meaningful writing can inspire, provoke, entertain, and educate. Words can change the world!  This session explores the strengths and limitations of various genres as you seek to marry your message to your audience. 
5. Building relationships, not platform:  You'll hear about the importance of platform from most publishing industry professionals. But we are big believers in focusing on building relationships, not seeking a larger stage. Those relationships are connected to your vocation and mission in essential ways. We'll explore why, and how to develop community around your work–a community that has more strength and integrity than a fame-based platform.   
6. Nuts and bolts of publishing, Part 1:  This session will explore each step of the publishing process for both print magazines and websites as well as book publishers. Understanding the roles played by each person on a publishing team, and what to expect from every stage  of the process can set you up for success. 
7. Nuts and bolts of publishing, Part 2:  We will offer a frank and clarifying  discussion about agents, contracts, copyrights, royalties, and writing in an era of AI content creation, We'll address the issues around when to create content for free, and when you should pursue payment for your work. 
8. Connecting with editors–Queries and proposals: You'll learn what goes into a solid pitch for an article, and take a look at the components of a book proposal. We'll also share ways you can get your pitch or proposal into the right hands. 
9. Your heart on the page–Navigating rejection: It's never easy, but rejection is a fact of life for writers. We'll look at how it can form us, how to grieve it, and how your writing (andyour soul) can grow from it. 
10. Meet an editor:  We'll have a session with a working editor who will tell us about their role, offer insight as to what their publishing house is looking for, and field your questions in a lively, interactive final session. 

Each session will include recommended reading, and the formation of supportive critique groups that will allow you to give and receive feedback from others as well as Michelle and Marlena. 

Cost: $1499 plus your books, most of which you may be able to find at used book sites.    

Aren't sure if you can commit to a full cohort experience? You can sign up for the sessions that serve your needs. We'll notify you as soon as the content is live. You'll be able to reach out to Marlena and Michelle with questions you may have about the material in your session, and you'll receive priority information about live Zoom sessions and in-person retreats. 

Cost per session: $149