PUT IT IN WRITING
Local courses get your thoughts into print and online
STOP putting off work on your long-awaited novel, memoir or that online news op-ed column you haven’t had the guts to send in. Time and money are no longer constraints — today’s writing courses are delivered in a variety of modalities to meet your time and budgetary constraints, says one area expert.
“Over the past five to 10 years, people are gravitating toward taking more continuing education classes for writing, even if they are not seeking academic degrees,” says Jennifer Mattson, a New York-based instructor, editor and writer who teaches writing workshops in New York and writing retreats nationwide.
“People love to write and can’t afford traditional universities anymore. The way people take classes has changed. I’ve seen real growth in my own classes, many of which get sold out,” says Mattson. In particular, her class, “The Art of the Essay: How to Write Op-Eds, Non-Fiction and Personal Essays,” is very popular since, “the average person who isn’t a writer can break into writing by writing essays.” The course will be offered this spring at the 92nd Street Y (92Y. org) and delivered online this summer through New York University’s School of Professional Studies (NYU.edu). “There’s an explosion in Webbased classes available to New Yorkers,” says Mattson. This month, she will also teach “Writing for the Web: Breaking In as a Digital Journalist” at the 92nd Street Y.
“A lot of people are dying to learn about Web stuff. It’s become really important. It’s hard to make it as a journalist without socialmedia skills. This class helps you to gain hands-on experience in reporting, researching and writing for the Internet,” she says.
If you’ve got writer’s block or need to develop a routine or strategies to help you write more, Mattson presents her “Get Unstuck” class through nontraditional education outlet Brooklyn Brainery (BrooklynBrainery.com) this May.
“We cover writing on deadline, creating a social-media presence, pitching stories, how to make enough money to survive and how to manage your time,” says Mattson, whose students have seen the results of studying with her.
“They’ve been published all over the place — on Salon, in the Boston Globe and elsewhere,” says Mattson.
If you’re considering a writer’s workshop or retreat, “Writing teachers can help you get your work out into the world and inspire you to go to the next level with that book proposal or book,” says Mattson.
Ready to make the investment in a writing degree or follow a more traditional course of writing study? St. John’s University offers several programs through its Institute for Writing Studies (StJohns.edu).
Created in 2006, the university’s Writing Center helps all students with their writing, says Derek Owens, director of the Institute for Writing Studies and a professor of English.
”Students and members of the community can get feedback on their writing at any stage of devel- opment,” says Owens. “It’s staffed by graduates and undergraduates who complete a training period before tutoring students. They can help identify recurring errors, [review] how you’ve organized a piece and spark conversations about ideas and how to think them through more carefully.”
Another reason to visit, says Owens, is that“at our university, the data shows that students who
make appointments at the Writing Center tend to have higher GPAs; I’m sure this is the case at other institutions, too.”
The first-year writing program boasts dedicated tenured and tenure-track faculty who teach St. John’s University’s required core writing course. Each week, students submit writing and provide peer feedback in classes. At the semester’s end, students turn in digital portfolios featuring a range of writing genres and styles from argument to oral history to manifesto and photo essay.
As for learning goals, “students should recognize that writing means experimenting with different genres and negotiating various audience expectations. They should use technology to design and share information across multiple communities and demonstrate an ability to locate, evaluate and employ a variety of sources for a range of purposes,” says Owens.
He adds, “I would advise students that no matter what your academic focus, one of the most important things employers tell us when hiring is that they seek strong writing experiences and communication. If students are lucky enough to be in a college that offers an interdisciplinary writing minor, I would strongly encourage them to enroll in it — it will complement their major significantly.”
For those seeking advanced study or who are looking to teach writing at the college level, consider a master’s degree in writing.
At Hofstra University (Hofstra.edu), the MFA program in creative writing is in growth mode, says J. Stephen Russell, its director.
Housed in Hofstra’s English department, the 36-credit, evening program is delivered through workshops, a literature course and a class craft, through which students focus on a particular skill, such as plot or dialogue. Last year, the university also introduced the creative writing fellowship, which offers a $5,000 scholarship to an entering MFA student who is an in-service secondary-school English teacher in Nassau or Suffolk counties or New York City.
Beyond teaching, “we’ve had students and even executives come in with no professional goal within the writing profession. They were just working on novels and came to our program to sharpen their talents,” says Russell.
Another trend Russell is seeing within the writing field is, “the power of words and story. One of the buzz words in the national headlines is ‘narrative’ and who controls it. There is a continuing and compelling interest in selfexpression and generating one’s own narrative.”
Hofstra also offers a “Great Writers, Great Readings” program which is open to the public. Guest writers are sponsored and brought on campus for a curated speaker series. This spring, guest authors will include poet A. Van Jordan and New York Times bestselling author Susan Orlean.