To Write Well’s next offering — February 7  through February 28 -Saturdays from 9:30 am to 12:30 p.m.  at UNC Asheville’s Rhoades-Robinson Hall– provides writers with close-in, hand-on experience with the structure of language, focusing on how to create impact through emphasis, rhythm and cadence, pacing, and suspense. This workshop is a unique opportunity for Asheville area writers — both fiction and non-fiction! — to gain valuable insights into the impact of their writing choices.

General Syllabus

for

Advanced Writing Workshop:

Impact of Style I: Structure

sponsored by To Write Well

OBJECTIVE:

The objective of this four-week workshop is to teach writers how to write at a higher level by intensively examining, then practicing, four basic elements of writing with impact.

Week 1: Understanding the Role of Structure in Style / The First Four Possibilities

Week 2: Writing Sentences That Resonate / The Next Seven Possibilities

Week 3: Hearing The Sound on the Page: Music / The Next Eight Possibilities

Week 4: Tying It All Together / The Last Ten Possibilities

GOAL:

The goal of this workshop is to train writers to understand and consciously use sentence and paragraph structure

• to create impact upon readers,

• to create rhythm and cadence for pace, and

• to set up coherence between the structure of the writing and the ideas being expressed.

Each week begins with a Saturday lecture and discussion (three hours). Students then return home to work independently throughout the week, working through the daily exercises with feedback from the instructor.

• The Role of Structure examines the purpose behind sentence structure, i.e., how the ear hears, and how the eyes see, language. By understanding how language interacts with readers, writers can purposefully select specific structures to create impact, achieving a voice unique to their writing.

• Writing Sentences That Resonate examines the ways in which structure creates emphasis, rhythm, expectation, and suspense.

• Hearing The Sound on The Page extends the writer’s understanding of structure and resonance through practice.

• Tying It All Together examines coherence from the perspective of unifying the writer’s ideas with the writer’s voice, so the written word is memorable for the reader.

Reference materials are provided.

The course text, The Art of Styling Sentences, by Ann Longknife, PhD, and K.D. Sullivan, is required, and the student must have the text by the first session.

For more info and to register: email Ashley at  writewell2009@gmail.com

I admit, I have this thing for beautiful book covers and Journals! A I talked about in Paisley Goddess, I am taking up Journaling again. There are so many new techniques out and now, you can let your inhibitions go and use art, images, glue, paint or whatever else you wish to use!

So, my focus has been on creating beautiful Journal designs. You can find a selection of Journals in my Enchanted Girl shop.

The Journals there are:

Wire-O bound, 160 pages, unlined and measures 5″ x 8″, a handy on-the-go size to fit in your backpack. Go creative and let the muse flow.

Back cover made of thin black flexible textured plastic, measures 16/1000″ thick
Front cover made of 12pt glossy paper, coated for scratch resistance
Filled with 60lb bookweight (24 lb bond) blank paper - NO LINES

The journaling prompts at Paisley Goddess will begin January 14th under the category of “Goddess Journeys”
Come join me…journaling is a great way to start dialogging with your Inner/Higher self.
It allows us to start noticing recurring themes and symbols in our lives - becoming aware of ourselves is the first step in changing.
Writing down our intentions and dreams is a big part of watching them manifest.
As women, we can track our physical/biological state and watch what is going on around and within ourselves when/if we are having unwanted symptoms…our bodies let us know when we are ignoring something important…but we can easily miss the clues if we aren’t paying attention.
Journaling can help us discover new talents and ambitions.
And, we have that space to rant, rave and scream to “let go” of something that we might obsess over. (cuz what we focus on, we GET!)

There are many fabulous reasons to grab a journal that inspires you and get to writing…because we are creating a great 2008!