Classes/Workshops/Conferences
Ongoing: Mentorship in Creative Writing, 
UCLA Extension, Online
Work with me on-on-one through UCLA Extension
Mentorships provide individualized support to advanced writers who seek specific and focused guidance in their work. Students select a mentorship focus from a pre-determined list of options provided by the instructor as part of their application process. Instructors review applications to determine student readiness for intensive personalized instruction and to ensure the student’s writing goals are achievable within the mentorship period. Students and instructors develop a Mentorship Agreement to guide their interactions over six contact hours during the ten-week mentorship period. By the end of the mentorship, students have received advice, input, and support to help them reach their short-term goals.
January 6-March 16, 2025, SNHU MFA Online
Romance Fiction Writing, II
Continue to explore the conventions, tools, and skills required for writing a successful romance fiction novel, with emphasis on implementing world building and setting, dialogue, voice, style, and pacing. Compose, workshop, and revise an original scene intended for a novel. Examine ideas that tie scenes together, such as foreshadowing, backstory, flashback, and subplot.
January 8-March 18. 2025, UCLA Extension, Online
Novel Writing Three
For those with a minimum of 50 pages of a novel-in-progress, this workshop guides you to generate at least 50 new pages, as well as learn essential self-editing techniques with the instructor and peers reviewing each participant's project in detail. Refinements of character, structure, emotional content, and the development of the writer's voice are also explored. The goal is to produce a substantial portion of your novel.
March 31-June 10, 2025. UCLA Extension, Online
Novel Writing One
That novel is inside you waiting to emerge, but knowing how and where to start can be daunting. This course provides you with weekly assignments, group interaction and instructor feedback to help you explore various methods of writing your first novel while learning the key craft points of plot, structure, characterization, point-of-view, sense of place and voice. The goal is to complete the first chapter of your novel by establishing an intimacy with your characters as you artfully shape their journey and to develop an overall concept to guide you through your story. Required for students considering the long-fiction sequence.
July 3-September 15, 2025. UCLA Extension, Online
Novel Writing One
That novel is inside you waiting to emerge, but knowing how and where to start can be daunting. This course provides you with weekly assignments, group interaction and instructor feedback to help you explore various methods of writing your first novel while learning the key craft points of plot, structure, characterization, point-of-view, sense of place and voice. The goal is to complete the first chapter of your novel by establishing an intimacy with your characters as you artfully shape their journey and to develop an overall concept to guide you through your story. Required for students considering the long-fiction sequence.