In-person classes this fall in Burlington: Writing Personal Stories and Intensive Creative Writing

Note: Besides the in-person courses noted below, several online courses will also be offered in the fall; further information about those, coming soon. 

Writing Personal Stories

9 weeks of sharing and writing

Tuesday afternoons, 12:45 – 2:45 p.m.
Sept 28 – Nov 30, 2021 {no class Oct 26}
St. Elizabeth’s Church, 5324 Bromley Rd, Burlington, Ontario. Map here.
{Meeting in-person, we’ll be observing any public health rules still effect – smaller numbers, masks or whatever – and it’s possible, given the unpredictable nature of the Pandemic that this course will have to revert to being online.}

If you've ever considered writing your personal stories, this course is for you. We’ll look at memoirs, travel writing, personal essays, family history ~ personal stories of all kinds. Plus, of course, we’ll work on creativity and writing technique and have fun doing it. 

Whether you want to write a book or just get your thoughts down on paper, this weekly course will get you going. We'll reveal the tricks and conventions of telling true stories, and we’ll show you how to use the techniques of the novel to recount actual events. Weekly writing exercises and friendly feedback from the instructor will help you move forward on this writing adventure. Whether you want to write for your family and friends or for a wider public, don't miss this course.

We’ll have a guest speaker for this course – to be announced.

Fee:  $176.11 plus 13% hst = $199

To reserve your spot, email: brianhenry@sympatico.ca

Intensive Creative Writing

12 weeks of growth as a writer

Tuesday evenings 6:30 – 8:45 p.m.
Sept 21 – Dec 8, 2021 {no class Oct 26}
St. Elizabeth’s Church, 5324 Bromley Rd, Burlington, Ontario. Map here.
{Meeting in-person, we’ll be observing any public health rules still effect – smaller numbers, masks or whatever – and it’s possible, given the unpredictable nature of the Pandemic that this course will have to revert to being online.}

Intensive Creative Writing isn't for beginners; it's for people who have been writing for a while or who have done a course or two before and are working on their own projects. You’ll be asked to bring in five pieces of your writing for detailed feedback, including three long pieces. All your pieces may be from the same work, such as a novel in progress, or they may be stand alone pieces. You bring whatever you want to work on. 

Besides critiquing pieces, the instructor will give short lectures addressing the needs of the group, and in addition to learning how to critique your own work and receiving constructive suggestions about your writing, you’ll discover that the greatest benefits come from seeing how your classmates approach and critique a piece of writing and how they write and re-write. This is a challenging course, but extremely rewarding.

Fee: $229.20 + hst = $259

To reserve your spot, email: brianhenry@sympatico.ca

Instructor Brian Henry has been a book editor and creative writing instructor for more than 25 years. He publishes Quick Brown Fox, Canada's most popular blog for writers, teaches creative writing at Ryerson University and has led workshops everywhere from Boston to Buffalo and from Sarnia to Saint John. But his proudest boast is that he’s has helped many of his students get published.  

Read reviews of Brian's various courses and workshops here (and scroll down).

See all of Brian’s upcoming weekly writing classes, one-day workshops, and weekend retreats here.