12-week Creativity Bootcamp

Madison Writers’ Studio

susanna@madisonwriters.com

SYLLABUS

This bootcamp is designed to be a supportive and energetic space where writers can feel
free to experiment and play, with the goal of living a more creative life as winter
turns to spring.

As author Roald Dahl said, “Good writing is essentially rewriting.” To that end, we’re
here not to craft polished work but to PLAY and draft and re-learn how to find joy in
expressing ourselves creatively. We’ll share, but we won’t expect it to be pretty.

To that end, there are a couple of ways to unblock ourselves creatively between sessions.
This is your homework for April and May:

1. MORNING PAGES. This is a tried and true creativity booster -- even skeptics are
usually persuaded -- from Julia Cameron’s classic THE ARTIST’S WAY. The idea
is that creativity can only flow through an unblocked channel, and freewriting for
30 minutes each morning -- by hand -- unclogs the pathway. It’s pretty amazing
what comes up and out when the writing has no expectation of being read, no
formal requirements, and no literary expectations. Write in a list if you want.
Write right to left. Whatever, just try it. Ideally, do it every day, but try for at least
4 days/week.

2. ARTIST DATES. This is a very lenient exercise that simply asks you to do
something to fuel your creativity once a week. Go to a museum, see a play, doodle
or sketch, garden, or even just take a walk and think about your characters or
writing. Give your creative self one hour in solitude, once a week, to do whatever
floats your creative boat.

3. CONNECT with one member of your small group once a week for 5-10 minutes.
Make a phone call or send an email (phone is better!) to each member of your
small group each week. A five minute chat is all that’s required. Share your goals
 what’s working for you, and ask your classmate their goals and what’s working for
them.

SCHEDULE

MARCH / SHAME & FEAR (character)

How do inner voices and outer voices keep us from creating, and why? What is the
shame cycle, and how can we apply it to our characters to put them through change on
the page? Is shame or fear keeping us from writing our truth?

Homework
Read “But Will They Still Love Me?” by Laurie Hertzel
Morning Pages daily
Artist Date weekly
Connect weekly

APRIL / LOVE & SEX (scene)

What does love look like on the page, in scene? This can be a sex scene, sure (and that’s
no easy task!) but it could also be a scene enacting love (or demonstrations of love)
between grandparents and grandchildren, or best friends, or lovers who haven’t seen
each other in a decade.

Homework
Read “Dinah the Christmas Whore” by David Sedaris
Morning Pages daily
Artist Date weekly
Connect weekly

MAY / SORROW & GRIEF (point of view)

What does the world look like, feel like, sound like when we’re in the throes of grief?
How does grief change a character’s point of view? How does our personal grief inform
our creative writing?

Homework
Read “Mirrorings” by Lucy Grealy
Morning Pages daily
Artist Date weekly
Connect weekly