This session covers:

• Daring to write; getting first words onto the page.
• Sticking with the desire, even when the mind goes blank.
• The senses as our guides to the mysteries of writing.
• Truth (Big T) versus truth (little t).
• What is at stake when facing the blank page.

This session covers:

• Your writing habits and processes
• Intuition in your writing.
• Art versus therapy
• Identifying and choosing topics.

This session covers:

• Discovering and expressing larger meanings in your essays.
• Bringing readers into the experience of the essay using sensory details.

This session covers:

• Putting real people on the page in fair and honest ways
• Dealing with readers’ reactions
• Developing composite characters
• Disguising real people in your essays

This session covers:

• Reading what you wrote (versus what you meant to write, what you thought you wrote).
• Recognizing problems in the writing.
• Revising.

This session covers:

• Audiences for your work.
• Building a writing reputation.
• Publishing options and means.

• Learn about the personal essay genre.
• Think about yourself as a writer—including your writing habits, processes, and goals.
• Practice elements of the personal essay, especially description.
• Learn how to uncover values expressed in the writing.
• Write personal essays using techniques presented in the lessons.
• Learn how to write about other people and maintain one’s integrity.
• Become own editor, through techniques taught in the lessons.
• Receive an introduction to publishing.

• Writers who desire to write nonfiction essays based on personal experiences held in the mind and heart.
• Writers who desire to better understand and develop essays already written or held in the mind and heart.

Writing That Gets Noticed: Find Your Voice, Become a Better Storyteller, Get Published by Estelle Erasmus