THE WORDS WORKSHOP
A four week class to find your words and build a practice.
THE WORDS WORKSHOP WILL RETURN MARCH OF 2025.
The Words Workshop is a live online course that is a mix of the practical and the profound.
We are going to explore our stories, examine the creative process and establish a robust writing practice that will propel you and your work forward.
Through daily emails, twice weekly Zoom classes and an online community, you will be encouraged, inspired and challenged.
This is for folks who are in need of inspiration, creative community and a lil bit of brain workout.
I love writing as an art form because of the way that it can bring us into a deeper presence with our own lives. I love photography for similar reasons. They are both mediums that invite me to notice, and I have come to think of noticing as a sort of prayer, a way of saying thank you.
I also love writing because it is relatively democratic. You can start with so little in the way of material. It can be done anywhere. It doesn’t take any time to set up or to clean up. It can be done in the moments in between. There is no great skill acquisition required before you can just get started.
As a person who doesn't love gear as a rule, I love that no one asks you what kind of computer you write on. No one cares about what pen you use.
Writing can be done in the small spaces of your life. I know that there are plenty of folks who will tell you that the work cannot be done that way- they need time– they need quiet–they need room of their own. These are all things that sound quite lovely, but at some point you have to decide if you need them more than you need to write. If you need to write, then carry your notebook with you. Leave your laptop ready and waiting. Make your thumbs calloused from writing on your phone. But do the damn thing in the bits and pieces you find.
I will not argue that you will write a novel in this manner (though I won’t argue that you couldn’t either), but you will write. And if writing is the goal, not publishing, not fame, but writing, well then isn’t it beautiful that it can be done while at the dentist office? While watching your children on the playground? As you wait for the host to start the zoom call?
Ready to find your words?
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Ready to find your words? ⋆
The nitty gritty.
course runs March 4th- 29th
daily writing prompts delivered via email Monday- Friday
eight live hour long classes on Tuesdays and Thursday at 12 pm EST. All classes are recorded and will be available to rewatch for three months. The final class is for folks to share their work and will likely run longer.
access to a private Facebook group where students can share writing and inspiration, ask questions and build community with other writers.
bonus hour long q&a on how to start a newsletter Monday March 25th at 3 pm
“Words are hard for me, speaking in front of people is hard for me, but Rachel is an outstanding and encouraging mentor it was an honor to be here and listen to all these talented artists.”
Rita Ambrosi
“This course reestablished what I've experienced before but so often forget...it is important to dedicate consistent time to the craft of writing. I was surprised and delighted by what is already inside my mind, just waiting to be explored with words. The daily prompts led me in different directions than I expected and I really liked that.”
Rachel S
“Rachel f@#$ing Larsen Weaver of magic and love and fun and not-so-seriously encouraging us to take ourselves and our joy seriously. ”
Tasha
“This course was truly a gem.”
Ali Vrbas
“It felt so nourishing to feel less alone and buoyed by the mutual support and acceptance of everyone's work”
Emily Lord
Will I get individual feedback on my work?
This class does not involve dedicated feedback to participants work. However, there will be time in each class for folks to read their work aloud and their is a private Facebook group where participants are encouraged to share work, inspiration, questions, and generally build community.
Will this class have the same prompts and assignments as last year?
The 2024 workshop will feature all new prompts and exercises. The structure is mostly the same though the focus this round is creating a treasure trove of creative material to explore and develop moving forward. Tools and suggestions for improving craft will be incorporated in the live classes.
What type of writing does this focus on?
The prompts mostly point towards short, personal essays and stories. You can always choose to respond to the prompts in whatever style or medium best suits your goals.
What is the time commitment?
I like to give straight answers. After all, I am the one writing these questions. I can at least have the decency to give you an actual number. But the thing is, this is going to be so personal. There are two hours a week of live (and recorded) classes. And you will get a daily prompt by email. Maybe that takes you 15 minutes to write. Maybe you spend an hour. Maybe you come back to edit each and every piece and you finish the course with 20 mini-essays that you want to be the foundation of a newsletter, or the material for heady instagram captions, or copy for your website. Maybe you get an idea for a book. And you stop doing the prompts but you devote yourself to an hour of writing every day because you paid for this class by golly and you want to make the most of it.
Maybe you love to spend time in the online group, offering encouragement and suggestions to folks and you end the month feeling filled up on creative community.
Short answer- I think 5ish hours a week on average.