The Architecture of Book Writing

Note : This class was originally recorded in September 2022

A three week class for outlining the bones, demystifying the physical object, and putting your book on the shelves.

You will not write a whole book during the duration of this class. That is not the goal. The goal is to prepare an architectural landscape of tools, skills, community, care, and magic to set you on your path. We will talk about the pros and cons of the publishing world vs self publishing, how to have an abundant creative practice, marketing and selling books, digital and physical ways or organizing our chapters and essays and materials

COURSE CONTENT : 

Week One : OUTLINING THE BONES OF YOUR BOOK

With guest teacher Jacqueline Suskin

• Deciding what to write about
• Considering the lengths of the project : a zine, a pamphlet, a book
• Outlining the book itself
• Creating rituals around writing

Week Two : WRITING A BOOK, SHOWING THE WORLD

With guest teacher Brandi Cheyenne Harper

• Sharing writing samples
• Willingness to pivot
• Pacing your project
• How to talk about it with others

Week Three : THE ART OF THE PHYSICAL OBJECT

With guest teacher Tamara Santibañez

• Finding an agent, pitching your book
• The world of self publishing
• To ship or not to ship
• Wholesale, distribution
• More creative process

THIS CLASS IS FOR YOU IF :

🌼 For years you have thought : I want to write a book - but I have no idea where to start

🌼 You're pretty sure you have nothing to say or everything you have to say is stupid

🌼 You already have a book idea but you want to become a better and clearer writer

🌼 You want to streamline the process of gathering ideas and and generating creative output

Since 2017 I have been putting books into the world : self published and published by Harper Collins. This has been one of the ultimate gifts of my lifetime and I am happy to have four books in the world as well as a handful of zines and hundreds of issues of my digital newsletter

While I love writing about many different things and enjoy the practice of many modalities of art making : the container of the book is like no other I find more CONSISTENT ATTENTION to the world when my book writing practice is rooted in curiosity, community, and devotion

You do not need to think you are a writer to take this class, and you also do not have to feel “ready” to write a book. This is for people who are halfway through writing a book OR have a million ideas in their head and feel the very deep and psychic calling that a book is forming in their soul, and they have no idea how to extract it

BUT I JUST WANT TO MAKE A BLOG / PODCAST / INSTAGRAM CAPTION CAN I STILL TAKE CLASS? YOU KEEP TALKING ABOUT BOOKS
YES YES YES! Here is the deal : this class is about how we take what we see, feel, think, and experience in the world and translating it into material for humans to publicly interact with. You absolutely do not need to turn it into a book.

Possible containers to include in your book : poems, photographs, essays, podcast transcriptions, your own writing process, tutorials, visions, interviews, and more

☮️ WHY THE THREE WEEK CONTAINER

We will meet for three Sundays in a row for a total of three packed weeks of digital space making. This container is important to me because this course isn't just about giving you information it's about mapping the process as a group. Looking into what we want to turn our attention towards, increasing our capacity for note taking and writing, deepening our art practice, and sharing our findings with an people who truly carve out time to engage with our work - not just scroll past on an app.

Accountability is a way to expand our devotion and commitments : consider sharing the link to class with a friend to join you.

FREE : The Bones of Book Writing google doc exercise - this is an example of a list practice we will do in class, feel free to give it a try

When signing up for class please be sure as there are no refunds

BIPOC Student Scholarship : Use code SCHOLARSHIP for 50% off tuition

DISCLAIMER

Whether you are neurodivergent, ADHD, have a mood disorder, chronic pain, the list goes on - how much access we have to our relationship with overwhelm, distraction, and shutting down is dependent on many factors. It is important to remember I am facilitating as an artist, not as a therapist or someone trained within modalities of mental health. What this means is you'll have to take what you like and leave the rest! Not everything will work for every person, this container will, however, empower you to have the information to mold and fit to your specific needs and desires. It will also help you determine the difference between when you are just beating yourself up for not "doing something you said you would do - and shifting into a space of awe and devotion. This part might activate - that's good : may the pushing back guide you closer to yourself.

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Videos in this class have closed captioning and audio notes are transcribed