Go confidently in the direction of your dreams -- live the life you have imagined.      Henry David Thoreau
 

New!!! Earn a Certificate in Creative Writing from CCCC    Details and Forms

Writing is making sense of life. Nadine Gordimer

 

The Creative Writing Program at CCCC offers continuing education credits for courses in fiction, poetry, non-fiction, and creative inspiration. 

All classes meet on the Pittsboro campus.

Class and workshop participants will write creatively, read their work aloud, study other writers, and above all engage in a dialogue about writing.

Beginning and experienced writers are welcome.  Writers of all levels will find motivation, energy, and creative insights in these classes.
One extends one's limits only by exceeding them.       M. Scott Peck

CCCC's Creative Writing Program instructors are professional writers who have published and taught extensively.

They will help you get started, shape your ideas, be productive, and improve your writing. 

You'll learn the craft and business of writing in a supportive and stimulating environment. 

Spring registration begins December 7 through class start date

To register, call Continuing Education: 919-545-8044
Writing is the only thing that, when I do it, I don't feel I should be doing something else.       Gloria Steinem

ONGOING CLASSES

Instructor
The Book of Your Heart - How to Write a Novel     This course reviews different genre expectations and offers advice and practice on giving and getting critiques.  A writer needs to tell a story with believable conflict, compelling characters, fast-paced plot and dialogue, setting and style that come together into a book the reader can't put down.  Direct publishing gives novelists another choice, and that option will also be discussed. Tuesdays, January 17 - February 21, 6:30 PM - 9:00 PM, $65.

Note: day printed in catalog is incorrect.  This class will meet on Tuesdays.

Award-winning novelist, scholar, poet and fiction editor Judith Stanton has published four historical romances including Wild Indigo and His Stolen Bride, a Finalist for Romance Writers of America’s prestigious Rita Award.  Her latest novel, a contemporary equestrian suspense, set in North Carolina, is recently finished.  Her course on novel-writing basics, reprised here, earned rave reviews at Salem College’s continuing ed division, and she welcomes everyone from beginners to those ready to submit to traditional publishers and those considering self-publishing.  
Energy and Message!  The Power of Narrative Poems     You'll learn how to energize your poetry by reading examples and refining your skills to critique, edit, and write poems that have impact.  Wednesdays, February 15 - March 21, 6:00 PM - 8:30 PM, $65. Tom Dow has an MFA from Vermont College  and has taught English and creative writing courses in North Carolina and Japan. He has published two books of poetry in addition to work that has appeared in numerous journals in Japan, Europe, and the US.
Writing Childhood.  When writing of childhood events, writers draw on specific skills that enable them to give life to their memories.  In this class, you'll closely examine the factors that make successful memoirs about childhood resonate with readers.  Suitable for beginners as well as more advanced writers, the course will include writing exercises, discussion, and readings designed to guide and inspire. Wednesdays, January 18 - March 7, 2:00 - 4:00 PM, $65.

Revising Prose. Many writers feel that they are better critics of the work of others than they are of their own work.  In this class, you'll learn a systematic approach to the critical evaluation of your own work.  Craft readings, class work, and take-home assignments will enable you to identify areas needing improvements and to effectively edit your fiction and nonfiction. Thursdays, January 12 - February 23, 6:30 PM- 8:30 PM, $65.

Conquering Writer's Block  Are you struggling with lack of inspiration?  Or do you know what you want to write but find that the words elude you?  In this class, writers will identify the obstacles that drain their creative energy and will learn strategies to overcome them.  Each class will include prompts and exercises to enable you to get back to work and to maintain your highest level of productivity. Wednesdays, March 7 - May 2, 6:30 - 8:00 PM, $65.

Intermediate Memoir.  In this class, you'll focus on the revision of a memoir in progress.  Through discussion about and close examination of your own writing and assigned craft essays, you'll learn what makes the most successful memoirs work.  This class will enable students to apply these principles to their own memoir and ready it for publication.  In addition, the critical skills learned will help students become more active and involved members of their own literary community. Thursdays, March 29 - May 3, 6:30 PM - 8:30 PM, $65.

Melissa Delbridge (“…honest, funny, and fiercely Southern…” – Poets & Writers Magazine) has won awards from the Great Lakes Colleges Association, the Southern Humanities Review and the Southern Women Writers Conference for her nonfiction and fiction. Her essays have won special mention in Best American Essays and the Pushcart anthologies. In her essay collection, Family Bible (University of Iowa Press, 2008), she explores themes of race, gender, and sexuality as they impacted her life in the 1960s and 1970s.

One-Day SATURDAY WORKSHOPS
Strategies for the Writing Life: Part II.  We will renew our goal setting and timeline and review the process for goal setting.  Participants will report back on the previous year's activities, share tips and goals, and leave the class renewed, refreshed, and ready to go to the next level.  Saturday, February 4, 9:30 AM - 4:00 PM, $65. Marjorie Hudson is author of Searching for Virginia Dare, a North Carolina Notable Book  and Accidental Birds of the Carolinas, a Novello Literary Award Finalist, forthcoming from Press 53. Her writing has been published widely in literary journals and two of her fiction stories were Pushcart Prize Special Mentions. She has led writing classes at several universities and her own Kitchen Table Workshops in Chatham County.
Dialogue in Fiction     Participants will discover how dialogue can and should serve multiple functions within a scene, and will work with their own scenes to sharpen the dialogue.  We'll discuss the challenges and delights of writing (and reading) dialogue. We will look at story and novel excerpts that approach dialogue in various ways, with an eye for the ways in which the writers are using dialogue to accomplish multiple goals.  You'll work on an exercise with your own work, ending the class with a reading of the newly-revised work. .  Saturday, February 11, 1:00-4:00 PM, $45. Belle Boggs is the author of Mattaponi Queen, a collection of stories that take place along Virginia’s Mattaponi River. Mattaponi Queen won the Bakeless Prize, was short-listed for the 2010 Frank O’Connor Short Story Award, was one of Kirkus Review’s top fiction debuts for 2010, and is a finalist for the Library of Virginia People’s Choice Award for fiction. Boggs was recently named “Best New Southern Author” by Southern Living magazine, and her work has appeared in The Paris Review, Glimmer Train, and the Oxford American, among other publications. She lives in Chatham County.
Submitting Your Work for Publication.  In this highly competitive environment, few literary journals publish more than 1% of the manuscripts submitted to them.  This workshop will teach you strategies to increase those odds. You'll learn how to select appropriate target publications, track submissions, compose cover letters, and find and use both online and print resources.  At the end of this workshop, students will be able to create a smart submission plan in order to submit their own work for publication. Saturday, February 25, 10:00 AM - 3:00 PM. $50. Melissa Delbridge (“…honest, funny, and fiercely Southern…” – Poets & Writers Magazine) has won awards from the Great Lakes Colleges Association, the Southern Humanities Review and the Southern Women Writers Conference for her nonfiction and fiction. Her essays have won special mention in Best American Essays and the Pushcart anthologies. In her essay collection, Family Bible (University of Iowa Press, 2008), she explores themes of race, gender, and sexuality as they impacted her life in the 1960s and 1970s.
Sure, it's simple, writing for kids... Just as simple as bringing them up.      Ursula K. LeGuin