Write What You Know, Write Now!

• Thursdays, July 9 - August 13 (6 sessions)
• 7 - 9 pm
• The Ink Spot

Early Registration Deadline is one week prior to the first class. After that, a Late Registration Fee will apply. When applicable, the Late Fee will appear in this form

The task of a writer consists in being able to make something out of an idea.
--Thomas Mann

Whether you have a great idea for an essay or personal memoir that you just
can't seem to get off the ground or you're looking for inspiration and new ideas, Write What You Know is a Nonfiction/Personal Memoir class that will help you come up with or cultivate ideas for your writing.

In this class we will look at successful short nonfiction pieces to figure out what makes them work, we will use a series of prompts to get you started, and we will dig deeper into the stories you want to tell--sharing our writing and our writing process along the way. What is it you are really trying to say with that anecdote about Grandma? What lies beneath that seemingly simple memory of the summer trip to Disneyland when you were eleven? Why is it that your movie review is starting to look like an essay
about your first love? Finding meaning in our words and phrases, symbols and images, will help to help our essays resonate more. The last two weeks of the class will be a short read and critique of a piece of your writing from the course.

Rob Williams is the co-editor of the Lambda Literary nominated anthology, From Boys to Men: Gay Men Write About Growing Up (2006, Carroll & Graf). His fiction and nonfiction have appeared in newspapers, magazines, and journals including San Diego Citybeat, Maisonneuve Magazine, Pindeldyboz, 400 Words, Versal, as well as the anthologies including I Do/I Don't, Fool For Love: New Gay Fiction, and I Remember When Mom: Memories and Stories About Mothers. He received an MFA from Columbia University in 2004 and is the recipient of fellowship to the Vermont Studio Center Residency for writing for January 2010. He currently teaches Creative Writing and Composition at Grossmont College.