The Education of a Sidetracked Writer: Part 2 — Surf

An online class can help get you on track.

Part of my effort to re-educate myself about writing after such a long absence included surfing the Web. I wanted to find inexpensive classes, preferably online, that could help me get back into the habit of writing something other than journal entries.

First, I found Education to Go. The six-week courses are relatively inexpensive but more now, though, than in 2005 when I enrolled. Currently, if you register through Ed2Go, you will pay $139. But you can also register through a community college, which is a bit less expensive. For instance, at the CC near me, the classes are $109. You can easily find the CC s near you at ed2go. Enter your zip code or country, click and you are at the list of schools near you. The best part is the courses are online, so no worries about fitting them into your schedule — go to your computer to “attend” class when you are available. Better yet, print the lesson each week and read it at your leisure. The courses I took also included a class-only online forum to post assignments and receive feedback from instructors and fellow students.

At one point, a couple years later, I took a four-week course from Gotham Writers’ Workshop. If you signed up today, it would run you $125 plus a $25 registration fee.  A 10-week course is $395 plus registration. You might also want to try Writer’s Digest University, though the courses are even more expensive. For example, you will pay $199 for the four-week Blogging 101 (I might have to check that one out), $335 for Fundamentals of Fiction Writing, $599 for 12 Weeks to a First Draft or $799 for a 15-week Advanced Novel Writing Workshop. You can also check out the online offerings of traditional universities, though you will pay university prices. For example, a 10-week online course from the Stanford University Continuing Studies department is $750. Yikes! But if I had the money, I would be right there.

Now, here’s a really cool idea: free writing classes! At Education-Portal.com, you will find a listing of 10 universities offering some form of online instruction at no cost. Massachusetts Institute of Technology calls its program OpenCourseWare. The United Kingdom’s Open University offers undergraduate and graduate level courses (you do not have to live in the UK to sign up). One of my favorite writing resources is the OWL — the Online Writing Lab at Purdue University. Of course, with these free classes, you will not have the benefit of an instructor’s guidance and feedback or interaction with classmates, but I think writers have an inherent love of learning, so self-directed education can be an enjoyable endeavor.

So, while you are reading all about writing (see last week’s post), dip a toe in the writing pool with a no-pressure class and see how you like it after all these years. Maybe you’ll wade in, maybe you’ll dive. Either way is okay. I waded, but now I’m in and the water’s fine.

Next up: Back to School

P.S. Yay! I figured out how to put photos in my posts!

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