Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Oh the Characters You'll Meet: a Writing, Art journaling, Doodling, Story-telling Online course begins May 17th, 2010!


I’m so thrilled to share this with you. I was asked by several of my students from the “Oh the Stories You’ll Tell” workshop to put together a Part 2. Well, after some work, I’m proud to present Part 2 to this course. You do not have to have taken part one to take this class but it would help if you had a few pieces of writing or art journaling that you’d like to bring to this class and work on.

How many times have you started a blog post about an incredible new product or shop and it fell flat? How often have you started to write a story – you knew the plot and setting and were raring to go – only to find that it felt like it was missing one essential element?

Without characters, we have no stories and without stories we are lost. Think about any day in your life and you will realize that all we do is tell stories. As people we are all interested in one another, in what connects us, in what makes us unique. Whether you are writing a blog post or a memoir, a novella or an essay, characters are the heart and soul of the work. As artists, writers, crafters and creative folks of all kinds making a presence online it is especially important to craft compelling stories.

In this 4-week course, “Oh the Characters You’ll Meet”, we will explore the characters in your life –past and present, including you, – and work on building solid stories with them. Through the creation of a character journal that will be loads of fun to fill, you will build a base of characters that you will be able to call upon long after the class has drawn to a close.

Within this limited enrollment class, you will write, paint, collage and doodle your way to:

- Becoming more present in your daily life as you notice more and more of the richness within the people around you

- Developing a deeper connection with family, friends, clients, business colleagues and more people in life

- Discovering more about you as well as a new clarity to see other people in your life from family members and friends to clients and fellow bloggers

- Learning to capture what you *hear* and *see* and incorporate it into the heart of your stories

- Experiencing perspective shifts as you journey through fun, creative writing and art journaling activities

- Chatting, laughing and talking shop with a community of fellow writers and artists



In this course, you will partake in:

- daily writing activities (specifically designed to fit into your everyday life)

- fun doodling activities you can do anywhere – even on the go

- weekly art journaling activities (includes the use of photos, painting, collaging and much more)

- weekly video prompts filled with inspiration and tips for enriching your writing and art

- Live weekly chats on writing and art topics with fellow creative people

- Personal attention from Natasha tailored to fit the needs of your work

People visit blogs, read books, magazines and newspapers and return to shops because of the stories and the characters – even when character is setting – because characters make the stories captivating. Learning to harness what you see or capture that striking bit of dialogue that will add magic to your piece is what we will strive to find as we create works of art in this class.

Please join me on this extraordinary journey that will allow you to enhance both your writing and art thereby allowing you to have an even more powerful impact personal and professional life – online and off.

When you sign up for the workshop, you will receive an email within 24 hours that will provide you with more information about a private site where we will be working together. The cost of this course is $40 and it will begin on May 17th, 2010.






About Natasha

Natasha has been writing since the day her mom put a journal in her hand at age four. She received her MFA in writing from the New School in New York City before spending time as Marketing and Development Director for a nonprofit and later, freelance writer creating promotional materials for small businesses. Natasha assisted in creating original curriculum pieces for a private school in Manhattan before being invited to teach writing and editing workshops for some of the students. She has taught writing and photojournalism workshops for teenagers and written for publications such as Family Circle, Latina, Lifetips and MediaBistro.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at Natasha@creativenachos.com

2 comments:

aquamaureen said...

Sweet Natasha--this class sounds amazing. I wish I could take it now, but since I've just taken two of your classes, pretty much back-to-back, I need to have a little break. I have LOTS of family coming this summer and need to prepare. I want to take much of what I've learned in these past two classes and incorporate it into my home.

But please keep me posted on when you will offer this class a second time!!

Natasha said...

Aqua - you are the cutest thing!! You have been a rock star in BOTH classes and done so much work its time for a break to let it all soak in. Play, have fun with family and CELEBRATE YOU!! You amazing artist and writer and don't worry I will keep you posted when I teach new classes. ;)