Cost: $290 Limit: 12 students Register: Email Jonathan at jonathan@jonathancallard.com to sign up

Curious about how I teach? Check out “Shaping the Spiritual.”

This class will ask what, if anything, can make nonfiction writing “spiritual.” You will read selections from essays and memoirs in the spiritual writing genre and try composing your own versions of this material. How can we write about something so personal and powerful and share it with an audience of differing beliefs or traditions? How do writers move beyond saccharine sentimentality to illuminate a truth? You will choose a spiritual question or subject to explore in depth by writing two optional 500-word pieces and one article/essay between 1,000 and 3,000 words. The course will provide tips and inspiration for getting started, gathering material, and revising your work for publication—and will also offer two real-time videoconferences with the instructor and peers. Writers from all backgrounds and faiths are welcome.

Course Outcomes
·      Form regular writing community and deadlines
·      Explore and identify examples of essays/memoir in spiritual writing to jumpstart process
·      Develop writing approach through exercises, lectures, and discussions
·      Learn constructive peer review practices
·      Gain feedback on primary assignments
·      Gain strategies in revising for publication

Course Schedule

WEEK 1: SHAPING THE SPIRITUAL (includes videoconference)

WEEK 2: FRAMING THE “I” IN FAITH (includes videoconference)

WEEK 3: ENGAGING THE OTHER

WEEK 4: SPEAKING TO YOU

WEEK 5: RE-SEEING AND REPRESENTING YOUR WORK