INDEX of Unschool Posts 2021
Grouped by subject area, with date/month listed
photo: my dad on saxophone
The posts are listed oldest to newest, in the event you have missed something.
Book Reviews (books about writing)
The Gift: Creativity and the Artist in the Modern World, Lewis Hyde (April ’21)
Writers’ craft-memoirs - Amy Tan, Chuck Palahniuk, Stephen King (May ’21)
Books for “beginners” - Jewell Parker Rhodes, Dorothea Brande, Rita Mae Brown (June ’21)
Best Poetry Book Ever - Exaltation of Forms: Annie Finch & Kathrine Varnes (July ’21)
Memoir - Vivian Gornick and Mary Karr (Sept. ’21)
Story - Robert McKee’s tome on screenwriting, applicable to fiction/novel (Dec ’21)
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Foundational Post Series - for beginners or renewing writers
Look for the “foundation” pic as below for these pieces:
The “must” of keeping a journal (May ’21)
Reading as a writer (May ’21)
The process journal (June ’21)
Quality or Quantity in daily writing (August ’21)
Short Fiction Writing in Apprenticeship (Oct. ’21)
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Grammar/Punctuation series
Dialogue punctuation for fiction writers (April ’21)
How to use proper nouns and pronouns (May ’21)
The hyphen (June ’21)
En and Em dashes (July ’21)
Who and That (Sept. ’21)
Apostrophes (Oct. ’21)
Subjunctive (Nov. ’21)
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Autumn 2021 mini-course and workshop
“Holiday” writing—or Day Out of the Ordinary—INTRO (Oct. ’21)
Autumn mini-course PROMPTS (Oct. ’21)
Autumn mini-course GENRES/FORMS (Oct. ’21)
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3 Day Novel Contest
Novels vs Novellas (August ’21)
Working with the 72 hour time limit of the 3 Day Novel (July ’21)
Outlining/planning the 3 Day Novel (August ’21)
3 Day Novel Kick-off--Are You Ready? (Sept. ’21)
Coming up with Story Development Ideas Quickly (3 Day Novel) (Sept. ’21)
Sleep and the Writer (doing the 3 Day Novel) (Sept. ’21)
Taking a Fruitful Break from Writing (3 Day Novel) (Sept. ’21)
Exercises (as in “physical”) for the Writer (3 Day Novel) (Sept. ’21)
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Writing Fiction
The dance of form and content (April ’21)
Is is a short story or novel? (June ’21)
Using printed calendar pages for the novel (July ’21)
Writing a collection of connected stories (July ’21)
Novel writing - a primer (August ’21)
Setting is Story Builder Too (Sept. ’21)
Ghost Pages—all those cut words (Oct. ’21)
Creating “Scene” (Nov. ’21)
Dialogue/Communication (Nov. ’21)
The Subjunctive (Nov. ’21)
Flashbacks (Nov. ’21)
Outlining— some thoughts (Dec. ’21)
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Close Reading series
Mary Lawson’s Other Side of the Bridge (Oct. ’21)
Ruth Ozeki’s All Over Creation (Nov. ’21)
Zadie Smith’s On Beauty (Dec. ’21)
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Writing for children and young people
Writing the picturebook (June ’21)
Creating a “dummy” for a picturebook (June ’21)
Rhyming verse - for picturebooks and other works for young people (June ’21)
Story ideas for works for young people (July ’21)
Differences between junior novels, middle-grade, and YA (August ’21)
The line between writing for adults and young adults (Sept. ’21)
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The Business of Writing
Look for the “coin” pic as below for these pieces:
Finding an agent (May ’21)
Traditional Publishing or Self-/E-Publishing (Sept. ’21)
Launches—and Ways to Support Other Writers (Oct. ’21)
Copyright—including others’ song lyrics in your work (Dec ’21)
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Nonfiction
The braided essay and juxtaposition (August ’21)
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Writing life
Optimal writing time (April ’21)
Finding your way back into a project - after abandoning (May ’21)
Mental and emotional health; rough times and ritual (June ’21)
Tao Te Ching paths to writing (August ’21)
Writing through busy times/taking a break (Dec. ’21)
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Being/becoming an autodidact - self-education
Educating self (April ’21)
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Newsletters
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Monthly prompts/exercises (set up in the newsletter)
—Please feel free to post comments and add new pieces and feedback on any of the “exercises.”
May ’21 - exercise of “12”
June ’21 - family stories
July ’21 - description, making use of the hyphen
August ’21 - renku
September ’21 - rough and raw edges to hold on to
October ’21 - setting and evoking emotion
November ’21 - celebrating writing
December ’21 - “found notes” prompt
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Miscellaneous
Post-MFA questions (written in response to an ex-student) (April ’21)
Word play & Bob Dylan (July ’21)
Giving Writerly Thanks (Oct. ’21)
Genre Gleaning - how one form informs another (Nov. ’21)
When you include song lyrics in your work (Dec. ’21)
Fantastic initial photo