Unschool for Writers

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INDEX of Unschool Posts 2021 - all with * are free
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INDEX of Unschool Posts 2021 - all with * are free

Grouped by subject area, with date/month listed

Alison Acheson
Aug 19, 2021
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Share this post
INDEX of Unschool Posts 2021 - all with * are free
unschoolforwriters.substack.com
                                                                                              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)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Being/becoming an autodidact - self-education

Educating self (April ’21)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Newsletters

* May 2021

* June 2021

* July 2021

* August 2021

* September 2021

* October 2021

* November 2021

* December 2021

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Miscellaneous

Post-MFA questions (written in response to an ex-student) (April ’21)

and part 2

* 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)

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