Where the Unschool is going; thoughts on mini-courses, workshopping and feedback; an informal survey to offer your thoughts

And a HUGE thank you for your support!

photo by Alexis Brown on Unsplash

Earlier in the month I sent a letter to most of you—that is, I sent to free subscribers who have signed on from the early days of Unschool up until the last few weeks. (Not the most recent sign-ups—you need time to find your way around and get a feel for what’s happening here!)

In the letter, I explained my plans and hopes for this newsletter—and some wonderful few of you decided to ‘go paid’ to support the work here—a huge thank you for that!

To reiterate—briefly—my hope is for 200 paid subscribers to replace some of the teaching salary I walked away from last spring, and to keep this small enough to maintain personal connections with those who share with comments, and those who post their work and ask questions. I don’t want the Unschool to be too big! And to lose that. It’s enough to “sustain.” I’m now at 75 paid folks, with several hundred more reading and enjoying.

And “Thank you” to those who’ve paid through the months that are almost a year now—your support has meant that we have been able to get to this point!

I also posed a series of questions to ascertain what YOU are looking for from this space, and how it might be most useful to you. (At the bottom of this post, you’ll find those questions if you’d like to add your thoughts.) Again, I am so appreciative of the thoughtful responses and suggestions from those who did return with answers. Time is precious, I know.

Workshops and feedback

I will be reviewing your comments and suggestions for awhile yet, but the desire for real feedback on your work was Number One, from both beginning writers to those who have experience. This is not surprising to me; it’s hard to write in a seeming vacuum.

To date I’ve created a rather eclectic breadth of posts that reflects my own writing, publishing, and teaching in multiple genres and forms, and breadth of ages for audience. I believe that reading and working outside of your own interests will strengthen your work. (Or you can simply ignore the posts that don’t speak to you!) I will be continuing to post as I have, to build the archives.

The Indexes I’ve created are broken into topics, and make it easy to find what is here: they are always on the home page (off to the right, and scroll down). There is the index for 2021, and another for this current year. I update toward the end of each month.

If you are new to the Unschool

Do browse through the indexed posts. Spend time, and don’t hesitate to post work to the monthly prompts. (Check out the first-of-the-month newsletter, in which there is often further description/instruction around the prompts.) I take a look and offer comments on work posted—even on old prompts.

A piece explaining my background and thoughts on learning to write is here.

For beginning writers, note the “foundational” series, which always is accompanied by this image:

A new mini-course

In April, I’d like to run another mini-course. To that end, to organize, I’m going to open a couple discussion threads. (Note that the course will be for paid folks only.)

The mini-course will be structured similarly to the “holiday writing” one I did in the late fall, and will start in April.

I will be looking at what you share in this second thread to try to determine what topic/area will be most useful.

After the mini-course, it would be ideal to be able to put together small groups or even one-on-one partners to exchange manuscripts. While I want to continue to grow the Unschool with posts, prompts, and interaction, I think this piece of ‘more feedback’ will be key. Paid subscribers can opt in or out. The monthly (1st of the month) prompts will still be open to free subscribers. For those who are happy with ‘as it is,’ know that will not be changing. Some of you made it clear that you are content to read posts, and continue with your own work in your corner of the world.

I have taught mixed-genre workshops for many years, and am open to doing the same, if we do not have enough people for each genre/form that you want to work within. But let’s see how this all comes down… I find that bringing together different forms of work, and even writers at different stages of learning craft can be quite successful. It just takes a bit of navigation.

One of the comments that again popped up more than once, is that writers want USEFUL comments. That means not always “being nice”—but offering “real feedback.”

Some writers do not feel ready for this, and some want nothing but! I think it’s possible to say where you’re at. You might, for instance, list yourself as “thin” or “thick” skinned. Or that you want comments only on “what’s working.” Sometimes “what’s working” is a short list, but it gives a new writer directions for focus.

Before the next mini-class begins, I will write a post about the workshopping process, and we can have a discussion about what this can look like. (And I’ll tell you about the word “apple!”)

There are always ways to say what needs to be said in a respectful manner, I am convinced. There can be respect for the writer… and there can also be respect for the piece of work itself, where it’s going, and where it wants to go.

I am excited about offering this to those who want it.

THREADS to watch for:

One thread will be the developing of a list of questions for workshopping and offering feedback. Please share questions that you would like to see in this process.

The other will be for you to share what you are looking for in a workshop group, or with small group feedback. For instance, if you write YA novels, and you are a beginning writer, you could note both. If you write picturebooks and are looking for someone to swap manuscripts with, note that. Also share what you’re open to in terms of feedback… as in the above explanation.

If it sounds a bit like a dating game… it’s because it really is!

QUESTIONS? Post away…

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I will continue to review your survey responses, and consider, and shape the Unschool.

(Scroll down for survey questions.)

Do check out the new Substack app! At the moment it is only for iphones (but there is a waitlist for android users):

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For those who missed it:

The Unschool for Writers informal survey

(Answer only those that concern you! Copy and paste, fill in, and email to alison@alisonacheson.com)

What do you find most useful on the Unschool?

—posts about craft? business of writing? grammar/punctuation?

—close reads?

—comments from fellow subscribers? from me?

—Q&As with other writers?

—monthly prompts?

—other?

Would you like to see any of the following?

—a book club component?

—more mini-courses as we had in the late fall? more workshopping opportunities?

—other?

If you are a free subscriber, what would cause you to consider going paid?

I’ve been using Substack’s new “magazine” format. It is easy to find things? Do you prefer the old format? Do you find the Index when you need to look through archived posts?

OTHER comments — I’m wide open… Please share whatever is on your mind—positive or constructively critical.

Thank you so much for spending your time with this—I truly do appreciate. I would like for the Unschool for Writers to be useful and pleasurable!

alison@alisoncheson.com