Course Correction

Just a quick update to my (currently online, hopefully not forever) courses: An Introduction to Publishing is no longer being offered as a standalone class. We’ve now consolidated this as part of Crafting the Short Story, which will now have an extra two classes added. This makes more sense than forcing you guys to sign up for a second course to get information you really should have included as part of the main course. So for anyone who signed up for the February 2021 session (and I don’t think there was anyone yet), you should be aware of the change and contact the office to get that sorted.

Also, it’s official: the first run of Writing Horror: The Dark Side is a go for the winter session, beginning on January 25th. The class had already begun to fill up within days of the announcement, which is really cool. I’m really looking forward to seeing some old friends mixed in with the new faces. It should be a fun class.

I realized, as I was looking back at some recent posts, that it seems my writing classes are almost all I talk about lately in this space. I did mention recently the new anthologies with my stories in them, I guess. I’m also currently shopping my second novel, Seventeen Skulls, as well as a collection of my shorts called Old Bones. Hopefully we’ll see one or both of those available not too far down the road.

In a bit of writing/writing class crossover news: in the latest installment of CTSS I decided I would try something new. For the first time since we introduced the course many moons ago, I would write the weekly assignments along with the class. There were a few reasons for doing this, but a large part of it was that I wanted to show everyone that it was indeed possible, even by my own unorthodox methods. So I did write alongside my fellow writers, and shared my work with them as they did with me. It was interesting to see the process from the other side of the glass, so to speak. But in a plot twist even I didn’t see coming, my budding short story grew legs of its own and morphed from standalone story to what I’m tentatively calling ‘chapter one’. Yeah, I did it to myself – took something quick and easy, and turned it into a lengthy project for myself. I already have a few irons in the fire that need tending to, and I’ll get to them for sure. But this is just interesting enough to intrigue me, so I owe it to myself to see what (if anything) can be done with it. I’ll let you know what I find out!

That’s all for today. Just a few quick notes to keep everyone up to speed. As always, feel free to pop over to my contact page and sign up for email updates whenever new posts drop. Until next time, stay safe, talk soon!

-JP