Find a Class You Can Use

Signing up for Margo's class
was one of my better ideas.

I love taking classes. I average about 4 massive online open courses (MOOC) each year. I’ve studied dinosaurs, ancient Egypt, chemical astronomy, and even forensic anthropology. Perhaps the best class I’ve taken was one that required a payment.

I just finished Margo Dill’s School Visits and Author Talks for Children’s and YA Writers and Illustrators. Not only did I learn about the various types of talks and visits, I outlined a talk and developed a price structure. I even roughed out the brochure I need to use when approaching schools and libraries.

School visits are something I waffled about for years. First I couldn’t do them because of family commitments, but now? Figuring it out just felt overwhelming. Not anymore. Thanks to Margo, I have a game plan.

What do you need or want to do that you’ve been avoiding?

Maybe you want to develop your online presence and through it your platform. If that’s the case, you need to check out the WOW classes taught by Karen Cioffi, she even has a class called Build Your Author/Writer Platform. In this course, you learn why you need a web site as well as which pages are essential. There’s a section on WordPress for those of us who are interested in blogging.  

Speaking of blogging, Karen teaches Blogging Made Easy. This class is specifically on how to use your blog to build your platform. She discusses what makes a good post, popular post formats and even how to use SEO.

But what about those of us who need to learn about the writing process? Pop on over to the classes page and do a keyword search. You’ll find classes on picture book writing, novel writing, and ghost writing. There are numerous classes on writing essays and memoir. You can even take a class on middle grade and young adult novel writing. 

What did you say? You need something along the lines of writing support? I found classes on outlining, fitting writing into your busy day, and my class on research. Okay, I didn’t have to search for that one because I knew it was there.

I’m never going to quit taking MOOC classes, but I’ve also learned the value of taking a class that involves a tuition payment. Here are four reasons to consider signing up for such a class.

The class provides deadlines. For whatever reason, an external deadline gets most of us moving especially if there is a payment.

Money out of pocket creates accountability. If I’ve paid to do something, I don’t want to waste that money. I might let a free class slide or only put minimal effort into it. A class I paid for? I’d better get to work.

Questions answered add to knowledge gained. If you have a question about something, having a real, live instructor on hand is a great way to find a reliable answer. This is, of course, in addition to getting information you didn’t even know you needed.

Accomplishment equal energy. When you manage to accomplish something, especially when it is something you hadn’t managed to negotiate on your own, you come out of the class energized and ready to tackle not only what you’ve learned about but the next issue as well.

Give it some thought. What have you wanted to accomplish but failed to do? The right class may be all it takes to nudge you into making some progress.

--SueBE

To find out more about Sue Bradford Edwards' writing, visit her blog, One Writer's Journey.  Sue is also the instructor for  Research: Prepping to Write Nonfiction for Children and Young Adults. The next session begins  January 6th, 2020.