End-of-Month Check-In
What happened at Creative Nonfiction?; new courses at Muse; a writing prompt
Happy January! It’s a sunny day here in North Carolina, and I’m checking in. Taking stock. Reassessing.
In mid-December, I learned that there were problems at Creative Nonfiction, an organization I’ve been teaching courses through since 2018. (I taught two classes there, (1) Writing the Lyric Essay and (2) Approaching Mystery: Writing Flash Memoir about Wonder and the Unexplained. I also designed two self-guided courses for CNF, (1) Speculative Nonfiction and (2) Play with Pattern: Crafting the Braided and Collage Essays.) You can learn more about what happed at CNF in this Twitter thread. Basically, the online courses at CNF became hugely popular during the pandemic, and staff were not being properly recognized and compensated for the excellent work they were doing to keep up with this demand. After a months-long period of seeking to have their concerns addressed, the staff resigned.
Instructors found out in mid-December that their winter courses set to begin on January 9th would not be running. I usually taught two courses per season with CNF, so this cancellation represented a loss of a big chunk of my anticipated income for January and February. Added to the loss of income was the shock and sadness of the loss of the CNF community for instructors and students. I’ve met many amazing students through Creative Nonfiction, many of whom have continued to work with me in my online generative writing workshops or as editing clients. And teaching CNF classes was a lifeline for both students and instructors— at least for me!— during the first year pandemic, especially. Creative Nonfiction had a stellar reputation for its courses, webinars, and magazine. It seems that the founding editor, Lee Gutkind, will continue the magazine, but there’s no word yet on what will happen with the education wing of CNF.
Amidst this loss, there is opportunity. One is the opportunity to come out in support of workers, especially workers in the literary world. The education program (and magazine!) at CNF was what it was due to the hard work of the staff of part-time employees, both on-site staff and online instructors. Many writers and other literary professionals stitch together several jobs to earn a living, which leaves us vulnerable to not having the stability and security that full-time positions offer. (That is a huge conversation, but suffice it to say, what used to be full-time positions at magazines, universities, and other literary organizations are often now split up into part-time positions, which makes it increasingly difficult for writers and writing instructors to earn their livings.)
In addition to the opportunity to show support for our fellow literary workers, for me there’s an opportunity to rethink how (and with whom!) I’m offering classes and reaching out to students. I’m excited to announce that I’m expanding Muse. I’ve moved my Writing Lyric Essay course there— I’m currently offering it, and it will be open again in the late spring or summer. I have also offered to host the courses of three other former CNF instructors at Muse, Megan Baxter, Joelle Fraser, and Nancy McCabe, starting with spring classes in March and April. Our first course will be Megan Baxter’s five-week asynchronous course, Memoir in Collage, starting March 13th. It’s open for registration now, with early bird pricing through 2/15. And look for Joelle Fraser’s 30-Minute Memoir and Nancy McCabe’s Shapes of Stories starting in April!
Other former CNF employees are doing their thing, as well. Sharla Yates is working together with Allison K. Williams to offer webinars on creative nonfiction through Craft Talks. And I know that beloved CNF instructors Meghan O’Gieblyn and Jenna McGuiggan are offering their own courses. You can find out about the offerings of more CNF instructors and former staff members here.
I sincerely appreciate the goodwill and support of all my students and clients these past several years. And if you’re interested in writing workshops, especially in personal essay and memoir, do check out the Twitter thread from the Former CNF Employees account that provides contact information for many of the excellent instructors who were set to teach with Creative Nonfiction. Thanks for sticking with us!
And now a writing prompt and a heads up about my 2023 online generative workshops. My winter “Hinge of the Year” generative workshops have wrapped up, and I am starting a new round of drop-in generative workshops TOMORROW Sat. 1/28. Paid subscribers to this newsletter receive 10% off, and Founding Members receive 30% off.
The last Hinge of the Year workshop was especially lovely. One of the authors I showed students as a model was the poet William Stafford, who was an early poetry love of mine, and looking at his work again for the workshop, I remembered how much his work means to me. Below is a Stafford poem and then a writing prompt for you to try.
Writing prompt: Write for ten minutes (or more!) on the question, “Starting here, what do you want to remember?” Include concrete sensory detail from your everyday life, even from the very moment and room in which you are writing. Let the piece jump from concrete detail to larger life questions and back again. Let it go where it will.