Class Description

Want to set a writing goal for the new year? Want to begin 2025 with inspiring literary community? This group is for prose writers at any stage who want to be part of a supportive, weekly ongoing writing group, whether you’re just starting out or publishing frequently, and whether you’re writing short stories, novels, essays, memoirs, or any kind of prose-based storytelling! Meetings are structured so as to be casual and manageable with busy lifestyles, and as such there will be no readings or assignments outside of group meetings, and of course the commitment to your own writing. Each meeting may include a mix of looking at masterful excerpts (or complete short pieces) together in class and discussing how they work; discussion and breakdown of different craft topics; prompts and generative in-class writing; and an opportunity to share our work (and goals) aloud with the group for on-the-spot feedback/or brainstorming (always optional). The week-by-week agenda (including topics of discussion and texts the group will discuss) will evolve and change in response to the interests and goals of the writers in the group, as led by the instructor. Above all, this group is a space of community-building, creative support, writing time, and craft/process development for writers who aim to make time for their work and to connect with other writers. STRUCTURE: This is an ongoing group that meets weekly for eight weeks, followed by a 2 - 3-week break, before continuing on for another eight week session, and so forth. Registration in this group is according to an ongoing subscription / membership plan: once you register, your place is held in the group and in all future sessions until / unless you withdraw. INSTRUCTOR MELENIE FREEDOM FLYNN’s memoir-in-progress is currently being supported by grants from the Elizabeth George Foundation and Massachusetts Cultural Council. She is the recipient of a MacDowell Fellowship, Djerassi Artist-in-Residence Fellowship, Atlantic Center for the Arts Residency, and scholarships to the Community of Writers Workshop. Her essay “Message from Your Inmate” won the annual nonfiction contest at Vela Magazine and her recent work can be seen in Provincetown Arts Magazine and the Straw Dog Pandemic Poetry and Prose Journal. A graduate of the MFA Acting Program at California Institute of the Arts, Melenie has performed in theatres across the country including the New York Theatre Workshop, the Kitchen (NY), Wellfleet Harbor Actors.