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Writing Services
Great writing comes from a special place within us and through the creative process we learn more about ourselves before giving the gift of our work to the world.
Individualized Writing Classes:
I individualize my classes for each writer. When you email me, I will send you my writer's inventory. This is a list of questions for you to answer. I will design your class based on your answers, your needs as a writer, and the questions you have for me. This is not like being in a classroom. The experience is a friendly one-to-one lesson, having your own personal writing teacher by email.
These classes are currently open. Once they are filled, a projected date on available openings will be posted on the Web site. Please, pay in advance in US dollars by personal check or money order only. (Please, don't send cash.) If you are interested in taking one of the following classes, please, send an email message to Susan@susanhannifordcrowley.com. If you have any questions at all, please, include them.
The Process:
A class consists of lessons sent to you through email. First I send you a lesson. You complete the exercises and assignment and email it back. Then I critique the assignment with comments and suggestions, and it is sent back to you signifying one completed class. In every class, you work at your own pace over a period of six months.
1. The Individual Class Email me at Susan@SusanHannifordCrowley.com to discuss your goals as a writer and how I can tailor your lessons to meet your goals. I charge $50 per lesson.
2. Awaken Your Voice as a Writer The purpose of this class is to awaken your writer's voice, that part of you that observes and participates in your world and has something to say. While this can be a class for the beginning writer, it can also assist a long-time writer who is experiencing a lull. I know hundreds of ways to get you out of a slump. This class consists of 12 lessons individualized according to your experience and needs.
Class cost is $600.
3. Journaling for Self Exploration This class is for anyone who wishes to write to open their heart, learn from their mistakes, find wisdom in their experiences and nightly dreams, while exploring their world more fully. You will explore a multitude of ways to journal your life experiences. This is the perfect class for anyone who is preparing to write their memoirs. A journal serves two purposes: what you teach yourself and then what you teach those that read it.
One of my students learned this when she found her grandmother's journal in an attic. Though she barely had a chance to know her grandmother, she discovered how much they shared in feelings and life experiences. She felt it enriched her as a person. Consider learning how to journal as a gift you give to yourself. This class consists of 12 individualized lessons.
Class cost is $600.
Services for Groups:
4. Speaking Engagements: I am available for speaking engagements. I enjoy talking about the writing life and have stories that inspire. For more information about this service, please contact me at Contact Us.
5. Facilitating Workshops: I am also available to facilitate workshops for groups. I love working with workshop attendees. Just give your group paper and pencils, and they will learn things about themselves and writing they never knew. My workshops are intensive, invigorating, and fun. For more information about this service, please contact me at Contact Us.
For more on my views on writing, click on Writing Tips. For contact information, click on Contact Us.
Philosophy of Susan Hanniford Crowley
On Writing
"I believe that writing sets us free. When we write we expand our vision beyond our current world and open ourselves up to possibilities that were hidden past the horizon. Writing lets us see through different eyes, hear with a different understanding, know people and places with a different heart, and learn. Writing is learning and both are a never ending process of growth. The more you discover about others, the more you'll know about yourself. This all comes from writing."
On Teaching Writing
"Teaching writing is a gentle art. Through constant daily practice of a variety of skill stretching exercises, the writer learns the craft. It's also a tough discipline that takes a kind of jumping in with both feet. It takes time, energy, persistence, and patience to become a genuine wordsmith. It takes a love of words both as a writer but also as a reader."
On Selling Writing
"For a great many people, writing for themselves and their family is enough, and they should be commended for leaving such a beautiful legacy that will inspire future generations. For others, they want to publish out in the larger world. They want to sell their writing. For those people, it takes more than energy, persistence, and patience. It takes courage, the courage to keep writing and sending it out no matter how many times you're rejected. It takes courage to keep going even when the universe has kicked you when you're down. If you believe and do everything possible to help yourself succeed, something will come your way. I can only go by my own experience."
A Word concerning Rejection Slips
"I see more writers, especially new writers, distraught over rejection slips. I want you to know this. Unless there is something relevant written on them, they don't mean anything. The slush pile reader could have been having a bad day and just shoved the form letter with your manuscript into the SASE you provided. Put these letters in a file in the event you need them to prove to the tax people you've been a writer all this time. Put these form letters that could have been written to anyone in that file and forget them. The odds are no one at that address read your story or book, so why be offended by a form letter. Don't waste your energy over it.
"If however, someone wrote on the letter to try again. Do send them your best next work as soon as possible, and send a cover letter thanking them and that you are trying again with this work. Some rejection letters may ask you to change something and send it back. Again do that as rapidly as possible and include a letter thanking them for their advice and that you've made the changes. Once you have opened a communication like that with the person who signed that letter, keep writing and sending your work to them. Keep refining your work and sending it. It may be your beginning to selling. It was for me."
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