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Workshops:
Online Classes Available:
About the instructor, Peter Occhiogrosso How to Write and Publish Spiritual Books A Six-Day Workshop at the Omega Institute in Rhinebeck, N.Y. July 17-22 2011 (Sunday-Friday) Many of you have an important spiritual book inside that you want to get out to the world. After 25 years of writing and coauthoring books for major publishers, I have developed a simple way to translate spiritual ideas into a format that will appeal to agents and editors. Whether you want to find a commercial publisher, self-publish, or just structure a readable manuscript for your personal use, this workshop shows you how. You will work on shaping and refining your central theme and ideas. You'll also learn the basic elements of a book proposal, and be able to share your writing with the group for feedback and guidance. Through journaling, dream interpretation, targeted breathing exercises, visualization, group discussion, and feedback from me, you gain access to deeper levels of your creativity and spiritual insight. Using a Wi-Fi-enabled classroom, you can work on your laptop and easily read each other's work and my editorial input in real time. I'll also show you how to surf the Net to locate appropriate agents, editors, and publishers. Ultimately, you come away with the tools you need to create a professional proposal or manuscript outline. This workshop is open to writers at all levels of experience, both those who have been published and those who hope to be. Workshop Details
In the evenings, and all of Wednesday afternoon, you’ll have free time to write and prepare material for class the next day, as well as to compare notes with your fellow writers. Writing and Publishing Magazine Articles Magazine writing requires a special set of skills that are related to, yet different from, those needed to write a nonfiction book. Whether you want to create a feature story, celebrity interview, essay, concert review, advice column, or first-person account, you will have to go through a process of proposal, submission, and revision. Because magazine and newspaper editors are too busy to read hundreds of articles every month, you'll need to learn how to put your ideas into a Query Letter. Although it should fit on the equivalent of one typewritten page, your query must contain all the essential information to help an editor decide whether or not to offer to buy your story. But that's only the beginning. Once you get the green light, you'll need to structure a piece of anywhere from 300 to 3000 words or more. In my course, you'll begin by learning to
At times, our class will recreate the atmosphere of an actual publication of which I am the editor-in-chief. You will propose articles to me and I will suggest why your ideas do or don't work, how to shape them into workable ideas, and how to come up with different approaches to the same subject matter that will appeal to different kinds of publications. You will then write the article we've agreed on, and submit it to me. I will "edit" the article by suggesting ways to revise and improve it--everything from grammatical and stylistic tips to ideas for restructuring. At the same time, you'll be receiving helpful feedback from the other members of the class, who will be busy proposing and writing their own articles. Most class members are at the beginning stage of writing magazine articles, so you'll essentially be working with your peers. You'll learn to revise and polish your piece while gaining an understanding of how the process works. We will also discuss how to approach editors, what magazines may work best for the story you want to write, how to track down subjects for new stories, and other technical aspects of the magazine writing craft. In the process, I'll share my experience from over 30 years of writing and publishing my own magazine articles. How It Works. The class takes place in cyberspace, using what's known as a list server. The list includes you, me, and everyone who has paid to take the class. It is inaccessible to anybody I don't let in, so no outsiders will be looking over your shoulder. Once you join the class, you will receive all the e-mails from me and the other workshop members. Anything you send to me or another member can be read by anybody else in the class. This way, you all see each other's work and profit from one another's input, reactions, suggestions, and ideas for expanding your own material. You're under no obligation to reply to others' e-mails or to critique their work, but most students find that to be one of the most helpful aspects of the workshop. I lead the class and give you one-on-one instruction when you need it, and I also monitor exchanges between class members, stepping in to comment or correct misimpressions whenever that's called for. By the time we're done, you should have a finished article ready for submission. NEW One-on-One Class Writing and Publishing Spiritual Books I often receive requests about when I'll be offering my online class on Writing and Publishing Spiritual Books. Because it's hard to arrange a time frame that works for everyone, I am now offering the class on an individual basis, starting whenever you're ready. When you register to take the class solo, you get the same instructional course materials e-mailed to you weekly that I would normally send to a class. I will give you personal feedback once a week on your assignments as you submit them. This will help you formulate the structure and voice for your book—e.g., whether it should be in first or third person—and determine whether it works better as a how-to book, spiritual memoir, or other approach. The course also assesses the relative merits of self-publishing via print on demand and e-book formats. All the details are contained in the course description that follows. When you work solo, you obviously won't be getting feedback from other class members, but you also don't have to spend time reading and responding to their posts. And you don't have to wait for everyone to catch up. Once you complete an assignment and I give you feedback, you can move on to the next class lecture if you like. That way the whole course might take less than the 8 weeks it normally consumes. The rate for the solo class is $295 for 8 sessions over a maximum of 8 weeks. Personal instruction is still available separately, at an hourly rate, which includes e-mail correspondence, editing and revising on my end, and phone consultations. Go to Peter's Personal Consulation Page. How to Write & Publish Spiritual Books You may have an important spiritual book inside you that you want to get out to the world. Yet, you may feel overwhelmed by the prospect of completing a manuscript and getting it published. After writing and coauthoring 20 books for major publishers, Peter Occhiogrosso has developed a simple way to translate your book ideas into a proposal format that will appeal to agents and editors. Whether you want to find a commercial publisher, self-publish, or just structure a readable manuscript for yourself, family, or clients, this workshop shows you how. "Spiritual" is a remarkably broad category in today's market, encompassing books about health and healing; environmentalism and activism; self-help and psychology; mystical experience, channeled wisdom, the law of attraction; and all the world's religious traditions. You will be able to share your writing with the group and get expert feedback and guidance from your teacher. You will even learn some basic breathing exercises and other spiritual practices to help you access the deepest levels of your creativity and insight. As you learn to create a professional proposal, you will receive guidance on writing an Agent Query Letter, as well as surfing the Net to locate appropriate agents, editors, and publishers. You will also learn the pros and cons of self-publishing via print on demand and e-book technology. Ultimately, you come away with the tools you need to create a professional proposal or manuscript outline. This workshop is open to writers at all levels of experience, including those who have been published and those who hope to be. Class Outline
Sacred Journaling This class is for anyone who is having difficulty journaling on a regular basis or looking for ways to make journaling more accessible, enjoyable, and part of a regular spiritual practice. We explore how to use your daily journal writings to examine the way Caroline Myss's teachings can be integrated into your life on a daily basis, whether working with Sacred Contracts and Archetypes or Entering the Castle. I will spell out suggestions to help facilitate the release of journaling energies. I will also give examples of what journaling can look like, and suggest various techniques that will help you overcome blocks and resistance to journaling. That's only part of the process, however. Although journaling is an essentially private practice, you can gain support from others who may be encountering some of the same challenges that you face in making journal writing a daily practice. CMED members who have taken this course have reported to me that among its greatest assets for them was the way in which it helped validate their own experiences in journaling by seeing others working through the process. They also were relieved to see the great variety of ways that one can journal about and work with one's archetypes, and that all paths are valid. If you are unfamiliar with Caroline's teachings, either through her books, CDs or workshops, please contact me before registering.
The next class has not yet been scheduled. |
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About Peter Occhiogrosso Peter Occhiogrosso has written, co-authored, or ghostwritten 18 books in both the spiritual and secular fields. A member of the Authors Guild, his 1996 book The Joy of Sects: A Spirited Guide to the World's Religious Traditions, has become an underground favorite at colleges, prep schools, and Web sites around the world, and was recently republished by the Authors Guild. He began his writing career as a jazz critic and reviewer, writing for numerous publications in the U.S., England, and Japan. Published books include:
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