Description:
Tuesdays, 12 PM to 1:30 PM
This class is aimed at writers across all genres and in all stages of motherhood. Whether you are in the thick of raising small children or yours have flown the nest, you have probably felt, at some point, a tension between your two identities: writer and mother. Maybe you’re feeling depleted by the demands of caregiving and can’t make time for creativity. Or perhaps you’re feeling inspired by the highs and lows of motherhood and would like to explore that through writing.
Each week for eight weeks, we will meet for 90 minutes – we’ll discuss a short piece of writing, sometimes touching on themes of motherhood and caregiving, and sometimes not, after which I'll offer generative writing prompts. In the second half of the course, writers will have an opportunity to workshop a story, essay, or other piece of their choice with the group. By the end of the course, you will have generated many new ideas and be on your way toward a finished draft of a longer piece. With luck, you'll also find that you feel part of a supportive and warm community of other mother artists.
In order to make this class as accessible to parents as possible, it will take place online over Zoom. However, if you are based in or near Charlottesville and would like to meet in person to discuss your writing, I will be available outside of class time upon request.
*All who identify as mothers are welcome.
About the Instructor:
Helen Chandler is a writer from Ireland living in Charlottesville. She holds an MFA from the University of Virginia, where she taught fiction for two years and edited Meridian magazine. She is the author of the monthly newsletter Old Diaries, and her stories, essays, reviews and interviews have appeared in The Dublin Review, The Stinging Fly, LitHub, Tammy, Passages North, and Meridian. She is at work on a nonfiction book about aunts.
