I love teaching at the Loft Literary Center and one tiny grace of the pandemic – the increase in Zoom classes. I’m teaching four different classes this Winter and Spring through the Loft. Please consider joining me. It’s a true honor to teach writing and to get the chance to read your writing. Truly. I learn far more than I’m sure I ever teach you!
Note: The Loft Sampler Class is a special “intro” created by the Loft to let people get a taste of what a writing class is and we have FUN! $10 is a great gift to that person in your life looking to try out writing!
Questions? Send me a message.
LOFT SAMPLER CLASS: Start Here! Introduction to Creative Writing!
ZOOM
$10 ONLY
January 13, 2022
530pm – 7pm
Description: Are you new to creative writing? Wondering where to start? Start here! Join Loft teaching artist Tasslyn Magnusson as she introduces you to the basics of creative writing. She’ll go over the different genres of writing, introducing some basic aspects of craft in poetry, creative nonfiction/memoir, and fiction, providing writing exercises and prompts to get you warmed up and ready to dive in. You’ll leave class with a basic understanding of creative writing, a new vocabulary of craft, and the beginnings of some new pieces you can polish at home. Or join a Loft class in your favorite genre to keep learning and growing your new skills!
Click to Register: loft.org/classes/loft-sampler-class-start-here-introduction-creative-writing
Let’s Write! Introduction to Creative Writing
ZOOM
January 27, 2022 through March 17, 2022
6pm to 8pm
Description: You have a writing project! Now what? With an emphasis on your work in progress and peer workshopping, we will investigate character, point of view, plot, and other craft elements. We’ll deepen our knowledge of the writing craft by turning our writer’s eye onto our own works in progress. Through feedback from the teaching artist and peer workshopping, we will set goals for our projects and find ways to get to that favorite writer’s word – the end. Along the way, we’ll read selections from writers like Mary Soon Lee, Kekla Magoon, Erin Entrada Kelly, Christina Soontornvat, Louise Erdrich, and more that will sharpen our understanding of craft elements like world building (applicable to all genres!), voice, metaphor, plot, and point of view. We’ll also discuss how to make a writing practice and look at how other writers work to finish their projects – and start the next one. If you don’t have that one project yet, that’s okay, we’ll figure it out through in class writing prompts that will help you explore your ideas and get them on paper. Wherever you are, this is the class for you.
Click to Register: loft.org/classes/lets-write-introduction-creative-writing-0
POETRY, LOST AND FOUND
ZOOM
February 5, 2022
9am to Noon
Description: Writing Found Poetry – the art of collaging words – is an undertaking that is challenging and provocative. Whether you are curious about creating your own or want to understand poets that practice this form, this class is for you. As poets, it is important to remember that creative constraints often unleash new avenues for exploration. Students in this class will examine several poets who work(ed) in Found Poetry such as Tristan Tzara, Rita Dove, William S. Burroughs, John Ashbery and Sarah Sarai. We’ll also explore notions of power and privilege in writing – after all, whose words are we using and whose words are often left out is critical to a Found Poetry practice. Finally, students will work in class to create a collective Found poem and leave class with a plan for a Found Poem of their own.
Click to Register: loft.org/classes/poetry-lost-and-found
LET’S TRY POETRY
ZOOM
March 17, 2022 to April 21, 2022
Noon to 2pm
Description: Have you always wanted to try to write a poem, but thought, I’m not a poet? Or wondered how poets work word magic? In this class, you’ll learn you can! This class is meant for the absolute poetry beginner or a poetry lover who needs to find their poem joy again. By the end of this class, you’ll have read a diverse group of poets including Rita Dove, Clint Smith III, and Heid Erdrich and more. You’ll listen to poets – because there is nothing like poets reading their own work and best of all, we’ll write poems each class – together. You’ll walk away from this class with a library of poem prompts to inspire future writing, an introduction to poets working today, and a knowledge of at least four poetic forms – Haiku, the Golden Shovel, and the Acrostic. We will write, read, and have fun. And if we think we’re ready, we will share our poems with each other! Students will be invited to submit work for feedback from the instructor weekly.
Click to Register: loft.org/classes/lets-try-poetry