Personal essays are articulate, insightful stories from our lives, narrated in enticing prose to entertain and inform readers. Writing our stories frees up buried emotions and thoughts, giving rise to epiphanies about how we have lived our lives. This course offers the opportunity to record and pass down our personal histories to future generations.

In this basic course, Carol will send you weekly lectures about a different aspect of writing a personal essay. You will learn how to: gather information to prepare a first draft, include universal truths that broaden the lessons you've learned, revise and polish essays, add authenticity to your stories with the use of details and examples, write despite the critic in your head, and come up with your own essay topics.

Each week you will select one topic from a list of three and write a personal essay. You'll email your essays to Carol for a general critique before the next session. Beginning topics will allow you to write about yourself with lighthearted themes. Successive topics will dig deeper into issues that require emotional honesty.

This class is for any adult, regardless of age or writing experience, who wants to explore writing as a medium for recording and reflecting on life's journey, and who wants some instruction on writing a personal essay. Many students enjoy taking this course again and again to write on the different homework topics, which change every time the course is offered, and to reread the lecture material from a different perspective as life changes occur.

Read comments from previous participants.

Writing Personal Essays
Start Dates: Every Friday
Duration: Six weekly sessions
Price: $100
Prerequisite: None

Give this course as a gift!
Simply register for this course and send an email to Carol with "Gift" in the Subject field, and include the name, mailing address and email address of the recipient. The recipient will receive a gift certificate in the mail, good for one year from purchase date. Sorry, no refunds for unredeemed gifts.

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