• What is the Writing Salon?

The Writing Salon is a school of creative writing for adults (ages 18 and up). We offer small classes (of 6 to 13 students), held in comfortable, colorful, living room-like settings, complete with fresh-brewed coffee, tea and munchies. We are a big enough organization to offer a wide selection of classes and teachers, but small enough to ensure intimacy and individual attention. Our 5 to 9-week courses and one-day workshops include classes in every genre: poetry, fiction, nonfiction, creative nonfiction, screenwriting, playwriting and magazine writing.

If you’re a beginning writer, we’ll help you to lay the groundwork in basic craft. If you’re an intermediate to advanced writer, we’ll help you to move up to the next level. If you’re feeling rusty or blocked, this is where you can come to oil your gears and unlock pent-up creativity.

We believe that taking a creative writing class isn’t just about learning the nuts and bolts of craft. It’s also about renewing your motivation, your discipline and your commitment to writing. It’s also about having some fun as you learn to unleash more of your simmering creativity and imagination! Our courses are not dry, droning lectures; they are hands-on — you will write, not just think about writing — and you will engage in lots of discussion, interaction, laughter and GOOD ENERGY.

We invite writers at all levels of experience to come learn new skills and improve (or revive) old ones. We also encourage you to think of the Writing Salon as a resource for making connections, finding support and building community with other writers — in short, a place where you can go to strengthen not only your writing but your writing life.  You can follow us on:  TWITTER, too!

• What makes the Writing Salon unique?

There’s no other organization quite like it in the Bay Area. You can find writing classes at colleges and universities, and you can search out some fine classes being taught by individuals, but the Writing Salon is the only private writing program that offers on-site classes (not merely online) in a wide range of genres, taught by such a wide variety and number of different teachers, year-round.

• Who runs the Writing Salon?

The Writing Salon is owned and run by Jane Underwood — a poet, personal essayist, former newspaper editor and erotica writer who, in January of 1999, founded the Writing Salon in the hopes that it might be her path to “right livelihood.” Lo and behold, it was! Writers and would-be writers arrived in a steady and enthusiastic stream that has continued for a decade and is still going strong. For the first five years of the Writing Salon, she taught the personal essay writing class. For the past five years, she has led the Round Robin groups. Every now and then, she reflects on various aspects of “the writing life” (including her job of running the Writing Salon) on her blog, Writing Salon Mistress Muses.

• Who teaches your classes?

Our classes are taught by a wide spectrum of excellent teachers, all of whom are professional writers themselves, and each of whom specializes in one or more genres of creative writing. Dozens of different writers have taught here. Some teach almost every session, others come and go depending on the demand for their particular class. For example, our fiction writing teachers teach every session, whereas our food writing or children’s book writing teachers may teach less often. At the end of every course description there is a short TEACHER BIO.

• I’m interested in teaching at the Writing Salon. How do I go about applying for a job?

From Jane Underwood (owner):

First of all, let me say that I (and all our students) truly appreciate your interest and would love to hear from you.

Please send a brief (informal) email to jane@writingsalons.com, in which you tell me what class(es) you would like to teach, where you would like to teach (Berkeley or SF), and your qualifications: educational background, experience as a teacher, credentials as a writer. Also let me know if you are currently teaching writing classes elsewhere — through other organizations, schools, or privately.

If you have course descriptions for classes you’re teaching now or have taught in the past, send those along. Or, if you’re feeling especially enthusiastic and ambitious, send me a first draft of a description for the class you’d like to teach here, modeled after the content, length and style of the course descriptions on our website. I pay a great deal of attention to how people write their course descriptions (and to whether they heed my request to model it after the descriptions already on our site).

I will respond to your email, and we will go from there. Please keep in mind that I run the Writing Salon by myself; there is not a “staff.” Therefore, I may not respond immediately, especially if I have just finished doing the schedule for the current session (or am in the midst of doing it, in which case it is too late for me to consider someone new until the next go-round).

I start thinking about hiring new teachers eight to ten weeks prior to each session. Example: if the session starts on April 18th, I will begin planning the schedule in early to mid-February. If the session starts on October 1st, I will begin planning the schedule in late July or early August. If you send your inquiry when I’m in a hiring period, I’ll respond faster than if you send it when I’m not. The schedule of all sessions for 2009 is in the website sidebar.

• I have questions about registering for a class. How do I sign up? What is the cost? Etc.

Please click on this link: “How to Sign Up for a Class,” which is also in the sidebar.

• Who attends your classes?

People of all ilks and persuasions. Some aspire to write professionally — or already do but are honing or expanding their skills. Others want to write because they see it as an enjoyable spare-time activity that is mentally stimulating, emotionally therapeutic, spiritually enlightening, socially pleasurable…or just plain fun.

People have told us that they take our classes for one or more of the following reasons: 1) love of the creative process, 2) self-improvement and empowerment, 3) personal growth, 4) professional growth, 5) community with other writers, 6) learning for the sake of learning, and 7) you fill-in-the-blank!

Our clients are a reflection of the Bay Area: a multicultural, multiethnic, multisexual cross section of word lovers, ranging in age from 18 to 80 (mostly mid-twenties to mid-fifties). We’ve had plumbers, dancers, doctors, artists, and waitresses take our classes. We’ve welcomed business executives, entrepreneurs, dot.com’ers, computer nerds, housewives, househusbands, and bellydancers. In short, pretty much every kind of person under the sun has been here — so you don’t need to worry about “fitting in.” You will.

• How many people are in a class?

A minimum of six and a maximum of thirteen. Very different from 20 or 25 or more!

• What kinds of classes do you offer?

1. Introductory creative writing courses, such as “Introduction to Creative Writing” and “Exploring Your Writer’s Voice”

2. Classes that focus on basic “core” genres: fiction (short stories & novels), poetry, creative nonfiction (personal essays & memoirs), screenwriting, playwriting, journalism (freelance magazine writing)

3. Classes that focus on specific sub-genres (ie. travel writing, humor writing, children’s book writing, food writing, and erotica)

4. Classes that delve into one specific element of craft (ie. character, plot, dialog, setting, point of view, description, etc.)

5. Classes about marketing and publishing (how to find an agent, how and where to submit your work, self-publishing, how to write a book proposal, etc.)

6. Classes to help you bust through writer’s block and/or develop a stronger, more disciplined writing practice

• When are your classes held?

We have four nine-week sessions a year: Winter, Spring, Summer and Fall. Within each nine-week session, we offer a mix of five and nine-week classes that meet once a week, mostly in the evenings from 7 to 9:30 p.m. We also offer a few half-day and one-day workshops, plus a couple of five-week classes on Saturdays and Sundays during the day.

• Where are your classes held?

We have one classroom in San Francisco and one in Berkeley. Addresses and directions are HERE. There are also links to these address pages way up at the very top of the homepage.

• Any chance you’ll ever offer classes in the North Bay, up the Peninsula…or even beyond, like maybe in Kansas or Connecticut or Washington? Or how about LA or San Diego?
  

No, so sorry, we know the Writing Salon is cool, but we are content as we are, with no plans to become either an empire or a franchise.

• Do you offer any online classes?

The closest thing we have to that right now is the “Daily Write Round Robin.”

We might add online classes in the future (we periodically get emails from former students who have moved out of the Bay Area, begging us to do this!), but right now our primary goal is to offer (and to nurture) the visceral, dynamic, energetic classes that come about only when a group of people gather together to share and communicate in the flesh. It makes for much more lively class discussions and feedback. It encourages people to connect in ways that they can’t do online. And it allows us to eat yummy snacks during the breaks.

• How are your classes structured?

There’s no one answer to this question; every teacher has a unique teaching style. In general, though, our classes emphasize hands-on participation, as well as “lectures” from the teachers. Don’t expect to simply sit, listen, and take notes. We encourage you to learn by doing.

For the most part, our teachers construct classes around writing exercises done both in and out of class, reading assignments or handouts, “workshopping” of longer pieces, and discussions about craft. Some instructors create a tightly structured syllabus that adheres to specific weekly lessons and specific reading and writing assignments. Other instructors opt for a more “organic” and spontaneous approach, allowing class lessons and discussions to stem from questions and observations that arise as your writings are shared and critiqued in class.

Many of our classes are designed to be taken more than once, especially the 9-week classes. Many students are “regulars” who take workshops on an ongoing or semi-ongoing basis, because they want to keep getting feedback on new writing.

We also occasionally offer “continuation” classes that meet once a month instead of weekly.

• How do I know which class(es) would be right for me?

Most of our classes are designed to accommodate writers at different levels of experience. However, if you’ve never taken a creative writing class, you may first want to consider classes that have the word “Intro” in them – for example, “Intro to Fiction” or “Intro to Creative Writing.” Another excellent class for beginners is “Exploring Your Writer’s Voice.” Bottom line: Follow your gut instinct. If you feel irresistibly drawn to a class, then go for it. Or, if you can’t decide between the ones you’ve narrowed it down to, give Jane at call at 415.609.2468. She’ll help you figure out what the best fit would be for you. SEE ALSO: GUIDELINES FOR CHOOSING A CLASS

• What should I bring to the first class?

Pen and paper. Or a laptop, provided your battery is charged; we don’t have an abundance of electrical outlets. If your teacher wants you to do or bring anything special for the first class, he or she will let you know via email, but usually all you need for the first class is something to write on and with.

• Is there a lunch break during the one-day Saturday workshops?

Yes. The time and length varies slightly, according to the class and teacher, but usually the break is about an hour. Both our classrooms are located close to cafes (in Berkeley, there’s a cafe at Strawberry Creek Design Center; in SF, there are two or three cafes within a very short walking distance). You can bring a bag lunch if you prefer, but you’ll need to eat it outside of the classroom, because we don’t allow eating (other than light snacks during breaks) in the classrooms.