RS, Author, Novelist, Prosaist<blockquote><p><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/ScribesAndMakers" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>ScribesAndMakers</span></a> 2504.09 — Are or were you taking courses for your creative activities?</p></blockquote><p><strong>Are?</strong> No.</p><p><strong>Were?</strong> </p><ol><li>I took a writing seminar a very long time ago run by Theodore Sturgeon. I really <em>really</em> REALLY wish I remembered ANYTHING about that other than it was him, he was nice, and it was at Antioch.</li><li>After writing a couple of novels and short stories, when I was attending UCLA, I decided to sign up for a creative writing course. Seemed like a slam-dunk. I remember it was in Royce Hall. After I turned in an SF short-story, the instructor informed me that it wasn't a "Christian" story, and that's all we were allowed to write. I dropped the course.</li><li>I attended Clarion West, a six-week live-in intensive writing and critiquing course. You have to already be a writer, and you must provide samples. It's hosted by six professional writers or editors, each for a week. I learned that under pressure I could write freely and copiously. It's infamous for getting you out of your mundane world and isolating you in a community of writers in a very art-centric district of Seattle. I would 100% recommend that any SF, SFF, or Fantasy (possibly horror) writer who could take the course consider doing so. I admit the date I attended in my profile.</li></ol><p>[Author retains copyright (c)2025 R.S.]</p><p><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/BoostingIsSharing" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>BoostingIsSharing</span></a> and <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/CommentingIsCool" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>CommentingIsCool</span></a></p><p><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/gender" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>gender</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/fiction" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>fiction</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/writer" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>writer</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/author" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>author</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/photographer" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>photographer</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/chef" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>chef</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/cooking" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>cooking</span></a><br><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/writing" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>writing</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/writingcommunity" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>writingcommunity</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/writersOfMastodon" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>writersOfMastodon</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/writers" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>writers</span></a><br><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/RSdiscussion" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>RSdiscussion</span></a></p>