Writing & Publishing   

Want to illustrate a children’s book, or just create personal note cards?  In this course you learn how to prepare your art work for today’s digital publishing. You will create “clean” artwork using traditional materials and enhance and format it using Adobe Photoshop. Stated another way, this is a perfect “how to” to learn how to produce “print ready” artwork. Sounds complicated but really isn’t. You will get yourself a one-month subscription to Photoshop (around $20 at the educational rate) and follow along with your instructor – successful indie publisher and author/illustrator Tom Fox – as you create awesome artwork. Join us for this exciting, artistic journey that can take your artwork literally to “the next level”.

Have an idea but don’t know where to go with it? Outline your novel in this class through a basic understanding of story structure, how it is used, and how to apply it to your own idea. This class will mix some short readings with some writing exercises. The online delivery is asynchronous for each student to complete the readings and the suggested writings at their own pace.

Do you get stuck in the middle of your stories? Let's embrace the plotting mastermind to craft your way out of it. Through an understanding of story structure and a basic understanding of how character and conflict work, you will get outlines that help you figure your way out of being stuck in your story. Bring a notebook and pen.

This is not your high school English class! Students review modern grammar, punctuation, and word choice fundamentals to improve written communication. Topics addressed are sentence structure, parts of speech, agreement, possession, major and minor punctuation marks, and standard word choice. The classes use an interactive format with fun team activities, small groups, large group discussions, and one-on-one feedback from the instructor. Instructor Jenna Schmitt is a former English professor, published writer, corporate trainer, and owner of Red Pen Business Consulting.

Need more time to write your story, but life gets in the way? In this workshop, writers will have a chance to mute their busy lives to sit down and produce some focused writing. Prompts will be supplied every fifteen minutes for both the writer who is finding a new story, and for the writer who wants time to work on the story idea they already have.

Are you someone who has a story to tell? You know it is easier than ever to get “into print” in the amazing digital age as an independent publisher. Here is a 1-Stop, single session 5-hr workshop that lays it all out. First, you’ll learn how to make your writing activity more productive. Then we tackle ALL the basics of the publishing process, including costs, the type of format you want - hardcover, soft cover, audiobook, e-book or some combination; how to hire/get a helper for things like cover design or illustration; and, of course, marketing. This online workshop is led by successful Indie author/illustrator Tom Paul Fox. As a bonus you’ll receive “helpful handouts” on every phase of the process. Workshop includes half hour break for Q&A and lunch.