Class Title: Writing With All Your Senses Instructor: Sharon Lippincott Class Term: January 23-February 27, 2012 We are not accepting any more enrollments for Sharon's class; the class has started. Synopsis Do you feel like the descriptions in your stories are the equivalent of a picture colored with only eight crayons? This class will help you expand your perception of surroundings and see familiar things in a new light. You will practice vividly expressing those impressions to enliven your writing and your life. Class Description In this workshop you will focus deeply on the traditional five senses (plus two), through which you experience your environment. A variety of awareness and writing exercises help you explore fresh, compelling ways of describing the world around you today and in the past, and use description to move your story along. These exercises will enhance your creativity, awareness, and presence in your surroundings. Weekly lessons and assignments will be posted on a class Yahoo group site along with links to downloadable materials including handouts, videos and a PDF version of the instructor's eBook, Writing With All Your Senses. Students may post online or work directly through email. By the end of the class, students will be able to write vivid and relevant sensory description appropriate to scenes and situations, understand and use simile and metaphor for rich description, and clarify and strengthen their writer's voice. Outline Unit 1: Introductions, class orientation, overview of role of description, sensory modality of sight, introduction to awareness exercises. Unit 2: Sensory modality of sound, metaphors and similies. Unit 3: Sensory modalities touch, taste, smell, techniques for fine-tuning perceptions. Unit 4: Sensory modalities of "Sixth sense" and "feelings", word sounds. Unit 5: Tips on balancing description and finding the right voice. Summary and wrap-up. Student Skills, Equipment, and Time Required Students will need to have basic knowledge of their computer, including word processing, ability to copy/paste, web surfing, posting and commenting, and attaching and downloading documents via email. Time Commitment: students will spend two to three hours a week on awareness and writing exercises with additional time required for responding and interacting with classmates and instructor via email. Tuition/Fees for this course SCN members: $160. Non-SCN members: $200. Instructor Bio Sharon Lippincott, M.S., is a life writing teacher and coach. She has been a published author and workshop leader for over twenty-five years, and her book The Heart and Craft of Lifestory Writing and its related blog have helped thousands of readers begin and deepen their life writing experience. Her most recent book is Writing With All Your Senses, available in all ebook formats. She teaches life writing classes at Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh, Gilda's Club, libraries, and Senior Living Communities and co-hosts the LifeWriters Forum on YahooGroups. Visit her website & her blog. Praise for Sharon's Classes Sharon Lippincott shares her interests and information clearly, with an eye and ear to different layers and levels of learning approaches and abilities; I found this teaching style refreshing and stimulating in many helpful and unexpected ways. As a way to begin exploring memoir and writing for health and transformation, I recommend Sharon's course offering. —Susan B., Saxtons River VT Sharon Lippincott is a thorough researcher on her topic—she knows a lot but was very receptive to learning from each class member as well. She is a wealth of knowledge. —Barbara B., Sarasota FL