Writers' guild posts April classes for newcomers

Starting April 1, the Rehoboth Beach Writers’ Guild is offering a series of weekly and online classes in fiction, nonfiction and poetry. Many of the classes are geared to those who are coming to writing as newcomers, whether they are attempting to write poetry in a more formal way after doing it alone for years, are starting the memoir they have long hoped to write, or are simply eager to try creative writing for the first time.

“’I’m not a writer’ is something too many people say,” said Executive Director Maribeth Fischer. In her view, one of the goals of the writers’ guild is to remind people that telling and writing stories is a valuable, worthwhile and fun pursuit.

Many of those in the writers' guild did not start out as writers, Fischer adds, only coming to writing after retirement. “A large majority of our writers hadn’t written creatively before joining the guild, yet those same writers are now publishing their work.” RBWG classes are designed for these people - those with great life experiences who want to try to put them onto paper in whatever form - fiction, nonfiction, poetry - the stories take.

The online classes being offered include a six-week poetry class, Experiments in Poetry, where each week, writers will be given a packet of poems and a specific assignment to accompany them, and a six-week Micro Fiction Writing class.

Also offered is the four-week Writers' Toolbox: Theatre Exercises as a Jumping Off Point in Fiction Writing, to be held Saturday mornings in April at the Cultured Pearl in Rehoboth.

Two classes in nonfiction are also being offered: The Art of Revision in the Personal Essay, a two-session class to be held from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., Saturday, April 6 and 13, at the Cultured Pearl; and Memoir 101, taught by Fay Jacobs Tuesday mornings in May.

Jacobs, the award-winning author of four books as well as a regular contributor to Delaware Beach Life, will also hold a single-session Editing Workshop from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., Tuesday, April 9, at a Rehoboth location.

Full descriptions, instructor bios and testimonials about classes, locations and costs are available at www.rehobothbeachwritersguild.com. For information about RBWG writers, look at the Our Writers tab. The Rehoboth Beach Writers’ Guild is a nonprofit 501c3 association dedicated to supporting, nurturing and promoting writers throughout Delmarva.  Programs are funded in part by a grant from the Delaware Division of the Arts.