ONLINE Getting Into Crab Mode
4 weeks
Thursdays
March 2 - 23, 2023
1-3pm MT
Instructor: Sandra Phinney
MEMBER PRICE: $127.50 (with member coupon AWCSM25)
NON-MEMBER PRICE: $170.00
No, this course is not about getting crabby. It’s about the art of writing hermit crab essays. They are wickedly fun to do. What is a crab essay? Think: a container (such as a shell) that holds a beautiful creature (your story). For example, the shell can take the form of a to-do list, recipe, contents of a manual, how-to guide, letters—ad infinitum. What emerges from the form is often surprising. Participants will take some writing risks (nobody ever said writing was safe.)
Each session will include handouts with samples. Through discussion and hands-on exercises, you’ll learn how to come up with various concepts. The goal will be to have at least an outline (and perhaps a first draft) for one hermit crab essay each week. For those who wish, the last hour of the last class will be readings (and celebration!) of your best hermit crab essay.
This is an interactive online class using the Zoom web platform.
Sandra Phinney’s stories have been published in over 70 publications including Nature Canada, Canadian Geographic, and the Toronto Star. She is a regular contributor to Your Local Magazine, and Saltscapes Magazine (including their annual Food & Travel publication.) Phinney has written content for Fodor’s and D.K. Eyewitness travel guides, as well as sections for the National Geographic Guide to the National Parks in Canada. She has four non-fiction books. The latest is a travel memoir for Pottersfield Press (2018), titled Waking Up In My Own Backyard—Explorations in Southwest Nova Scotia. Currently, she has a contract with Pottersfield Press to publish a book of personal essays.
Phinney delivers writing workshops throughout Atlantic Canada and Ontario on topics ranging from starting a freelance business to narrative, memoir, and travel writing. In 2021, she was the Literary Artist In Residence for four weeks at Joggins Fossil Cliffs UNESCO site.