“Writing Open the Mind”
Deep Dive Intensive
Infuse Your Writing with the Wisdom of the Subconscious Mind
Get beyond your fear of judgement,
take risks, and restore a sense of joy
to your writing process.
Hello Friends,
Our freewriting-based course, Learn to Love the Writing Process has been very popular, and many people said that learning this non-judgemental, intuitive method has totally freed them up. So I decided to offer a deeper dive, a five-month course.
Our key insight for this course is that imagination can be a shared experience,
and that it is inherent in language, and boils up naturally out of it.
What is it about?
We start the series with some core techniques for loosening up your writer’s mind, such as: “Intuitive juxtaposition,” “Playing with the oysters of word sounds,” and tapping into different locations of your own brain via Voices, Attitudes and Genres. (Did you know that “prissy hissy fit” and “surreal dream” are genres?)
Then we’ll explore:
- Encouraging that sense of “emergence” in writing that happens when we let go of control and intention.
- Exploring ways we can re-enchant our daily lives.
- Writing in the natural world as we attune our mammal bodies to the physical space that we inhabit.
- Improvisational movement as a way to both generate and revise our writings.
- Melding dream life and waking life so that our writing can help us live more in that in-between place.
- Going beyond just freewriting so we can also revise from the subconscious.
- In short: a profound welcoming of serendipity—the happy accident—and how that can guide us, instead of us trying to over-control the process and what comes out.
Along the way, you will get a full box of tools and psychological approaches to help you work through your writing for years to come, including ways to get around any stuck places you may encounter. You will also get sustained connection with the same group of people, and more time to work on the projects you care about.
— Gaston Bachelard
OUR APPROACH:
Instead of teaching formulaic techniques (such as “concrete description,” or “character development,” etc) it is more important to create a nourishing environment that helps you access the richness of your own consciousness, and build powerful writing naturally from there.
How it works
Each week you join your group online and get a key technique to let you experience freedom and enjoyment in writing. Then we will do a short, fascinating freewriting experience together. You will be producing powerful, surprising new material right away, on whatever topic you choose. (Or even starting with no topic at all, and seeing what emerges.)
Next, pair off with a writing partner in a “breakout room” and–without judgement or criticism–you can read your new work (optional) to your partner get our signature kind of supportive, detailed and mind-opening feedback.
Lastly, we all come back together and you can share your experience with the group and ask any questions of the instructor.
“Writing Open the Mind” Deep Dive Intensive
Thursdays, 10 AM – 1 PM Pacific Time
Starting August 20th
Sixteen Thursday Meetings
Plus One Weekend Workshop
On October 10th, from 10 AM to 2:30 PM
(Course runs through December 17, 2026.)
FIVE SPACES LEFT
Hold your space with a $270 deposit here (1/3 of the full course fee):
Full course fee of $810 for 16 weekly sessions
and one weekend workshop
Plus these extras:
– A copy of Andy’s book, Writing Open The Mind, with more than 40 writing exercises.
– Digital handouts and pdf articles on the writing process
– Access to recordings of many of our writing exercises for your future use
Sign up for your Writer’s Intensive Today
Course Registration
Thursday Afternoons, StartingAugust 20th,
10 AM – 1 PM Pacific time
Use our friendly payment plan of $135 a month over 6 months:
Or make the full payment of $810 here:
Get Your Writing Juices Flowing
and Have a Blast Doing It
Courses That Open Your Mind, Connect You With Others
and Help You Finish Your Project