Food Writing

PLEASE READ  Here’s how the class works. I will have no more than 10 students in each group; the course will be taught through a yahoogroup, which allows students to receive the messages in their own email boxes, or to read messages on the yahoogroup message board. Lessons will be posted each Monday, and each lesson will include one writing assignment. Students will post their questions, comments, and assignments to the group list. (Alternatively, shy students can directly email their assignments to me but they will lose the benefit of their colleagues’ comments and support).

The list will exist two weeks beyond the final class.

After teaching food writing classes for six years I am now sharing my expectations for students.

Students registering for this class are all adults. Therefore I expect that students will be responsible for emailing me if their email address changes, if they are not receiving the lessons on time, and if they have questions or needs.

Students are not required to turn in assignments. In fact, many do not, preferring to gather copies of the lessons and bonus material to work on at a later date.

In the past I allowed students who registered once to take the course again for a refresher. What happened was that some students kept signing up for the class (some were in four or five consecutive sessions), for no additional fee, yet never turned in assignments. After having one class session filled predominantly with non-paying, repeat, no-show students, I realized this plan was not working for me, or, more important, for the students.

My current policy is to ask students to be sure they can fit the lessons into the six-week session. The class takes three to five hours per week. Turn off the television, get up one hour earlier, or lock yourself in your room for three weekend hours and you should be able to finish your weekly assignment. Giving students multiple tries at finishing the class only kept some of them from focusing and achieving.

Each student will take from the class in proportion to what he or she puts into it. Therefore I cannot issue a guarantee of writing success. Writing is part dreams, passion and fun, but it is also driven by serious work.

There are certain things I do not want to hear from students:

“Grammar and punctuation are not important. That’s what editors are for.”
While typos are okay in your homework assignments, do strive for clean copy by rereading, editing and refining your first draft before submitting to class.

“I did not have time to write my assignment this week so here’s a link to my latest blog entry. Does that count?”
No, it doesn’t count. It’s nice to share your writing with the other students and you are welcome to do that, but part of the learning process in this class involves setting aside time each week to read, research AND write.

“I’m a busy person. Can you find me an agent/publisher/magazine that is perfect for my book/article?” Wow, I’m busy too, but that’s not even the most important thing to remember. If you are a writer, you need to also be networking with writers and editors, and researching on your own. Reading magazines, websites and newspapers are essential to finding the perfect market for your individual voice. And besides that, researching markets and publishers is fun!

While I love to keep in touch with my students and do review assignments turned in within a few months of the ending of the class, I have found that I simply do not have the time or energy to continue to review and edit articles for others beyond the scope of the class.

My role is to guide you to publish more articles, columns and essays . Your role is to do the work.