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Writing as a Tool for Transformation: Part I

With Amanda LeRougetel, Writing as a Tool for Transformation comprises a series of four classes offered as part of McNally Robinson’s community classroom initiative.

The first offering was held as four, two-hour, Sunday afternoon sessions held in October and November 2018.

The second, will be held as four, two-hour, Sunday afternoon ZOOM sessions, running from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. on October 18, 25, November 1, and November 8, 2020.

This course uses writing as a tool in a process of inquiry and discovery we’ve named turning points. Life holds a series of turning points that are often not seen, chosen or understood clearly. These turning points arise in times of transition, termination, and transformation. They may involve life-changing events such as parenting, partnering, mourning, migration, employment, retirement, and more. Amanda and I have each used writing to help us gain clarity during turning points in our own lives. In these sessions, we use guided writing processes, strategies and activities to help course members open up understandings of themselves, their turning point(s) and path-making decisions. Members will use a daily logbook to record observations over course sessions in relation to classroom activities. The sessions are not therapy; they use the practice of writing to uncover and clarify your own thinking.

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Part II of Writing as a Tool for Transformation will be offered as a series of four, on-line workshops through McNally’s community classroom. The course is described in the following way:

Writing with intention can be transformative, especially when it is pursued in a safe and encouraging context. Building on the guided writing process learned in Part I, we will use a range of activities to expand our awareness of voice, perspective, form, and structure. We will continue to explore how shifting these variables can deepen our understanding of points of transition in our lives. Participants will be asked to keep a Daily Log and may choose to share their writing by reading aloud. If desired, they can contribute their writing to a Course Log. The proposed dates include January 17, 24, 31, and February 7, 2021.

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Amanda teaches communication at Red River College; her non-fiction writing has been published in anthologies, The Globe and Mail and Herizons magazine.

Part III of Writing as a Tool for Transformation, with Amanda LeRougetel, January 15-16 2022 a post-graduate level exploration into the writing — and, importantly, the reading — of our own writing.  Participants, graduates of Part I and Part II Writing as Tool for Transformation courses, come having completed some pre-work that prepares them for the activities and the sharing planned over the course of this on-line, weekend intensive, a 12-hour session of creative work. 

Part II, Writing as a Tool for Transformation, with Amanda LeRougetel, Sundays, from 1:00 – 3:30 PM, November 7, 14, 21 and 28, 2021, delivered on-line as part of the McNally Robinson’s Community Classroom Program. 

Part I, Writing as a Tool for Transformation, with Amanda LeRougetel, February 22-March 15 (Tuesdays from 10:30 – 12:30 AM), delivered on-line as part of the McNally Robinson Community Classroom Program. 

Spark Your Writing , with Amanda LeRougetel: Weekly prompts intended to spark writing with on-line, weekly, 1:00 – 3:00 PM, Sunday meetings. The Sunday meetings are designed for the sharing of and talking about writing by Spark participants. February 27, March 6, 13, and 20, 2022. 

Writing as a Tool for Transformation with Amanda LeRougetel, delivered to  the Youth and Rec Worker program/RRC, October 13, 2021, February 15, and April 23, 2022.

Writing: Principles, process and pleasure

Spark your Writing II

Writing as Tool for Transformation II

What’s your Story?

What’s your Story?

3-hour workshops offered Saturday, Nov. 29, 2023 and Saturday October 21 at  1-4pm. $50via McNally/Community Classroom and Saturday, October 29, 2023 in Morden, Manitoba, 1-4 pm.

New 3-hour What’s Your Story workshops in 2024

This ongoing offering presents some of our foundational ‘writing as tool for transformation’ activities in a one-time 3-hour workshop format. For anyone who wants to tell their story with words and images. Guided activities and creative prompts will encourage participants to uncover and represent the story they hold within themselves.

We hope something here appeals to you, because we’d love to see you in one of our courses again!

Any questions, please contact us by email.

 1-4pm: $50.

Sunday, January 14, 2024 in McNally/Community Classroom

Tuesday, March 19, 2024 in McNally/Community Classroom

Register and select your preferred date here.

Life Sketches in Words

This course was offered via Zoom by Amanda and Debbie via Zoom, beginning October 11, 2023 and ran for 6 weeks, Wednesdays, from 10:00 to 12:00, ending on November 15, 2023.

This is life-writing in short form: We each have our own story to tell. No matter your age, the life you have lived — and are living — is the stuff of story. It is your story and it is worth capturing on the page. But where to start? How to generate material? How to shape it? This 6-session course will focus on generative writing, guided by weekly themes to stimulate your thinking. By the end, you will have a collection of memoir vignettes (18 or more) to continue working with. The objective is to generate material in a supportive environment that includes free-writing to prompts; reading aloud with feedback as you feel comfortable; and conversation about life-writing and memoir.

Spark Your Writing I & Spark Your Writing II

Fuel your writing practice with a weekly prompt sent to your email inbox on a specific day, followed later in the week by a collaborative, supportive conversation with a 16-person (max) cohort of enthusiastic and committed writers just like you.

You will be inspired by reading your work aloud and by receiving constructive and encouraging feedback.

Spark I is about writing on your own, then reading aloud in the group.

Spark II continues with writing and reading aloud, and incorporates a focus on the writing process and different writing forms.

Spark I is prerequisite to Spark II

Fall 2023 Offering:

Spark I, 4 week session beginning October 15 and ending November 5, 2023

Spark II, 4 week session beginning November 12 and ending December 3, 2023