From Don: I'll be teaching "Adventures in Writing," a six-week course beginning 7 p.m. Tuesday, July 10, at the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church, 2931, Kingston Pike, near UT. Cost is $140. For more information, phone 428-0389 or 865-805-8849 or email donwilliams7@charter.net, and I'll send complete details. Or enroll by showing up. I'd love see you there.

More details after the jump...

ALSO, if you haven't heard already, you should check out an exciting lineup of Summer Writing Workshops taught by an impressive array of writers, editors and others, including some of my friends, in workshops July 9 - 26 at Pellissippi State. I'll be teaching one session there, from 6 to 9 p.m. Thursday July 12, "Writing for Beginners and Others." Based on a visit to the website, the lineup looks exciting this year, and I intend to enroll in one or more of these myself. Check it out at (link...)

Whatever you decide, I look forward to hearing from you.--DW

Here's my press release announcing my six-week course at TVUUC, plus some answers to Frequently Asked Questions.

Don Williams, columnist, short story writer, and founding editor of New Millennium Writings, will teach Adventures In Writing, a six-week course open to all writers and aspiring writers and poets of any level of expertise or experience. The course begins 7 p.m. Tuesday, July 10, at the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church at 2931, Kingston Pike, near Cumberland Avenue, UT and Fort Sanders.

Classes will meet two hours each Tuesday for six weeks in July and part of August. Participants will engage in writing exercises, critique one another’s works and study examples of effective word-craft. Among topics we'll discuss are “Striking the right tone,” “Great opening lines,” “Drawing on family history, memory and imagination,” “Writing effective dialogue,” “The art of the interview,” “Poetry,” “Communicating with editors and agents,” “Formatting the manuscript,” “Building a writing community” and “Writing opportunities on the Internet.” The extent of such discussions and exercises will depend to some extent on how much material is turned in for round-robin critiquing, which is at the heart of the course, although submission is not mandatory. Cost is $140. Price includes instructional materials, which will be provided. To enroll, bring payment, pen and paper and a page or two of something you’ve written to the first meeting. For more information, email donwilliams7@charter.net, phone 865-428-0389. Phone ahead or email for directions and other answers to frequently asked questions.

Frequently Asked Questions

1) Where does the class meet?

We meet at Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church at 2931, Kingston Pike, near Cumberland Avenue, UT and Fort Sanders. That's about a quarter-mile from the West end of Neyland Drive. If coming from Cumberland Avenue, go west until it turns into Kingston Pike, near Neyland Drive and start watching for the sign on the right that says Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church. It’ll be just past the Second Presbyterian Church, also on the right, on a hill. Or, from I-40, take the Alcoa Highway exit, go to the end of the exit ramp, turn right onto Kingston Pike and watch for the sign on the right. Phone Don at 865-428-0389 for further directions.

2) Will the class meet once a week?

Yes, classes meet once a week for six weeks.

3) Class dismissal time?

We start at 7 p.m. and dismiss about 9:15 p.m. We take a short break halfway through for refreshments.

4) Minimum and maximum class enrollment?

Minumum: 7.

Maximum: 25.

Average enrollment: About 15.

5) To reserve your seat in advance, send $140 check to:

NMW
PO Box 2463
Knoxville, TN 37901

Or show up the first night and pay after class.

6) May I pay the first night?

Yes. In fact, you may participate the first night, then pay afterwards if you decide to take the course.

7) What should I bring?

Bring a pen and paper. I'll provide books and other classroom materials. Also, the first night is, in part, a get-acquainted night. If you’d like to bring something short you’ve written (no more than two minutes reading time) to let others know the sorts of things you write, that would be fine.

8) What goes on in these classes?

If you like, bring something short to read (a couple minutes worth) you've written, to the first meeting, by way of introducing yourself. Otherwise just tell the group a little about yourself. After a brief introductory session, we become acquainted with about 30 principles of good writing at the first meeting. In subsequent sessions we discuss formatting manuscripts, communicating with editors and agents, and, sometimes hear a published author share his/her tips on writing and getting published. Each Tuesday we critique one another's writings in round-robin discussions that open the door to fine-point instructions about the technicalities of writing. >From time to time, I will bring in papers about a variety of issues, including Great Opening Lines, Tone, Structure, Point of View, How to Communicate with Editors and Agents, Establishing a Writing Community, Conducting Interviews, poetry through the ages, and other issues mentioned in my press releases. Occasionally, we'll engage in writing exercises.

9) Have most participants already published something?

About one-half to two-thirds of those who participate have had at least one article, story, poem or book published, although many were unpublished when they began the course.

10) Who is Don Williams?

Don Williams is a widely published columnist, blogger, short story writer and the founding editor of New Millennium Writings, an annual literary anthology published out of Knoxville and Sevierville since 1996. He is at work on two novels set in his native Tennessee. His selected journalism, “Heroes, Sheroes and Zeroes, the Best Writings About People,” is due a second printing. His articles have been published in Poets & Writers magazine (two cover stories), Writers’ Digest, The Crescent Review 10th Anniversary Issue, The Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, Chattahoochee Review, Smokies magazine, most of the Knoxville Writers Guild anthologies, including Low Explosions, and many other papers, periodicals and anthologies. As a journalist he’s won more than two dozen awards for his features and columns, including a Golden Presscard Award, the Malcolm Law Journalism Prize and a National Endowment for the Humanities award, which provided for an academic year of study under novelist Nicholas Delbanco and others at the University of Michigan. He’s attended workshops and classes under the late Alex Haley, and with Lee Smith, Alan Cheuse, journalist Mike Wallace and others. As a freelance writer, he’s interviewed and/or profiled John Updike, Cormac McCarthy, William Kennedy, the late Ken Kesey, Lee Smith, the late Larry Brown and many others for magazines and newspapers. In addition, he’s interviewed presidential candidates, entertainers, street people, adventurers, prisoners, schizophrenics, participated in war games, covered manhunts for murderers and rapists, and interviewed 10 of the 12 astronauts to walk on the moon. Although he gave up fulltime journalism in order to finish his novel and publish a literary journal, he still manages to write a weekly column for The News-Sentinel. Some of his commentary is available at (link...). He lives with his wife, Jeanne, a special education teacher, their children and assorted pets in a secluded valley in Sevier County. He is frequently asked to give talks about politics, spirituality, history and humor. He likes to run and he completed both the 2005 and 2006 Knoxville Marathons ... albeit slowly.

11) Can you provide testimonials from others who have taken this course?

“Don's writing classes provide me with a safe but stimulating environment for exploring my creativity. Don is an extraordinary teacher, facilitator and editor; having my work reviewed by a writer of his caliber has been an amazing experience. And my classmates: I've received superb constructive criticism, moral support and wonderful fellowship with people who care passionately about the written word. My experiences in Don's classes have emboldened me to submit my work, and I've had essays published in MetroPulse, EvaMag, the Knoxville Writer's Guild anthology and Southern Living. If you want to grow as a writer, take Don's class.”

—Lucy Sieger

“I have attended five of Don's classes. I've learned something each session and my writing has greatly improved. Equally valuable has been my enjoyment of my classmates. These classes can benefit the "dabbler" as well as the seasoned writer.”

—Robert W. (Bob) Godwin
Columnist for "FootNotes" magazine.

“I've been an advertising writer and a newspaper reporter, so I thought I already knew how to write when I took Don's class. Well, it turns, out, just because you know how to write a clever or informative simple declarative sentence doesn't mean you know how to write. Advertising is one thing; journalism is another. Fiction writing is something else entirely.

“What you begin to learn in Don's class--I say begin to learn, because it's a lifelong process - is how to develop characters, not report on them. That's what Don Williams is trying to get at here, and he does it in a way that makes for a fascinating journey. If you love words and the craft of writing, and if you've got some creative writing in you scratching at the door to get out, you'll like this class.”

— Tom Jester
Prize-winning advertising executive, copywriter, director and reporter.

"When I told my writer friends that I wanted to take my writing to the next level, each of them told me the same thing. Take a writing class from Don Williams. I signed up for my first class with Don in 1999, and I'm still taking classes with him today because he has the ability to inspire and mentor other writers, a rare quality indeed. Don focuses on teaching writers essential skills and techniques that make them competitive in the real world. Much of the success I have enjoyed in my writing career, I owe to the help and encouragement I received from Don."

Author of more than 100 columns, essays, and humorous poems. Judy is a monthly humor columnist for Senior Living Magazine. Her work also appears in the June, 2006, Muscadine Lines anthology and in the 2006 humorous anthology on Southern Men edited by Deborah Ford, New York Times best selling author of "Girls Raised in the South."

— Judy DiGregorio, columnist, hunorist and freelance writer