Objective: This course is designed to show participants how writing can be used to identify, set goals and develop the personality we choose to be. In 5 weeks we will explore who we are, where we came from and how we want our future to be.

Pre-Registration is required: Class is limited to 12 participants. Please register as soon as possible.

Prerequisite: None.

Wordshop Duration: 5 weeks

2008 Wordshop Dates:

April 2nd- 30th Wed. 6:30- 8:30 pm;

October 1st- 29th Wed. 6:30-8:30 pm

Tuition: $25.00

Materials/Text Fee: Included

Required Materials: Journal

About the Facilitators: James & Kara teach Creative Writing, Poetry and Journaling at Amicus Books Literary Arts Center in Marysville.

Class Outline:

Nothing can bring you peace but yourself. –Ralph Waldo Emerson

Week 1: Finding your place

Self-discovery begins with the present. It starts with identifying how you see yourself at this point in your experience.. In this wordshop, we will explore ways in which we can express our lives in the moment.

The journal is the ideal place of refuge for the inner-self because it constitutes a counterworld:
a world to balance the other. -Joyce Carol Oates

Week 2: Reflections

The Ancient Mayans had a greeting 'In Lakesh' which is translated, “I am another yourself.” This attitude stems from the knowledge that when we look at the relationships around us, they are reflections of some aspect of ourselves.

This wordshop will focus on our relationship with the world around us, the people in our lives and our reaction to life. Using symbols and metaphors, we will create a wordpicture of our relationships.

“They stick you with those names, those labels -- ‘rebel’ or whatever; whatever they like to use. Because they need a label; they need a name. They need something to put the price tag on the back of. -Johnny Depp


Week 3: The Packaging

As we are growing up, our family dynamics label us and assign us a specific personality trait. These labels and even nick-names often confine us to a role that does not serve us in our present circumstance.

In this wordshop we will identify the names and labels that have followed us into our adult lives. By recognizing these external labels we can focus on removing them as obstacles we can begin to release our perfect potential. We will explore letter writing as a form of release.

A goal properly set is halfway reached. - Abraham Lincoln

Our joy comes from having set a goal that taps into our creative thoughts and energies and inspires our hopes for our community. -James & Kara Davis

Week 4: You, the Canvas

Knowing, naming and defining your goals are the first steps to achievement. The nature of life allows for us to define and redefine our goals in order to live out our dreams. We are bundles of unlimited possibilities. In essence, we can be anything we can imagine—we become what we think about.

This wordshop will concentrate on “focusing and defining” as a tool for creating the person we want to be.

If we cannot envision the world we would like to live in, we cannot work towards its creation. If we cannot place ourselves in it in our imagination, we will not believe it is possible.-Chellis Glendinning.

Week 5: Painting Our Lives

By living our writings, we become the person we want to be. In every moment we are creating who we are. Our lives are made of all the colorful moments, vivid memories and forgotten choices in or experience. By choosing our experiences cognitively, we are forming the “self” we want to be.

In this wordshop we will use creative storytelling as a tool for personal development.