University Communications and Marketing

January 23, 2013

Contacts:

Danell Jones, Big Sky Writers’ Workshop, 696-3904 or danelljones@bresnan.net
Dan Carter, University Relations, 657-2269

Registration open now for February classes

MSU BILLINGS NEWS SERVICES — Big Sky Writers’ Workshop is partnering with Montana State University Billings Downtown to offer two creative writing courses this spring.

Registration is now under way. The classes — “The Craft of Writing” with novelist Russell Rowland and “Poetry Infusion: Lessons in Writing Vibrant, Imaginative Poems” with writer Danell Jones — will begin in February.

“The Craft of Writing” will explore how it is that we can tell our stories in a way that most effectively makes an emotional connection with the people who read it. Students will explore how to incorporate description, character development, plot and themes to enhance storytelling. The course will also discuss the business end of writing, including submission, locating an agent and preparing a manuscript for marketability.

The focus of this class will be on writing stories. Students will do in-class writing exercises that will help strengthen certain areas of writing, and each student will also have the opportunity to submit several pieces of their own work for feedback from classmates and the instructor. “The Craft of Writing” will meet on Wednesdays from Feb. 20 to April 24 at 7 p.m. in the Bridger Room in the Student Union Building at the MSU Billings university campus. The cost is $245. OPI continuing education credits are available.

The instructor, Russell Rowland, is author of “In Open Spaces” and “The Watershed Years” and editor of “West of 98: Living and Writing in the New American West.” His third novel, “High and Inside,” will be released in the summer of 2013.

“Poetry Infusion” will help students get the dazzle into their poems. The class is very hands-on, so students should come prepared to read and write each week. The class stresses the importance of freedom, experiment as well as surprise and offers a fun, supportive atmosphere where creativity can flourish.

The class is appropriate for beginning as well as advanced students and everyone will have the opportunity to share their work in class and get feedback from Jones.

This course meets Tuesdays from 7-8:30 p.m. from Feb. 19 to April 9 in the Bridger Room in the Student Union Building. The cost is $129 and OPI continuing education credits are available.

The instructor, Danell Jones, has published poetry, fiction, essays, and reviews in various publications and is the author of “The Virginia Woolf Writers’ Workshop: Seven Lesson s to Inspire Great Writing.”

PHOTOS ABOVE: Russell Rowland; Danell Jones