What is the best class for me?

We highly recommend you start with the introductory one-day workshop THE WRITING FAITH, and/or the introductory one-day workshop SOULFOOD MEMOIR and/or the foundational Ripe Fruit 1: ART OF LANGUAGING on-going class if:

You feel like you’re a ground-zero beginner and want to explore writing in a safe environment with expert guidance.
You feel like the walking wounded, afraid to write because someone once told you that you couldn’t or simply because you don’t believe you can. You want to explore writing in a safe environment with expert guidance.
You want to write but can’t seem to keep a writing practice on your own. You need structure, guidance, and a writing community.
You have some experience doing creative writing either in college or on your own but haven’t written for a while and feel a bit rusty. You want inspiration, structure, and guidance.
You have experience in creative writing and publishing, but feel you’ve reached a plateau and need a new blast of energy to re-vitalize your language.
You have experience in prose writing and publishing (technical, journalistic, speech writing, ad copy, non-fiction, or fiction), but want to take your writing to another level of power, beauty, and originality by training to know what a poet knows about language.

(These classes should be followed by a higher level Ripe Fruit course of your choice.)

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You have completed Ripe Fruit 1: Art of Languaging.
You are interested in the art of memoir and personal essay but do not have a lot of experience writing creative non-fiction.

(There are no pre-requisites for this workshop or on-going class.)

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You have taken Ripe Fruit 1 and Soulfood Memoir. (No submission of sample writing required.)
You have a lot of raw material and unfinished work, are confident in your writing voice and languaging but need help shaping your language, becoming a better editor of your own work, and completing something.  (Submission of sample writing required.)
You want to open your mind to prose poetry as an open-ended genreless genre in which to explore the fusion of poetic language, the sentence, and narrative.   (Submission of sample writing required.)

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We recommend Ripe Fruit 3: Growing the Short Story, our introductory fiction class if:

You have completed Ripe Fruit 1, Soulfood, and Ripe Fruit 2.
You are experienced in the art of languaging and are interested in exploring fiction.  (Submission of sample writing required.)

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We recommend Ripe Fruit IV: our Multi-Genre Critique Class for intermediate & advanced writers if:

You have completed, Ripe Fruit 1, Soulfood Memoir, Ripe Fruit 2, and Ripe Fruit 3.
You are involved in an on-going creative writing project (fiction, poetry, memoir, or creative non-fiction), want to stretch the possibilities of the project you’re working on, and/or go to another level of maturity and artfulness in your writing.  (Submission of sample writing required.)

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We recommend our weekend retreats if:

You want relaxation, community, replenishment, permission to go deep and generate significant material to develop later, integration of head & heart, a spiritual & literary experience.  (Currently, no retreats are being offered.)