Journey In Words 2009

Journey
into the
Mystery of Writing

This year the Grove’s online writing class Journey in Words will consist of three short-term classes, rather than one yearlong class. Each class will give you the opportunity to explore the mysteries of life in three different forms: poetry, memoir, and fiction. You can take one class or you can take all three. Register for 2009 Mystery School, and you will be able to take any or all of these writing classes.

The first class, which runs February through April, is Poetry of Mystery, an exploration of poetry in all its forms, with an emphasis on playing with words and exploring the depths. The second class, Memoirs of Mystery, is offered as a concentrated two-month exploration in June and July of our personal stories and how to write about them. The last class, Novels of Mystery, will run from September to November and will culminate in November with the class participating in Nanowrimo (National Novel Writing Month), where we will write our novels online. The “Mystery” of the title refers to the theme and not the genre of the mystery novel: you can write any type of novel in this class.

These classes are designed to give you the opportunity to write in a safe and receptive environment of encouragement and appreciation. You can be a beginning writer or an experienced one. The classes are taught by Shaun Perkins, a published poet and writer and Diana’s Grove staff member. Learn more about Shaun's work by going to her website Journey in Words.

More about Shaun

I started writing poems as a child. I had a small pink notebook that filled with poems that I eventually tore out, page by page, folded, and slipped under the tiles of our roof. I suppose I could still go and harvest those poems. I also wrote a newspaper when I was a teenager. I still have its crumbly brown pages.

When I went to college, I changed my major many times--graphic arts, marketing, journalism, sociology...finally I decided that all that really interested me was reading and writing...English it was.

My profession is teaching composition and literature to high school and college students. I also am a storyteller and gardener. I like to bang on my drums--djembe, frame, and doumbeck.

I love to write and have been published in many newspapers and literary journals, including Infinity Press, Slipstream, Touchstone, Midland Review, Cimarron Review, and Cerulean. I am the editor of Between the Worlds, the online magazine for Diana's Grove.

Along with my mother and two sisters, I have also written two books under the pen name of Rumor Perkins. I also have published a collection of my poetry, Third Daughter.