TO SEE THE CURRENT LIST OF CLASSES PLEASE GO TO THE CALENDAR PAGE
Bootcamp and Beyond Bootcamp Writing Classes are offered to any interested student, regardless of where you live. The goal of these classes is to create a simple, productive, low-tech venues in which writers can stay connected to their work and to one another. If you have a computer, stable Internet connection and you are comfortable working on email and navigating websites, then the technical aspects of these classes should be easy for you to manage.
The 10-Day Bootcamp Class
Feb 1-10, July 1-10 and Oct 1-10
This 10-day online writing Bootcamp is an immersive experience of being a writer that is offered three times a year; February 1-10, July 1-10 and October 1-10. It is an easy, email-based class for folks who want to generate some creative text and get a little support and feedback along the way. Students will receive craft notes and writing prompts from Max via email everyday for 10 days. Each Bootcamp class has NEW daily exercises. You can use these prompts, change them or ignore them entirely, whatever you choose. Each student will then generate at least 1,000 typed words (2 pages maximum) each day for 10 days, and email their daily work to Max by midnight each night. He will read the work daily and schedule a phone session with each student at the end of the class to discuss the work in depth.
Writers of ALL levels of experience, styles of work and genres are welcome; you can create poems, stories, fiction, non-fiction, memoir, poetry, children’s lit, essays, notes, novels, book projects, wild ideas, journaling, lists, free writing, anything you choose. This 10-day intensive is designed to invite you to PLAY, to experiment wildly and practice writing daily. You might want to generate new text for an idea, story or project already underway or you might be starting from scratch. All you need is a dedicated time each day and the willingness to surprise yourself.
Tuition: $240 Checks can be made out to Hollowdeck Press LLC and sent to our studio at 1006 Grandview Ave. Boulder, Co 80302. You can also pay with a major credit card on the home page of this site. Interest free payment plans are always available. Class size is limited, please contact Max at hollowdeckpress@mac.com as soon as possible to register. After registration Max will send out more information.
We would love to have you join us, but please make sure the class dates and deadlines work for you before you register. Please note that after registration students are responsible for the whole tuition, even if they choose to drop out of the class or not to send in daily work or choose not to schedule a followup call. If you require a Payment Plan please contact Max as soon as possible.
There are two major components to the 10-day Bootcamp class:
1. Writing every day: Have you ever wondered what you are REALLY capable of as a writer? Have you ever wondered what it would be like to write every day, to fill pages and pages (without waiting until your thoughts or ideas are “perfect”) and then to stand back and read 10,000 words that are all your own? This experience is designed to help you generate volume in your work without the distraction of trying to create excellence, after all, these are only Source Texts you are making. There will be plenty of time later to carry your work through the process of expansion and editing. This 10 days is focused on building the daily practice of being a writer.
Joining this class will require a commitment of at least 1hr a day for 10 days. You will spend this time in a pattern of reading, writing, noticing and intentional observing/imagining/remembering/daydreaming. These are the key elements in the writer’s life. Students will have a broad range of latitude and possibility in what they write, this class is especially helpful for anyone who has a writing project that is stalled or moving more slowly than you would like. The goal is simply to write, to immerse yourself in the generation of text, not to edit that text or perfect it.
2. Knowing that your work is being read every day: A key part of this class is to break up some of the isolation of being a writer. While you will write your daily text on your own, you will send your work to Max every night and he will read it. (You are NOT required to send your work to any of the other students in the class, only to Max.) Writers will email daily texts to Max by 12:01am each night (midnight in your local time zone), in order to have your work received and to clear your mind + desktop for the next day’s writing. Max will print out your work each night, read it thorough and make notes for our end-of-class phone session. At the end of the class Max will schedule a private 1hr phone session with each student to discuss the possibilities and potential of the work you have created, and to help you strategize about how to keep up your daily writing practice. These followup phone sessions are optional, if it would be helpful to you to discuss the work at the end of the class then great! If the followup is not necessary to support your practice then thats not a problem. Please note, Max will not send you feedback on the work each day, this class is focused of generating daily text, not on heavy-duty editing.
Daily Bootcamp Craft Notes: All Bootcamp classes are open to students writing in ANY genre, and the daily prompts and exercises you receive can be used to write fiction, non-fiction, poetry, prose or anything you choose. But in each of the Bootcamp classes the Daily Craft Notes will be focused on specific themes.
NEW BOOTCAMP!! In May 2024 we will be offering the first ever POETRY BOOTCAMP from May 1-10, 2024!! This Bootcamp will work the same way, poets will get a daily email with craft notes and an assignment sheet with optional writing exercises. They will write at least one messy first draft of a poem a day and send it to Max before midnight each night for 10 days. After the class is over we will talk through your poems by phone. Please note this Bootcamp is perfect for those who already write poetry as WELL as those who don’t but want to! In this Bootcamp will welcome new poets and those writers who might want to experiment with writing poetry as a way to fuel other styles of writing!
In the February Bootcamp the daily craft notes are focused on how to work with Editing and Revision. Many writers have old notebooks, journals, early drafts, free-writes, exercises and previous versions of texts and ideas that they have gathered over the years. In these craft notes we will of course generate ideas for NEW daily writing, but we will also investigate how we might turn some of those older source texts and first drafts into second drafts and beyond!
In the July Bootcamp the daily craft notes are focused on General Writing Craft. These daily notes will cover an arc of topics about the writing craft; narrative vs. scene work, memory vs. imagination, the stages of the drafting process, how to get unstuck as a writer, types of editing, reception vs. feedback, staying organized as a writer, narrative perspective, finding a writing partner, etc. These are all topics that can be applied to a writing practice in any genre, at any stage.
In the October Bootcamp the daily craft notes are focused on how to work with the Imagination. Even if you are not interested in Fiction, everyone (and I do mean everyone) has an Imagination. Ever wondered what the couple at the next table was talking about? Ever guessed at how the movie was going to end? Ever had a dream that you thought would make a great story? That’s your imagination at work.The October craft notes will invite you to practice strengthening the muscle of your imagination. You might already have fiction, novel, story or screenplay idea or projects already underway. If so then this class can help you generate ideas, plot points, characterizations, scene work, etc. But even if you are a writer of non-fiction or memoir or poetry or other genres, working in the imagination can make you a stronger writer. Even your Poetry or Non-Fiction material can be a launching point for your imagination.
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The 11- Week Beyond Bootcamp Class
The Beyond Bootcamp Class is a bridge class, it runs 11 weeks bridging the times between regular October, Feb and July Bootcamp classes and moves from our write-everyday-model to a write-everyday-or-every-week model.
The class has three weekly components:
1. The Monday Morning Assignment Sheet
Every Monday morning for 11 consecutive weeks I will email out an assignment sheet, much like the daily sheet you get during Bootcamp class. It will have one idea to support your writing practice and three optional exercises. These will include things like Lead Lines, Prompts, Story Starters, etc. and can be used to create or expand work in any genre. The assignment sheets for the Beyond Bootcamp class are unique, they include both Customized Curriculum (writing craft notes and exercises built in response to specific needs and questions by students in the class) as well as Expanded Curriculum (including wild experiments, image-based exercises, text examples, publishing opportunities and craft articles online).
2. The Sunday Night Text Submission
Writers in the Beyond Bootcamp class might choose to write daily, or they might only write a few days or a few pages during any given week. The key is to find a consistent and sustainable practice that works for YOU.
On Sundays simply choose up to 2000 words / 4 pages of the work you have written during the week and send it to me before midnight. I will print it out, read it through and keep track of it in case you want to discuss the work in the future. You can use your weekly writing time to expand a text, start something new, edit a text into the next draft, whatever you choose. The idea here is to keep your MOMENTUM going! And if you are worried about forgetting to send in your text every Sunday don’t worry! I will be sending out a reminder each week by email.
Optional Follow-up Phone Sessions
Unlike the regular Bootcamp classes, the Beyond Bootcamp Class does not include a built-in followup phone session. But as you write and send in work for these 11 weeks if you would like to chat with me about it in a Phone Session, just let me know, I’m always happy to schedule a time to talk!
For students in the Beyond Bootcamp class the first follow-up phone session you schedule with Max bills at $45/hr HALF the at the regular rate of $90 / hr.
Registration Information
The Beyond Bootcamp Class runs 11 Weeks. Tuition is $275. Open to any interested writer, in any genre.
Students can register anytime throughout the 11 weeks of the class, but unfortunately the class cannot be prorated. Contact Max at hollowdeckpress@mac.com to register.