Writing Workshop for Veterans
Location: San Marcos, TX 78666 (contact us for new location information)
Workshop 7-8pm, Circle 8-9pm
Tuesdays, March 3-April 7, 2020

Each session of the six-week rotation will be divided into two sections— a writing class and a writers’ circle.

Anyone may attend both or only one of the sections each week.

• The first hour will be a class that consists of reading to be completed before class (or in class if time allows), discussion over the reading, lessons on key concepts or ideas within creative writing, writing prompts, and writing prompts.
• The second hour will consist of sharing and discussing each other’s’ work.

Course Description

Every person has a story to tell. Each life experience brings its own truth about existence in the world. Sometimes that truth is personal and can be seen through perseverance in the face of trauma or hardship. Other times, that story exists in the world that we observe, in the way people interact at a bowling alley or in the buzzing of bees as they pollinate a garden. This course is designed to help people find a way to tell their stories while learning the tools established by other writers. Whether a person wants to write about the time the cook spilled diesel fuel into the green beans on deployment or about the sharp pain that pierces their heart when visiting the gravesite of a close friend or relative, their story matters. This course will give veterans the tools to evaluate literature, write about their experiences, and express the truths they have learned in lives built on service. It will focus on teaching fiction, nonfiction, and poetry in order to give veterans a number of tools in writing their truths.

Learning Outcomes

Participants will be able to identify key concepts within fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction. They will be able to apply these concepts in creating their own stories, poems, and essays. Through creative writing, they will explore their own personal truths and find catharsis through expression.

Instructor

Clayton Bradshaw writes poetry, fiction, and nonfiction that recognizes hard truths and holds the world accountable. He graduated from Sam Houston State University with a BA in English and currently participates in the MFA-Creative Writing program at Texas State University where he also teaches Freshman English. His work can be found in Barren Magazine, The Deadly Writers Patrol; r.kv.r.y; Collateral; and War, Literature, and the Arts. His novel-in-progress, Quietus, looks to change the veteran narrative while exploring the inherited consequences of war far beyond personal trauma.