I’m excited to announce I’ve launched my first online course:
Our Liminal Minds: Writing From Our Own Galactic Outer Rims
This class is an in-depth, guided tour through various processes of writing from the liminal mind.
It’s a self-paced class—you complete it asynchronously, and at your own speed, within a set period of time.
To make it as accessible as possible, I’m offering two versions, as well as sliding scale fees (more details in the registration form, linked below).
(My regular monthly poetry craft newsletter will come out next week).
What’s the class about?
The class introduces the practices of freewriting, improvisational writing, automatic and “spirit” writing, “trance” speech (these latter three sections being tame interpretations which anyone can try), and finally the wonders and oddities of the hypnagogic world (the state between waking and sleep).
Each of the five units in this course includes:
written lecture material
mentions of further reading opportunities
at least one warm-up exercise to help you get into the zone
and at least one writing challenge
Why take this class?
You’ll learn how to access slightly altered mind states and quirky areas of your subconscious.
You’ll learn tricks and tips you can use to push past writer’s block and other forms of creative paralysis.
And you’ll walk away with practical tools for approaching your writing practice with courage, creativity, and openness.
This class is focused on process rather than product. There is no way to do it “wrong” or “badly.” I’m simply sharing practices with you that will help you to generate new writing, and help you to think about both your mind and your creativity from entirely new points of view.
Class Preview
Here’s what the class home looks like in Wet Ink, the course platform. Course announcements on the left, and the five course units down the right. The green circles show your individual progress through each unit:
Here’s a sneak peak of a section of the unit on improvisation:
And a sneak peak of an exercise/assignment:
How to Sign Up
Click on the green registration button below.
You’ll see details about the two versions of the course, including the sliding scale fees. You can select the version you’d like, the amount you can pay (or whether you’d like to be on the waitlist for fully funded spots), and arrange payment.
This is the first of a series of online courses I’m building. If this particular course doesn’t feel right for you, but you’re interested in future courses, let me know which ones I should build next with this quick, 3-question form!
Thank you all so much for your support! I am truly so energized by the opportunity to offer all the tools, quirky tips, and adventurous creative processes which I’ve gathered over the course of my strange and eclectic arts career thus far.
(If you’re wondering what that career has looked like, I’m posting a bio below.)
Many sincere thanks!
~ Elisabeth
About the Instructor
Elisabeth Blair is a poet, editor, and educator with an extensive background in music and the visual arts.
As a poet, Elisabeth's publications include full-length collection because God loves the wasp (Unsolicited Press 2022), two chapbooks—without saying (Ethel Press 2020) and We He She/It (Dancing Girl Press 2016)—and poems in a variety of journals, including Harpur Palate, Feminist Studies, cream city review, and Juked. She was an associate artist at the Atlantic Center for the Arts, working with poet Heather McHugh, and an artist-in-residence at Wildacres, co-translating poetry by Polish poet Jan Zych. In 2017 she initiated the Improv Poetry Orchestra, a pop-up performance experience which pairs improvisers of poetry and music in a live setting. In 2022 she received a grant from the Canada Council for the Arts to complete her second book, a poetry novel.
As an editor, Elisabeth works with clients on projects ranging from the revision of a single poem to the preparation of a full-length manuscript. She also works as a writing coach, helping writers establish and maintain poetry practices. She charges a sliding scale fee; clients may choose the hourly rate they can comfortably pay.
As an educator, Elisabeth has had the honor to work with a variety of communities. From 2018–2021 she served as the biweekly poetry workshop leader for the Burlington Writers Workshop (BWW) in Vermont. She's also led many poetry craft workshops through the BWW, and participated as a teaching artist in their Master Class series. Other organizations through which she's led creative workshops include the International Women’s Writing Guild, Middlebury College, Kalamazoo College, Western Michigan University, and the Virtual Senior Center based in NYC. Additionally, she's independently created and led a variety of poetry workshops, and maintains a monthly poetry craft newsletter called lullabies & alarms.
As a musician, Elisabeth spent many years on the singer/songwriter circuit in Chicago, self-producing 5 solo albums, including Country of Origin. She's worked with theatre groups, writers, artists, podcasters, and magicians to create and/or perform commissioned music. She earned a specialist certificate in Music Composition for Film and TV, and studied music composition in a graduate program for two years. She created & produced Listening to Ladies, a 30-episode podcast showcasing the music of contemporary classical composers who identify as women. She was a participant composer at the Toronto Creative Music Lab, a composer-in-residence at the Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts and at Wildacres, and an associate artist working with improviser/composer Karl Berger at the Atlantic Center for the Arts. Her works have been performed internationally, including New York, Melbourne, Canberra, Berlin, Montréal, and Zacatecas.
As a visual artist, Elisabeth received a BA in Art, Design, and Media in 2004 with a focus on lens media. She was selected as the visual artist-in-residence for Chicago Detours in 2012. She enjoys drawing, painting, and making goofy stop-motion music videos. She creates the illustrations in her online poetry newsletter and courses, and the featured vintage & contemporary photographs are from her personal collection.