Secure your place as a Diamond Cutter
Bravery. Skill. Awareness. Clarity.
There is a natural truth and luminosity to the raw creative material within us. Our task, as writers, as human beings, is to uncover and reveal what is under the compost heap of rhetorical weakness and emotional confusion.
One of the best ways to do this is in a sophisticated and focused group of like-minded people.
Are you a Diamond Cutter? Wondering if this course is for you?
Do any of the following apply to you?
- You have a pile of work that you want some direction on, both emotionally and structurally
- You have begun something that you want to continue and you don’t know how/where/what to do exactly
- You would like to work toward a finished personal essay or article of writing that you could submit somewhere and that is possibly from a larger work
- You’re tired of writing groups that don’t move you forward
- You feel like you would grow from some professional input
- You would like an intimate group of writers that you share work with and give and receive feedback
- You are really ready to take your work and yourself as a writer to the next level
How we will mine, cut, and polish your diamond:
- We will work together for 4-6 weeks in a band of 4-6 writers. Each week, one manuscript of any length, will be emailed to the Diamond Cutters. We will each read the work and email written feedback to the author (you’ll be cc’ing me on your feedback).
- We will have a weekly one hour group call to discuss the work for 30-45 minutes—voice, structure, action, passivity, rhetorical choices, etc. etc. For the last 30-45 minutes, the writer will have a chance to ask questions to the group about her work and we can also use the time to discuss writing issues that arise.
- I will be giving spontaneous reading and writing suggestions that may or may not be unique to each participant to assist and strengthen the work and the writer.
- Critique is not a dirty word!! Building a relationship with the critique process is one of the greatest things you can do as a human being and as a writer. I will be giving guidance as to what exactly a writing critique is, and how to do it effectively as well as how to listen or not listen, and ultimately how to put it to use. There is a power in the creative critiquing process that is under-utilized and generally mistaught or never taught! I’ll give guidance as to effective critiquing and receptivity, boundaries, transference and ultimately how to put the critique to use to strengthen your own voice, direction and self-knowledge as a writer.
Confidence comes from a sense of safety. When you feel supported and accepted, you can write with full internal permission. You can write with passion and technique, and that’s what makes great art. So that’s what we are going to do– create a closed container where people can take risks in how they want to shape their diamonds and how they want to reveal the material. Then we are going to strengthen the individual rhetorical frames. Diamonds sparkle because of their cuts.
Writing is an intimate act with oneself and with the world.
Expect to be pushed. Be prepared to really devote and hone your craft.
I will offer you my full treasure chest of emotional and literary knowledge to spur you on to produce what you truly want to produce. Whether you put it out for publication, or release it on your blog, or use it to keep crafting your bigger work, is up to you.
The Diamond Cutters is a course where you will really step into the light of your own ability and bring forth what is begging to shine and be fully expressed.
What you will receive:
- Weekly calls jam-packed with information, challenge and inspiration!
- Reading recommendations from poetry to pop culture to ancient boring important stuff along the way as they arise
- New writing companions who could possibly change your life as a writer.
- An MFA-style course that is a cut above what’s out there in its marriage of literary and emotional process (because in my mind and experience, the two are inseparable).
- An opportunity to really uncover your own luminosity and to shape the truth of your experience through your prose.
The Diamond Cutter Sessions, $425
Six weeks of shaping, polishing and refining
Starting in October 2011
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What happens when I click the “Buy Now” button?
You’ll be delivered to my Paypal screen to process your payment. A Paypal account is not required. Credit and debit cards accepted. Once payment is processed, look for an email confirmation to join my Diamond Cutters Alumni list to receive important information about your session. Questions? Email me.
What others are saying about the course.
“Diamond Cuttters is whip smart and inspirational. I’m writing from a more honest and brave place thanks to Bindu’s passion for personal expression. Bindu creates a nurturing space while challenging us to think deeply about the work.”
- Megan Matthieson, idanceiwrite.com
“Bindu gave me a lantern for my path. The treasures were deep. Bindu weaves people together in love and purpose. In her own healing adventures, she helps others to heal.”
-Pema Teeter, StoryCharmer.com
“I first signed up for Diamond Cutters for the motivation of a submission deadline, and because I hoped to get helpful feedback and encouragement for my emerging creative writing work. I got so much more than I could have imagined.
With the tools and structure provided by Bindu, EVERY class (whether the group is workshopping your piece or someone else’s) produces incredible insights, inspiration and ideas that you can take back into your own writing.
I think it’s the intimacy and safety of the small group, plus the very focussed approach, plus the skilled and gentle guidance of Bindu herself, that combines to make this such a special experience. At the end of each call, I’m on a ‘high’–energised to get back to work on my latest project. (And I know I’m not the only Diamond Cutter who feels this way!)
As an experienced business writer, and budding life writer, the Diamond Cutter sessions proved too good to do just once. I come back again and again.”
-Rebecca Leigh, SmartFreshWriting.com
