Spark & Story: Creative Thinking, Writing, and Journaling with Mary Ann Hoffman and Mark McNease - A 5 Week Workshop

Every Wednesday starting December 2

Join workshop instructors Mary Ann Hoffman and Mark McNease for this two-pronged 5-week workshop on creating thinking, and thematic journaling.

Part I: Mary Ann Hoffman: Creative Thinking and Writing

Good thinking precedes good writing. During the creative thinking portion of our dual workshop you’ll explore a variety of topics and apply them to your writing. In this five-session workshop, Mary Ann Hoffman guides participants through the creative thinking skills that lead to strong, original work. Sessions include creative thinking and goal setting, building a “Dreamery” of your own, “Banana Thinking”—a lively way to learn the creative process and apply it to the page, and more. Participants use mind mapping to practice divergent thinking and generate ideas, and explore the dos and don’ts that help creativity thrive. Participants come away with a practical toolkit for generating ideas, shaping them, and putting them to work in any project.

Mary Ann Hoffman was an elementary teacher and principal for 40 years working in Pennsylvania, California, Virginia, South Carolina, and New York City.During that time, she taught creativity and problem-solving classes to children in her schools and presented national workshops on those topics to adults. Mary Ann has taught Nature Journaling and Vision Boards classes for the Princeton Adult School. She is a published author and co-writes the Silver Sage Sister blog.

Part II: Mark McNease: A Journey Into Journaling

Every life is a story, and each of us is the storyteller. In this portion of the five-session workshop, participants will explore their lives, past and present, through writing prompts, ice breakers, and thematic journaling. From drawing a room from childhood, to writing a postcard from a place you may never have been, to describing a pivotal moment in your life, these sessions invite us to rediscover the places, people, memories and events that made us who we are—and still do.

Mark McNease is a Certified Guided Autobiography Instructor currently running workshops on journaling, fiction writing, character creation, and independent publishing. He’s a former and incoming board member of the Mystery Writers of America–New York, the author of 15 novels, and a two-time Emmy winner for Outstanding Children’s Program (Into the Outdoors).