Lifelong Learning, And All That

Curriculum Club

There’s a little trend happening on TikTok called #curriculumclub where people are designing course work for themselves, as if they’re taking classes at university again.

Some people are doing small intensives— month long curriculums— and then there are those like myself, giving ourselves semester long course loads.

What I set up for myself was four classes:

Writing Fundamentals
Dream Life
Romantasy Comparisons
and then one of those free Harvard courses, that I actually haven’t started, despite my semester starting on the Tuesday after Labor Day.

Thing to Watch

For my Writing Fundamentals course, I figured I would seek the multimedia advice of professional writers. On YouTube I have watched the fantasy writer Brandon Sanderson’s lecture series from his Writing Fantasy and SciFi course at BYU.

I finished the (what was supposed to be) 16 weeks of videos last week, and I will try to read something like Stephen King’s On Writing. I also mean to dig up some podcast episodes about writing advice or techniques/best practices from authors I like— if you have recs, please pass them along.

And then there’s the actual writing I would like to do, that is more in my head than… anywhere else.

Thing to Gift

In my Dream Life course, I am attempting to develop habits that can set me up for success instead of creative burn-out. I figured I would finally make it all the way through The Artist’s Way, but I have been stuck on Week 3 for 3 weeks.

I sort of hate how she writes— she assumes to know your feelings and thoughts, and mannnnnn do I buck up against that. Which feels exactly like someone who would tell you to rely on god without further examination, in my experience, so it leaves a very sour taste in the mouth, but I do like the idea of a god that centers creativity. That seems far more likely than the god worshipped in predominantly white churches across the States.

Anyway, I do intend on finishing The Way.
The Artists Dates and Morning Pages that Cameron prescribes are great, and things I have done versions of all across my adulthood— so I like seeing my choices reinforced and put into more organized, intentional language, and given greater structure.

Perhaps worth passing a copy along to a creative friend, especially if they’re still church goers.

Thing To Read

In my Romantasy Comparisons class, I just plan to read two romantasy books a month and then think critically about what I like about each, and what I would do differently if I wrote them. I planned this when I thought I would go a different direction with the book I’m plotting, but that has changed.
Just the same, it’s fun to deep-read things that tend lighter— though I would recommend T. Kingfisher’s books to anyone who claims to like fantasy novels.

Thing to Listen to

And as for that Harvard course, they offer a whole section of their course book for free.

There is some INTERSETING stuff: Mongol history, conflict response, data science, divination systems, opera, Shakespeare.

Some seem to be 12 weeks long, others as short as one seminar session. A range.

Since some of them are pretty short, I’m giving myself a minute to pick which I want to do for now.

You can also get a certification for $99

Thing to Eat

This doesn’t have much to do with anything, but in my agenda (that I plot all my course work in) has a medieval butterbeer recipe in the back, and I thought I would share— in the spirit of cozy reading.

1 quart (4 cups) ale/dark beer (lager will make it taste like gym socks)
2 egg yolks
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 tsp each of ground nutmeg, ginger, cloves
2 T unsalted butter

heat the ale until warm,
in a separate bowl, whisk together yolk and brown sugar until smooth, then gradually add the warmed ale to the yolk mixture— whisking constantly to prevent curdling.
pour this mixture back into the saucepan and add ground spices.
Continue to heat and stir constantly, until thick and hot— not boiling.
Remove from heat and stir in unsalted butter.

Serve Warm!

Thing to Wear

Obviously good socks are a must when studying

Maybe knitting is on your list of Things To Learn

Saint of the Week

Saint Francis de Sales is the Patron Saint of writers and journalists

He was an avid pamphlet passer-outer, so I guess that tracks. He must keep an eye on all this tippy-tapping on the keyboard of all these would-be students.