The Writer’s Welcome Kit

Written By Paulette Perhach

A 6-week course to help writers get over self-doubt, create a steady writing practice, and design a writer’s life. Mirrored by the structure of Paulette Perhach’s book, Welcome to the Writer’s Life, which was selected as one of Poets & Writers’ Best Books for Writers.

The Writer’s Welcome Kit aims to save writers 100 hours of work and worry as they go from wanting to be a writer to working to be a writer.

It’s the first e-course that combines the information students need with the resources professional writers use to get published. 

The Writer’s Welcome Kit is what every writer wishes they’d had when starting out. Unlike writing books, the interactive kit includes ten essential templates, both documents and spreadsheets, to kickstart a writing life, plus 100 links to websites useful to writers.

Unlike in-person classes, students can complete the kit on their own schedules from anywhere in the world. 

Writing’s not boring, and neither is the Writer’s Welcome Kit.

We offer a range of interactive tools to help writers develop their skills and immerse themselves in the literary world. 

The six-week course includes:

  • A 100-page e-course workbook. 

  • Chapters include:

    • How to start

    • Your writing practice

    • Your reading practice

    • Your writer’s craft

    • Your writing business

    • Your writing life

  • Audio interviews with advice from New York Times best-selling and award-winning authors such as Jess Walter, Claire Dederer, and Jane Wong.

  • Templates for editing stories and creating complex characters.

  • 100 bookmarks to sites helpful for writers, including literary magazines, online writing tools, and free access to ebooks.

  • 100 flashcards to finally learn grammar and literary devices in an online interactive flashcard app.

  • 100 writing prompts to guide freewriting sessions.

Course Table of Contents

Section 1: How to Start

  • Who Do You Think You Are?

  • Why You Should Be a Writer

  • 10 Things to Stop Doing

  • Finding the Time to Write

  • The Writer’s Life Diet

  • The Writer’s Secret

  • Adopting the Artist Identity

  • There is No Art Without Risk

  • You Don’t Have to Explain Art

  • There Are Lots of New Writers

  • Defining Your Success

  • Finding Your Writer’s Flow

Section 2: Your Writing Practice

  • The Literary Factory

  • What is “Writing,” Anyway?

  • Setting Up Your Idea Factory

  • The Tools of Your Notes

  • Getting Your Brain on Paper

  • Your Mission Control Center

  • Working Ideas into Stories

  • Forming Your Writing Habits

  • Finding Your Trusted Readers

  • Getting Work Done Together

  • Workshop Etiquette You Never Learned

  • Your New Love of the Basics

  • Writing Wildly

Section 3: Your Reading Practice

  • Choosing What to Read

  • How to Read as a Writer

  • Doing Your Own Book Reviews

  • Finding Your Reads

  • Don’t Forget Genre Awards

  • The Top Literary Magazines

  • Lit Mags Open to New Writers

  • Creating Your Own Anthology

Section 4: Your Writer’s Craft

  • How Craft Powers Your Work

  • Mistakes You No Longer Make

  • Why Language Rules are So Tough

  • Punctuation is Part of Your Writing

  • The Apostrophe as an Ax

  • The Ten Scariest Grammar Terms

  • The Thesaurus is Not Your Brain

  • Mate Your Adverbs and Your Adjectives

  • Getting a Grip on Point of View

  • Keeping Readers Interested

  • Finding Your Voice

  • What is a Plot, Anyway?

  • How to Edit Your Work

  • Proofread Like a Pro

  • Avoiding Clichés of All Kinds

  • Creating Characters, Real or Imagined

  • The Three Levels of Outlining

  • Read This in Case of Emergency

  • Where to Keep Learning Craft

Section 5: Your Writing Business

  • First: Don’t Make Art for the Money

  • Bringing Value to Your Readers

  • Your Writer’s Hustle

  • Making Money with Words

  • Jobs You Didn’t Know You Had

  • 10 Ways to Manage Your Time

  • Juggling Your Projects

  • Tech Is Your Friend

  • A Writer’s Guide to Social Media

  • How to Network as a New Writer

  • The Beauty of Checklists

  • How Literary Magazines Work

  • Dealing with Rejection

  • How a Book Gets Published

  • Traditional vs. Self- Publishing

Section 6: Your Writing Life

  • Building a Writing Community

  • How to Face Your Work

  • Gamifying Your Writing

  • You Are Free to Be a Writer

  • To MFA or Not to MFA

  • The Writer’s Ego

  • Improving Your Focus and Creativity

  • Success Won’t Solve Your Problems

  • Adult Writing Camps

  • The Paradise of Writing Centers

  • Finding Your Influences

  • Life Design for Writers

  • Voice and Inequality

  • Crossing “The Gap”

  • What is Your Message?

  • Inspiring Your Creative Life

 

Paulette Perhach
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