A Book is a Project You Manage

INSTRUCTOR: Ynes Freeman

TIME: Three Sundays, January 21, 28, February 4, 3:00–6:00 p.m. CST

PRICE: Early bird price: $120 for members, $140 for nonmembers. The deadline for early bird pricing is Monday, January 15. After Monday, January 15: $140 for members, $160 for nonmembers. Become a member here. Apply for a scholarship here.

LOCATION: Online via Zoom

LEVEL: All levels

CAP: 15

“I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.”

— Douglas Adams

Do you spend your days wishing you had more discipline to write and wishing that you really could just sit your “butt in chair”? Does the phrase “project management” make you shudder and think about a cold, sterile boardroom with people in suits and ties huddled around a PowerPoint?

It’s easy to get frustrated with creativity when you try to apply a structure to it and still end up with unfinished pages. What do you do with the days you show up with a page full of inspiration and energy? How about the days when it’s all you can do to get a few words down?

In this three-part workshop, we’ll explore project management from a different angle. We’ll look at what it means to manage yourself as you ride the ebb and flow of creativity. We’ll address topics like productive stress vs. destructive stress, how rest fits into creative project management, and how to pick yourself up again if at first you don’t succeed. Together, we’ll explore several different kinds of writing projects and how to frame each of them through a project management lens. We’ll look at the myriad of tools and techniques available to manage the pressures, changes in routine and energy as you go through your processes. Finally, we’ll brainstorm and give each other feedback on the plan you make to manage your project.

This event is funded in part by the City of Houston through Houston Arts Alliance. This project is generously funded by the Houston Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs, and Mid-America Arts Alliance.