An Online Writing Course

If you live with a chronic illness—rheumatoid arthritis, diabetes, lupus, cancer, or another condition that keeps you indoors or limits your energy—you already carry a rich inner life. This course is designed to help you turn that inner life into language.

Find Your Own Voice is a gentle and encouraging online writing course for beginning writers who want to discover their personal writing voice. No prior writing experience is required. What is required is curiosity, openness, and a willingness to show up exactly as you are.

This course understands fluctuating energy levels, pain, fatigue, and brain fog. Writing is approached not as pressure or performance, but as exploration, expression, and connection.

What This Course Is About

. Over eight weeks, you will:

• Experiment with first‑, second‑, and third‑person narration
• Explore story, letter‑writing, poetry, dialogue, and reflection
• Learn how point of view, metaphor, image, and emotion shape voice
• Read short excerpts from great writers with distinct styles
• Write 1–2 pages per week in a supportive, low‑pressure environment

Most importantly, you will learn that your lived experience—your perceptions, rhythms, questions, and way of seeing—is not a limitation. It is your material.

Course Structure

• Length: 8 weeks
• Live class: 2 hours per week (online)
• Bonus follow‑up meeting: Several weeks after the course ends, we meet again to reflect on how your writing has developed
• Weekly writing: 1–2 pages in different genres
• Community blog: Comment on classmates’ work on your own schedule

All discussion and feedback are constructive, grounded, and kind. This is a space for growth, not judgment.

Weekly Journey

Week 1 – Beginnings 
Introductions, self‑descriptions, and writing about what you hope to gain from the course.

Week 2 – First Person: “I”
Narrative and life story. What happens, and when?

Week 3 – Second Person: “You”
Address, intimacy, and distance. Writing a letter.

Week 4 – Third Person: “He / She / It”
Character and perspective.

Week 5 – Metaphor, Image, Emotion
How feeling enters language. Writing poetry.

Week 6 – Dialogue
Voice through speech. Writing dialogue.

Week 7 – Point of View
What changes when the angle changes?

Week 8 – Looking Back, Looking Forward
Where you are now, and where your writing wants to go.

Who This Course Is For

This course is for you if:

• You are living with a chronic illness and need an accessible, online course
• You want to write but feel unsure how to begin
• You’ve been told you’re “not a writer” and don’t believe that anymore
• You want structure and freedom
• You value thoughtful reading, discussion, and community

You do not need to:

• Have formal training
• Share painful personal details unless you want to
• Write perfectly—or even confidently