Freedom to Write • Brilliant Playground

Freedom to Write: Creative Writing Workshop

8 Weeks, 2 hour sessions.
Next group begins in June, 2023.
Live, interactive, small group. On Zoom.

Dissolve creative block and discover a wellspring of inspiration
Develop your authentic voice and unique gifts as a writer
Learn tools of the craft to make your words sparkle
Expand your creative palette and grow as a writer
Bring your creative dreams and projects to life

Open to writers in all genres and at all levels of experience. This creative writing workshop is powerfully effective for all kinds of writing. From poetry to screenplays, memoir to fiction, from writing as healing to writing for publication. This class will give you a big positive burst of creative juice along with tools to hone your writing and practices to stretch your creative capacities.

This is a highly-interactive, live (on Zoom), small group workshop, limited to 9 participants.

We write together each week and share our writing in a safe, supportive, and stimulating environment. You’ll learn new skills to make your writing sizzle and be encouraged to try new forms, voices, and styles to give you a wider range of creative possibilities. Most of all, you’ll find yourself writing with ease, and often astonishing yourself with the results.

This is my most popular (and fun!) class. Many students take it again and again to keep them inspired, writing well, reaching their writing goals, learning new things, and sharing with supportive others. I bring new material to each series.

Whether you have a project that’s stalled, are just exploring writing for the first time or returning to it after a long hiatus, or in the midst of something and would like some fresh energy, Freedom to Write will have your words flowing onto the page.

“The tools given to me by Maxima opened a whole other level of writing to me. Quite the catalyst! I was reminded of how cathartic writing is. For me, it’s a way to validate and honor myself. Take this class. Get over your fears of not measuring up or of being afraid you won’t feel approval. It’s a judgement-free and safe and supportive environment.”

“It has opened a window to myself – to expression, to connect again to the voice that speaks to me and wants to be known and heard through language on paper-and ever so much more. Totally loved it!”

Structure of the Workshop

Class size is limited to 9 participants, so you get lots of individual attention. We write together in class each week, using inspiring suggestions, trying on surprising exercises, and looking at a wide range of extraordinary examples from published writers. You have the chance to share your work each week and receive supportive feedback to help you develop your unique voice and grow as a writer.

We focus each week on different aspects of the writer’s art and craft to help you develop your skills and broaden your creative palette. I also provide tools and writing prompts to keep you going at home, help you cultivate a regular writing practice, and support you in reaching your writing goals. And, from time to time, I bring in amazing guest writers.

You also get one complimentary 30-minute private session with me to focus on your writing.

You are free to write in any medium—poetry, prose, fiction, non-fiction. You can work on an ongoing project or simply see what arises each week.

Remarkable growth happens and projects get completed when people engage in this process.

And you’ll have fun!

“I was reminded of the brilliance and power of each unique voice and that it is simple to call forth that voice with prompts.

I feel inspired to keep writing and sharing with others.

I would highly recommend working with and being mentored by Maxima. You will be in gifted and skilled, caring hands.“

I wrote freely for the first time in ten years and really enjoyed it. I remembered a part of myself long locked away!

Maxima Kahn has been leading workshops on writing and creativity since 2004, formerly at the University of California Davis Extension, and now at Brilliant Playground. A recipient of scholarships and fellowships to the Community of Writers at Squaw Valley and the Vermont Studio Center, she has been published in numerous literary journals, has twice been nominated for Best of the Net and was a finalist for the Atlanta Review Poetry Prize. Her book of poems, Fierce Aria, was published by Finishing Line Press and was a finalist for an Eric Hoffer Book Award.

Details

8 WEDNESDAYS • 4:00 – 6:00 pm Pacific Time
(Find out when that happens in your time zone here: www.worldtimebuddy.com)
Next group begins in June, 2023.
Live online via Zoom. This is highly interactive. You need to be able to participate with both video and audio.
$397
$198 for BIPOC

How To Register
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To register, choose the Buy Now button below for regular price or BIPOC scholarship.
Sign up early. Class size is limited.

NOTE:You do not need a PayPal account to pay. You can use a credit or debit card.
To pay by check or if you have questions, contact me here.

There is no pro-rating for classes that you miss and no refunds once you register.

Regular price – choose the button below

BIPOC scholarship – choose the button below

Freedom to Write is the best writing class I’ve taken in my life. It jumpstarted my creative process, tickled my inner muse, took me on multiple strange literary journeys that sometimes surprised me and always delighted me. Max has the knack (skill, art) to bring out the best of what you have. There are several writing exercises offered during the course of the series, some that will resonate w you, some will not. Pick the ones you like and hold on! Max taught me to trust my higher self in the writing process by getting my conscious thinking rational self out of the way. What a difference that one small change has made! I went from ten short stories in ten yrs to 45 last year alone. I highly recommend Maxima Kahn’s Freedom to Write.

Bill S.

When I take this class (which I have done more than once and will do again) I find my playfulness with thought and language and imagination actually spreads through my body like a cool drink on a sweltering hot day. All my cells are quenched and energized. I feel more confident, more playful, and more pleased with myself, because I am honing my powers of creativity and expression, and can see it produce a benefit that spreads throughout the rest of my day to day. I look forward to class each week. I am both inspired and eager to revel in the creative spirit I witness in each of my peers in group. And I appreciate that Max, who leads this class with a whole heart and a beautiful mind that explains and offers crystal clear and helpful feedback, thinks astutely about what elements we can focus on each class and during the week with optional homework.

Max’s gentle presence, encouraging space, sensitive nature and warm community all contribute to a very unique setting – one in which words just flow and the inner critic melts away. Positivity and a sense of open ended permission abounds in Max’s classes. I have been blessed to have created seeds of many beautiful pieces in Max’s classes – ones that would not have otherwise come to fruition. This class was my weekly highlight. If you want to write effortlessly, without pressure or blocks, in a safe and embracing setting, I highly recommend this lovely course!

Vered Kaufman

I joined the class hoping to get a boost to write again, feeling I’d been out of the stream too long. And son of a gun, I did! Thank you so much for giving me that positive kick in the rear-end, I’ve regained my desire to get back in the saddle.

Thank you so much for that Max. I was so impressed with the talents I perceived in the group. You had many really good writers in there and although my direction might have been a bit different, I enjoyed “meeting” so many gifted writers who obviously moved ahead with your direction and guidance. Thanks for your help. You’re a wonderful teacher and were tuned into the direction of your “kids.”

I’m looking forward to “seeing” you again and gaining the advice and direction of your teaching. Thank you so much for what you gave us.

J.H.

This class is a highlight of my week. It brings out the best in the participants. Writing techniques are introduced with such a light touch that I feel empowered to be creative in fresh ways. It’s fun to hear what others are writing: there is so much positive energy in the group. The natural diversity of styles helps to open up possibilities for my own writing. Maxima brought enlivening and appealing teaching material and writing prompts to every session. I was surprised how often I was able to write one or two energetic and creative pieces in each class. Maxima has developed very effective techniques for freeing her students’ creativity. I especially appreciated the lively, intelligent minds of the other students and the positive spirit of the classes.

Adam Frey

The class got me out of my rut, and showed me that any moment can be a creative moment. I am inspired to share more and not be afraid to put my work out there. Enjoyed the process so much. And I felt supported to embrace the uncomfortable and think outside the box, without negativity. For anyone considering taking the course I say just jump in. Don’t be afraid to share and learn, as this course will help you to feel comfortable in your own style and writing skin. To become authentically you.

Jean Mederick

I’ve just finished the most educational, rewarding, emotionally fulfilling writing class. This will be my second writing class with Max. I can’t believe how much I’ve learned. With Max’s expert guidance, she weaves you through the most wonderful exercises that bring out the best learning techniques for your personal growth. An experience you won’t forget!

Judith Leach

I have been attending classes with Max for many years now, and keep coming back. They are always worth the time, and the investment is always returned manyfold. Max is truly gifted as a coach and encourager of creativity. Kind of like a shaman for writers and artists. Truly. She works on many levels at once, and is a very powerful healer and teacher in this work. I really think she is helping to save the world! in these times!

This Freedom to Write class is wonderful for many reasons. If you are stuck or procrastinating, it gets you writing, every week for 8 weeks, which can really get you going again. The people who are drawn to Max are of a very high calibre of human beings, and creatives. The mutual support and sharing in such a safe container, hearing the incredible things people write, right on the spot is very inspiring. The glimpses into slivers of so many different lives is very juicy. And there is real, concrete, truly helpful learning on craft and techniques to boot!

Some of my best writing has happened in Max’s Freedom to Write classes. There is just something about the group and the container that Max creates that really helps me get it out. I would not be writing at all if it were not for Max.

Andi Tilmann

I’m a writer who has been struggling for a few years to dissolve a block of sorts. I’ve been dabbling, lots of false starts. And I’ve been taking classes and reading books to try to break through. Somehow, in Max’s class, I did have a breakthrough. To me, it was her gentle approach to writing: acknowledging our critic but sending him or her off to the sidelines; critiquing work with compassion; writing with joy and an explorer’s sense of discovery. This approach, combined with specific techniques and thoughtful writing prompts, enabled me to recalibrate my own approach to my fiction and begin to silence the critic and embrace the child-creator-innovator. And I found a community, as my colleagues in the class were all embarking on the same adventure! I am writing from a new place, with a renewed sense of adventure.

Rita

“I loved the experience of discovery, of new writing and new perspectives
unfurling naturally like the opening of a flower… allowing the work to write itself, because it’s been there all along, waiting for the pen to outline its form.”

K.S.

Maxima Kahn brings so much to her classes on writing. She has a wholeheartedness as well as a palpable desire that her students do well. Her methods are specific, fun, easy to understand, and inspirational. The classes zoom by and the participants encourage each other in their comments on each other’s writing.

M.Q.