For 35 years, Poynter has helped writers develop their skills and gain confidence in the work they do. Here is a listing of how you can learn about writing from Poynter in the first part of 2010.
Learn on your own schedule
- By reading Roy Peter Clark’s “Writing Tools” column, updated every Wednesday.
- By chatting in frequent live discussions where your questions are answered.
- By listening to 50 “Writing Tools” podcasts.
- By taking a free self-directed course, “The Writer’s Workbench: 50 Tools You Can Use.”
- By replaying a Webinar, “The Order of the Word: The Secret to Powerful Prose.”
Learn online with Poynter’s e-learning
- Becoming a More Effective Writer: Clarity and Organization (Feb. 8-26)
Build the reporting and writing habits you need to organize your information better and write more clearly. Whether you write breaking news alerts, meeting summaries, business plans or e-mail, you’ll learn the tools you need to deliver what your readers need and want - More online learning from Poynter’s News University
Learn in person with Poynter faculty
- Making Your Opinion Matter (May 3-7)
Push your opinion writing to a higher level with tips and strategies drawn from award-winning columnists, editorial writers and bloggers. You’ll strengthen your writing muscles, try on different styles and writing voices, and produce work that can be published while you’re here. - Narrative Writing On Deadline (July 19-23)
The elements of narrative writing can bring characters to life and lend texture and power to daily stories that might otherwise fall flat. It all starts with a solid idea and sharp reporting and writing techniques. - More seminars
While Poynter teaches writing in many ways, the guiding values are consistent across methods and over time. These are the guiding values, as described by Roy Peter Clark:
- Anyone anywhere who wants to improve his or her writing should be encouraged to do so.
- The most literate people in a society are those who read critically, write purposefully and talk productively about how meaning is made.
- Stories make us human.
- The gift of language carries the responsibility to write well, whether the message comes in the form of a 140-character Tweet or a 1,000-page book on the war in Afghanistan.
Learn more about Poynter.
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