Private, Personalized Classes
in Superpower-ful Writing,
Power Pointers to Publishing,
and Reading as a Superpower
with Mary Dezember, Ph.D.
One-Hour, One-To-One, Personalized Instruction
via Zoom
Mary Dezember: Award-winning author of stories and poetry as portals to possibilities.
I am published in poetry, fiction and many non-fiction genres.
I have taught literature, writing, art history, social issues, close reading of literature and art, and reading, writing and visual literacy for more than thirty years.
What I offer in my writing classes:
How to create stories in fiction, nonfiction, memoir, and poetry
that connect with readers
through compelling characters, crafting, style, imagination,
and social consciousness.
What I offer in my Reading as a Superpower class:
Reading can be so much more than breezing through words to unravel the plot. Reading using the Essential 11 enriches the experience
in ways you might have never considered or “seen” before.
Find out more below about all of my private classes, then contact me — it’s time to
DON YOUR MASK!
Do you ever want to talk one-to-one with an author who’s “been there”?
You can! — With a personalized one-hour class with me, Mary Dezember, Ph.D., via Zoom.
How we work together:
We’ll focus on what you want to know about your writing and what you can do for effective, powerful writing.
These are classes for anyone at any stage of their writing — and whether you are writing fiction, poetry, or the many forms of non-fiction, including memoir.
Writers — Two 5-page critiques can be added for $50:
1. a pre-class reading critique of up to 5 pages of your writing (writing sample is emailed to me and I offer suggestions and my critique during the one-hour class period);
2. a post-class reading critique on the revision of your 5-page writing sample via email.
I offer a private class on Pointers for Publishing.
I offer a private class on Reading as a Superpower.
In our one-hour one-to-one class, we cover a lot of information.
Every one-hour private writing class comes with my Essential 11 for Superpower Style in any Genre (Eleven Essential Elements for Literary Style) Worksheet.
Every one-hour private Reading as a Superpower Class comes with my Essential 11 for Superpower Reading Guide.
Both guides are like putting on a “mask” for reading and writing “x-ray vision.”
Notes:
Mask — In my teaching world, the “mask” is the instruction you receive that you can “put on” to give superpower abilities in reading and in writing. It also, especially with writing, can give you a “persona” that puts you into the story world. (Thus, my “mask” doesn’t serve to disguise you; rather, it serves to empower you.) We’ll discuss this more when we meet.
Story is a word I use for any writing. I explain this concept when we meet.
The information I provide is based on my personal and professional experience.
Disclaimer: I cannot and do not give legal advice.
Read below about the private classes:
Then contact me using the button below to schedule a day and time.
Payment:
All one-hour private classes are $177 (US dollars).
Subscribers to my newsletter/mailing list receive $20 off, for a total of $157 (US dollars).
If you are not already a subscriber, you can Sign Up in the box at the bottom of the page.
Pre and post writing samples (5 pages each for a total of 10 pages) for my suggestions/critique is an additional $50 to the class price. ($227 — but $207 for my newsletter/mailing list subscribers.
Do not send payment until we have agreed on a Zoom date and time for our class.
For now, I am collecting payment “old school” — after we have scheduled a time, you will need to send your payment by check or money order to me at:
Mary Dezember
PO Box 7401
Albuquerque, NM 87194
USA
Reading as A Superpower:
Private, One-to-One, One-Hour Class to Discover
the
Essential 11
for Superpower Reading
Reading for the Essential 11 literary elements offers
fun “aha” moments in whatever you read.
This class is like putting on a superpower mask that gives you reading “x-ray vision” to see what you didn’t
before and
to find “clues” and layered meanings, enriching the story or poem into depths you can dive
and heights you can leap.
Instruction is based on my Essential 11 for Superpower Reading Guide, with reading examples provided.
One-to-One Superpower-ful Writing Classes and a Pointers to Publishing Class
Wonders of Writing: Kickstart or Revitalize Your Style and Craft
Wondering about writing? Want to talk about the wonders that writing can add to your life? What to learn about and apply the wonders of writing to your own creativity and craft?
No matter where on the writing journey you are, this private class is for you.
Discover the hero’s quest or rite of passage to identity in your own writing.
Your writing holds a story, whether fiction, poetry, or the many forms of non-fiction, including memoir — in which you are the protagonist, hero and star of your own story!
We will discuss whatever you are wondering about to begin your story or to advance your craft of writing.
Going Pro: Compelling Crafting with Passion, Tenacity, Style
Q: What’s the difference between good writing and riveting writing?
A: Finding the exact words with compelling crafting.
Your ideas are great, your writing is good. What’s next?
Choosing exact words to make your writing compelling.
Exact wording is another level of creative writing that will honor and surpass your great ideas.
This class provides you with several techniques — most are like games — to being a master of your craft through exact wording. One fun technique, which I call Lyrical Crafting, is seeking the “exact” word for layered precision of meaning, sound, and image for any particular context.
Believing in Your Story and Heroic Characters — Human Connection, Human Relations, and Writing ‘A New Day’
Do you believe in your story?
Do you believe in your heroic characters?
What does it mean to have heroic characters?
Writing for human connection helps readers believe in our heroic characters. What our heroic characters do and say is the author writing for a new day.
Historical issues reach into contemporary times. If you don’t want your writing to perpetuate issues that are destructive to the human community, what can you do? What does it mean to write for social consciousness, human connection, and human relationships? How can your writing today help mend the problems created yesterday?
If you want to strengthen your belief in your story and your heroic characters so that your writing of any genre can work toward a new day, this class is for you.
We will focus on how the following three points help you to believe in your story:
The Character/Persona Connection
The Power of Urgency
The Magic of the Muse
I wrote for ‘a new day’ with my historical novel Wild Conviction by having it vetted by sensitivity readers. Also, I did not use historical or contemporary derogatory terms. And I created characters for human connection.
Wild Conviction was awarded Gold Winner of the 2024 Human Relations Indie Book Awards, Historical Realistic Fiction category.
Praise for Mary Dezember’s Writing
“…her lines simmering and ultimately erupting like a geyser, the reader taken on an exhilarating ride.”
— Ann Wehrman, critic, from the review of Still Howling in The Pedestal Magazine
“Mary Dezember’s new collection is enormous in scope, technical skill and experiment, and surprise. An enormous achievement. Poems like ‘Skin Traveler’ are sudden master poems that surprise and please… Read her and be transformed.”
— Willis Barnstone, author of Life Watch and The Restored New Testament and Pulitzer Prize nominee, on Earth-Marked Like You
“Dezember’s work and artistry are defined by her search for soul and her use of poems to speak on her soul’s behalf. The result is edgy, raw, and sensual…Despite her losses, Dezember remains an optimist, testing her theory about the existence of soul-love again and again…”
— Alice Osborn, critic, from the review of Earth-Marked Like You in The Pedestal Magazine
“…With a signature writing style, Dezember expertly weaves together a tale of adventure, self-discovery, and personal growth that will have readers of all ages hooked from the very first page.”
— Suzie Housley, from the review for Wild Conviction in Midwest Book Review
“I simply adore a historical fiction book that is accurate and interesting but, when combined with magnificent writing and incredible characters, the book becomes even more of a success. I can happily tell you that ‘Wild Conviction: Sixteen is Power’ by Mary Dezember is just such a book and, in my opinion, a complete homerun for this author that will pull in both young adult and adult readers from the very first page…”
— Kathy Stickles, from the review of Wild Conviction in Reader Views
“…Yes, Wild Conviction is a triumph of the ‘Triple D Principle’ required for producing a work of this magnitude: Desire, Dedication, and Discipline. Mary Dezember has created a tour de force featuring a strong young woman who displays integrity, independence, empathy, and a commitment to equality—a necessary role model for today's world and any other.”
— T. A. Niles, from T. A.'s Poetic Expressions-Plus
“A smartly plotted, coming-of-age novel with a strong, easy to root for, protagonist. A RED RIBBON WINNER and highly recommended!”
—The Wishing Shelf Book Awards (review of Wild Conviction)
“Strong, unique voice that I am grateful to have the chance to publish.”
— Steven R. Cope, co-editor, Wind Magazine, review of Mary Dezember’s poetry
“Still Howling is the drumbeat we’ve been waiting for in unsettling political times. Mary’s work will inspire you to forge onwards in the long march towards positive social change.”
— Jordan Eddy, cofounder of Strangers Collective, review of Still Howling
“Dezember has created telephone lines through time that reopen essential conversations…most poignantly, through these telephone lines, we hear female voices that have been silenced speak to us, and we must listen closely no matter how enraged we feel…I can’t imagine that in the great cosmic literary and artistic conversations that transcend time that Whitman, Ginsberg, Ferlinghetti, Peters, Franklin, and O’Keeffe are not also giving thanks to Mary Dezember as we all should.”
— Sheila McDermott-Sipe, literary arts educator, review of Still Howling
Power Pointers to Publishing
With a focus on —
Self-Publishing 1-2-3
Or Solving the Mystery of Indie Self-Publishing
Do you have questions about publishing? If you’d like to talk to someone who has “gone the publishing gamut,” then I’m your author.
I have a book of poetry published by a traditional press. I have a book of poetry that I published. Concerning my novel, I spoke with several agents — most commenting that they liked my pitch. However, none offered me representation, and while I could have continued to query, I decided to self publish my novel under my publishing imprint.
I will share my own experiences with publishing and why I made the decisions I did.
If you are considering being an indie author by self-publishing, I have suggestions from going through the process myself. Our hour together will focus on the following:
Solving the Mystery of Indie Self-Publishing — Finding the Tools and Support So Your Book Can Be:
1. Published! — It’s a Reality!
2. Professional — Created with Style and Beauty, While Being Budget-Friendly.
3. Rewarding — Supported by Community, Indie Publishers, Authors, Readers.
That’s Self-Publishing 1-2-3.
Write and publish a book that will make an author proud.
I will answer your questions to the best of my knowledge and experience. I do not give legal advice.
About Mary
Mary Dezember, Ph.D., is an award-winning author of stories and poetry as portals to possibilities.
She believes it helps to make life magical, even if that means simply cuddling a cat, donning a tiara, channeling the muse, or reading a good book. She lives in the Land of Enchantment.
A lover of the beauty and power of language, she states: “We spell words and, arranged well, words can put a spell on us.”
Her novel, Wild Conviction (Brilliant Moon Press), is a richly historical, coming-of-age, socially conscious, epic adventure with touches of magic and love. It examines the historical basis for contemporary social issues and the rite of passage to identity, including the hero’s emotional and intellectual quest.
Wild Conviction is the GOLD WINNER of the 2024 Human Relations Indie Book Awards (Historical Realistic Fiction category), a FINALIST in the 2024 Feathered Quill Book Awards (Teen category), and a RED RIBBON WINNER in the 2023 Wishing Shelf Book Awards (Books for Adults, Fiction, category).
Her publications also include several non-fiction essays and articles, fiction, and two books of poetry: Earth-Marked Like You (Sunstone Press) and Still Howling (CreateSpace Independent Publishing), with the title poem winning First Place in the Best Beat Poem Contest, 2016, sponsored by Beatlick Press.
She holds a doctorate in Comparative Literature with an emphasis in Comparative Arts from Indiana University. In addition to being an author of novels, she is a poet, Professor Emeritus of English at New Mexico Tech (New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology), and a scholar of the arts, literature, and writing.
You can find out more about Mary’s presentations and speaking engagements here.
You can find a partial list of Mary’s non-fiction publications here.
Author Mary Dezember in March 2024
Photo credit: Lauren Cherie Photography
Add magic to your day with reading and/or writing.