30 Sketches in 30 Days
with Colin Corrigan

Imagine a great painter’s sketchbook, tucked into an inside pocket and opened whenever the moment presents itself: on the train, while her baby sleeps, or in the quiet of the morning with her coffee. On its pages, she scribbles and shades an image that might become her masterpiece, one she may soon forget, or nineteen attempts to get an ear just right. These sketches refine her craft, spark ideas for larger works, and hold a beauty and value all their own.
This course will guide you in creating your own 30-page sketchbook—in words. Each morning, you’ll receive a new prompt designed to inspire a brief (100–300 word) scene drawn from your life or imagination. Each prompt includes a craft tip to experiment with—a tool to add to your kit—and a process note to keep you motivated. Your sketches can serve as starting points for new, longer works, be incorporated into ongoing projects, or stand alone as complete pieces.
We’ll begin with the senses, then move through people, places, literature, and art before exploring your personal history and deeper preoccupations. You can share your creations with classmates or keep them private, with the option to read and comment on others’ sketches.
Each week, I will provide gentle, generative feedback on one of your submissions. By the end of the month, you’ll have thirty new creations to develop, revise, or simply enjoy—and you’ll have had a lot of fun along the way.
Who This Course is For
This course is for anyone who would like to establish a consistent writing practice (at least for a month!). Whether you’re a novice or veteran writer—of fiction, nonfiction, or both—you’ll get the motivation and guidance you need to develop your artistic habit and produce a series of brand-new word sketches.
Learning Goals and Writing Goals
Learning Goals
In this course, you will learn to:
- Develop or enhance your understanding of how inspiration can be found in all sorts of places.
- Practice turning abstract ideas or fleeting notions into concrete scenes.
- Engage with a series of prompts that help you identify and develop story-worthy material.
- Reinforce a habit of writing every day, and an appreciation of the value that can bring to your life.
Writing Goals
In this course, you will:
- Write thirty new sketches (100-300 words), to be developed, incorporated into other pieces, or left as is.
- Offer (optional) constructive, generative feedback to your classmates.
- Process feedback from your classmates and your instructor.
Weekly Syllabus
Week One: The Senses
We’ll begin by exploring the world with our writing in the same ways we experience it—through our senses. In your sketches, you’ll set about weaving what Flannery O’Connor called the texture of existence.
Week Two: People & Places
Most great stories are centered around compelling characters, and take place in engrossing settings. This week our starting points will each feature a specific person or location of your choosing.
Week Three: Literature & Art
All stories are founded upon other stories, all art draws on a tradition. This week we’ll seek inspiration from your favorite literature as well as other art forms—music, painting, architecture, puppetry—whatever gets your creativity flowing.
Week Four: Personal History & Preoccupations
Every story we write will turn out to be, in one way or another, about ourselves. This week’s prompts will ask you to leaf back through your memories, and investigate your anxieties, to produce sketches that are fresh, new, and uniquely yours.
Why Take a Sketch Drawing Course with Writers.com?
- We welcome writers of all backgrounds and experience levels, and we are here for one reason: to support you on your writing journey.
- Small groups keep our online writing courses lively and intimate.
- Work through your weekly lectures, course materials, and writing assignments at your own pace.
- Share and discuss your work with fellow writers in a supportive course environment.
- Award-winning instructor Colin Corrigan will offer you direct, personal feedback.
$395.00Enroll Now
Student Feedback for Colin Corrigan:
What I love about this class is how much it’s given me tools that I feel I can keep using. It introduces structure and process into the revision journey, which sometimes has felt more unmanageable to me in the past. Just fantastic! Zoë G.
This workshop was my favorite writing class I’ve taken to date—and I’ve taken a lot of writing classes. The atmosphere was welcoming, safe, and nurturing, while also providing room for growth and discovery. I can’t say enough how much I appreciated this class. I’m sad it’s over! Lauren Harkawik
The workshops were amazing and Colin was incredibly well organized, supportive, encouraging, a great discussion prompter and gave very helpful feedback. Ann Cami
Regardless of whether the student was inexperienced (me) or very knowledgable and on a different level, Colin pushed them a little farther making them better writers. Nice work, Colin. Sam B
I learned a lot, the instructor was awesome, so nice, welcoming, gave great feedback without making us feel discouraged. I loved the entire class, the prompts, the sharing of the essays. I finally actually did write instead of just think about it! I also discovered how much fun writing is for me once I stop over-thinking, over-judging, and over-analyzing. It was so much fun! The highlight of my week for the last 6 weeks. Stefanie Gauguet
Colin was a marvelous teacher! He was so clear about his expectations and the course was so well designed to take a close look at one of our short stories. I learned so much about how to go about revising—it is not just magical thinking! it is a careful checklist of qualities. Colin gave us an invaluable checklist! Thank you, Colin! Kate Sullivan
This class was amazing. Colin is a great teacher and the atmosphere was lively. The class gave me courage to continue on my path. I found it to be intimate and insightful. Deirdre Reddington
The class far exceeded my expectations in how much I learned about short story revision. I am walking away from this class with so much more knowledge and confidence about the revision process. Nancy S.
I must say that the class exceeded all of my expectations on every possible front! At the risk of sounding sappy, I must say this has been the best writing instruction I have ever received! The instructor, Colin Corrigan, was incredibly knowledgable and supportive and structured the class perfectly. Colin’s videotaped lessons were full of helpful information and he selected craft articles and short stories that matched his lesson content perfectly. Even students in the class who had received their MFA’s reported that they were learning new things from these articles and lessons. He established a supportive atmosphere, right off the bat, building trust within the group, and provided us with the most specific and helpful guidelines for offering and receiving writing feedback that I’ve ever seen in my life. The assignments each week were incredibly helpful and relevant and I will use them again for other pieces that I write. Colin was responsive and always participated in every discussion in a meaningful way, but he never dominated the discussion. He knew to wait, to let his students share first, and made sure to remark on the comments of all of his students over the course of the class. He had a way of making us all feel valued in the group. Our class was filled with thoughtful, talented, generous, readers and this added to my enjoyment as well. Many participants were very experienced; some were writing teachers, most were published in numerous places, several had received their MFA’s, and yet Colin was clearly the teacher of this group, adding to the discussion, elevating it, and helping us all to grow from where we started. His critiques were thoughtful and insightful. I left the class with a much more polished short story, but even more importantly, with a new understanding of the revision process and a lot of tools for improving my other work. Alison Bullock