Introducing the Writing Academy!

For aspiring and published authors alike!

It has taken me over a year to build this site (I began in February 2023!)—and almost fifteen years of sharing, teaching, and mentoring. But finally, I have compiled all of my writing resources in one easy-to-navigate place.

So behold: Susan Dennard’s Writing Academy.

You’ll notice right off the bat that I have both free resources and a special members-only area. (Scroll down for a coupon!)

Since 2009, I have always provided my writing advice for free. It wasn’t until late 2022 that I ever started to use a paid component—and even then, most of what I have produced since has been available for free.

Why? Because when I decided to learn to write “for real,” I was living off of $13,000CAD a year. So “free” was the only resource I could access.

Later, when I decided to pursue publication, I lived in the middle of nowhere Germany. So “internet” was the only resource I could access.

And I did! I learned so much from hundreds of amazing, generous writers offering their insights, workshops, courses, and coaching all online. So it has always been important to me that I give back in that same way.

If there’s one field where a formal education is not necessary and you can teach yourself all you need to know, it’s storytelling! I wouldn’t want my surgeon to learn that way, but almost every book I’ve ever read has been written without a formal creative education behind it.

All you need is the motivation to hunker in and do the thing. And of course, you also might need the resources with which to teach yourself. (Which can come from anywhere! Many of the places I first learned from still exist online!¹)

And that’s what I hope my Academy will provide: an easy, central place for a new or experienced writer to find the tools they need. Because although I have been giving and teaching for free for all these years, I’ve never organized it all into one location.

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In 2009, I started a blog. Because that’s what everyone did in 2009.

Then in 2010, I joined a group blog of fellow writers—because again, that’s what you did. And I was so excited to connect with other storytellers, each at different points along their journey.

Then in 2014, with more experience with the industry under my belt, I started the Misfits & Daydreamers newsletter—which is obviously still going today, almost exactly one decade later. (You can read that very first issue here. It makes me so happy.)

Over all these years, I have taught free workshops across the country and offered free self-paced courses on my website. I have coordinated the annual charity writing drive, the Mighty Pens, with my longtime incredible pal Kat Brauer. And I’ve done whatever I could to help this community thrive.

Because I really do mean it when I say that giving back matters. I simply would not be where I am today if not for the generosity of others.

Which is why there is a huge portion of the Academy that is for free and will always be for free.

(And why so much of this newsletter continues to be available for free.)

All the resources I once offered on my website’s For Writers page is STILL available entirely for free. I’ve simply reorganized it for easier searching (and cleared out any broken links).

Plus, I have updated and revamped my famed Beginner’s Guide to Revising A Novel! It’s also still for free, and you can access it here.

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Okay, but then what’s this members-only thing, Sooz?

I’m so glad you asked. 😌

For a one-time fee of $99, members get access to the following:

• 90-day upgrade status to this ol’ Misfits & Daydreamers newsletter right here.

  • This can also be added to an existing upgrade, in case you’re already a paid member here!

• Every newsletter I have ever written, going all the way back to 2014. That means hundreds of archived newsletters on the craft of writing, the path to getting published, the life of an author, maintaining motivation, work-life balance, and beyond!

  • You can literally watch in real time as my career goes up…and down…and up….and down over all these years of being in the business!

  • Same for my writing process. You can see the books that were easy compared to the books that were so, so hard.

  • And just like with the Free Archives, these archives are all organized by topic for easy navigation.

• Access to all workbooks—including future ones!

  • Writing an Effective Query Letter: this guidebook walks you step by step through the creation of a strong query letter as well as how to research an agent.

  • More to come!

• Multiple courses—including future ones!

  • How I Write a Novel, Beginners: This course introduces writers to what I do—step by step—whenever I write a new book.

  • How I Write a Novel, Advanced: This two-hour video workshop walks writers through the more advanced, intuitive method I follow when writing.

  • Revisions in Action, Advanced, in which I walk you through my actual revisions for a novel! (And this course will continue to grow as I continue to revise the book.)

  • More to come!

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Like I say above, I realize not everyone can pay. Which is why I’m not changing any of the resources I’ve always offered for free to help writers on their journey. Those resources are simply in a new spot with some refreshed organization and improved coursework.

Even still: I can’t promise you’ll ever finish a manuscript. I can’t promise you’ll ever land an agent or a book deal. And I can’t promise you’ll sell a million copies. No one can make that promise.

What I can do is give you all the tools you need to get yourself across the finish line—and the tools to help you decide what the healthiest finish line is in the first place!

In my fifteen years of doing this, I have experienced the highs of bestsellerdom and awards. And I’ve experienced the lows of rejection and the dreaded “poor sales track.” Because although this might be a business where you can teach yourself everything, it’s also a business with no guarantees.

But I do truly believe a curious writer is a thriving one.

As cheesy as I know I must sound, I can’t emphasize it enough! I genuinely believe that when we push ourselves to constantly learn, while also accepting the inherent instability of this artistic field, then we can thrive both alone and as a community.

And gosh darn it, I want to thrive! And I want you to thrive too!

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Okay, enough of me evangelizing. I know I’m getting obnoxious up here on my soapbox.

I’ll just direct you one last time to the Academy—and oh hey, how about a coupon for M&D subscribers?

Just plug in MD-FIFTEEN at check out to get 15% off.

This offer will be available until May 3, 2024! And thank you! Stay tuned for another newsletter next week—this time on burnout recovery.

💚 - Sooz

1. Now feels like a good moment to say how sad I am over the passing of Janet Reid, a.k.a. Query Shark. Her impact on the publishing world cannot be understated, and I don’t know a single traditionally published writer who did not learn from her resources.