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When I started the Village Writing School, people wanted to know why a writing school was needed when you can “learn anything” on the Internet. And my mom asked me every day. “Why don’t you just learn Italian online?”

It’s true. You can learn anything online. There are great apps to learn Italian. Just as there are blogs and classes and MUCH information on how to write a novel. So why did I take weeks out of my life and haul my mom and dog all the way to Florida to study with Antonella at the West Palm Beach Language Institute? And why should you consider a live writing workshop versus online material? A few reasons:

  1. That face-to-face human teacher. A great deal of learning comes from the personal experiences of the teacher. Stephanie Storey had a terrific powerpoint recently when she taught at the Village Writing School, but her anecdotes about the experiences of her writer friends opened up the publishing landscape in a way that her organized material did not. Because Antonella, who is from Rome, leaned back in her chair and laughed as she told me that to split the check at a restaurant is to say, “We make in the way of the Romans,” I’ll never forget that phrase.
  2. Networking. It’s everything. I now have new connections in Italy all the way from Rome to a neighboring village of Certaldo, where I will live, because Antonella got on the phone and told her friends I was moving and that we must get together. When writers network, they share connections as well, and one of those could be worth gold to your career.
  3. Accountability. Yes, you can take writing workshops online and yes I could get Italian apps. I have paid for Rosetta Stone in German and I have the Michel Thomas course in German and I have Duolingo for German. I have a word-a-day German calendar and the Bible on tape in German. I don’t know any German. I started many times to spend thirty minutes a day, etc., but I was never disciplined enough to put that before the many things that came up. But when Antonella piled PAGES of exercises into my hands and said, “Now tomorrow we can go over your answers,” I did them. Because she was invested in me and I didn’t want to disappoint her. Because I had sacrificed time and money to be there and how dumb not to take advantage of the opportunity.
  4. A plan. If all the Italian you want is to order a meal and ask for the bathroom, you can certainly do that online. But I had a longer outlook. And for that, I needed the dreaded grammar. Grammar is like a grid into which you plug the vocabulary you learn.With writing, you can take a workshop online on building character. You can learn to write dialogue. You can read blogs that attempt to explain narrative tension. But it’s a scattershot approach, and how do you know what you really need to study? That’s why for the Village Writing School, I wrote a curriculum and named it Everything You Need to Write a Beautiful Story. I laugh when I say I teach in five Saturdays everything I learned getting an MFA in Fiction, but it’s close to the truth. And in those workshops, I can vary the speed of the presentation to work longer on the elements that seem to be difficult to that particular group. Or I can meet later one-on-one with someone who is struggling with a concept.
  5. Relationships. Antonella and I went to dinner more than once—always to Italian restaurants belonging to her friends. We met for coffee the morning I left, as Irma bore down on Florida. We’re making plans to connect in Rome in November. In the meantime, we’ll be FaceTiming, as I continue to study with her from Italy.

At the Village Writing School, we’re also about relationships. Friendships, even romances, have begun at our events. Writing groups, mentoring, volunteering together, open mics—all are opportunities for a writer or wannabe writer to connect with his tribe. Now of course, we are introverts, so you might say that you visited and didn’t suddenly find a friend. It takes time. Antonella and I were together two hours six days a week for seven weeks. And we both were open to forming a friendship. Part of the mission statement of the VWS is “to promote a vibrant literary community.” A community. A place to belong.

I love the Italian Duolingo app and I continue to play with it. I read writing blogs and take an online workshops from time to time. But I don’t think the internet can ever replace a human being with information to share with another human being in a two-way interaction that includes laughter and, if possible, tiramisu.

How about your own experience? What has worked better for you?

– Alison