From hands-on workshops​ to online courses​, there's no excuse to let that short story or screenplay go unwritten this year. Read on, and write on.

Classes

Gale Courses

Busy writers who can’t set aside classroom time can benefit from this online program from the Houston Public Library system, which offers classes in creative writing, business writing, grant writing and publishing.
houstonlibrary.org

Leisure Learning Unlimited

Classes range from beginner-level overviews in fiction, screenwriting and grammar to more intensive courses on creating three-dimensional characters or, you know, writing a book in three weeks or less.
2990 Richmond Ave., 713-529-4414

School of Literacy & Culture at Rice

Rice’s Glasscock School of Continuing Studies offers dynamic courses for writers from virtually any background. The program’s classes include journal writing, story shaping and even a course in children’s and young adult writing.
5615 Kirby Dr., 713-348-5333

Spectrum Center

The Galleria-area holistic center, known for its workshops on psychotherapy and natural healing, also has an in-house writers guild. Along with classes and writing retreats, the center provides private tutoring.
4100 Westheimer Rd., 713-840-8957

Workshops

Inprint

In addition to hosting high-profile authors each year, this literary institution offers fiction, poetry, memoir and nonfiction workshops. Personal essay courses teach would-be authors how to build a narrative and write persuasively.
1520 Main St., 713-521-2026

The Women's Institute of Houston

The institute offers both an eight-week creative writing course focusing on fiction, poetry, memoir and journaling and a 10-week memoir course.
2202 Avalon Pl., 713-529-7123

Writers in the Schools

WITS has teamed up with Houston Public Library to offer a weekly Young Writers Workshop at the HPL Express Library at Discovery Green, which is free and open to Houston kids in grades 2–8.
witshouston.org

Writespace

Founded in 2014, this organization hosts weekly workshops led by local writers, who review members’ work and guide them through revisions. Hate writing alone? Attend a three-hour intensive session, where members meet in a group setting to work on their manuscripts.
Silver Street Studios, 2000 Edwards St., 713-516-5679