What is MasterClass Monday?

Sharing reflections on lessons about the craft of writing and living the life of a creative

You know I love writing. You know I love community. If you are new to hanging out with me, you may not know that I also love learning and spreading the learning love. In short, that’s what’s birthed this new series in Stop Writing Alone Substack community. Read on to see what the plan is and to see how you can get a FREE PASS GUEST PASS TO MASTERCLASS.

What is MasterClass?

There are a lot of official definitions of what the online subscription MasterClass is, but when people ask me, I always begin with, “It’s kind of like edutainment for grown-ups.” I was raised on Sesame Street and The Muppets, so I love when learning is packaged with pop culture and celebrity. I know many educators who abhor this, but I’m a sucker for it, so when I first started seeing ads for MasterClass invade my social media feeds, particularly with a MasterClass taught by one of the authors had been seriously fan-girling at that moment (Neil Gaiman), I was hooked.

Masterclass is an online school for the curious. You can focus on classes in one subject area, or pop around and learn about whatever you want from people who are actually working within those fields. I have been subscriber to MasterClass for a number of years and their library of “educators” has grown seemingly exponentially. The categories of learning vary and, in the category of Writing MasterClasses there are now over 20 classes alone.

categories of classes in MasterClass

What’s My Plan for MasterClass Monday?

I have enjoyed learning about the craft of Writing from Neil Gaiman, Amy Tan, NK Jemison, Joyce Carol Oates, Judy Blume, Shonda Rhimes, and more. In Happy Campers Club, live Zoom calls in the Stop Writing Alone community, and even on the Stop Writing Alone podcast, things I have learned through all of these MasterClasses has come up in conversation, but I wanted to formalize the sharing of this information a bit more. Since the Stop Writing Alone paid subscribers decided Goal Setting was better served with a live Zoom call than the Monday check-in posts, I needed something new to fill in the Monday post slot, hence MasterClass Monday begins this month.

What’s with the Guest Pass?

Every couple of months, as a subscriber to MasterClass they send me guest passes to share with a friend. I usually do a shout out to the Stop Writing Alone Network to see who wants one.

It’s happened again. They’ve given me three free guest passes and I have until October 7th to give them out. Here’s how they work:

• I think you can only use it if you never used one before

• They are 14-day passes that begin the day you sign up to accept it, but give you free access to all of the classes

• When you sign up for the pass, MasterClass does ask for your payment information, so I think you have to make sure you cancel at the end of the term if you don’t want to be a subscriber ($180 for the year).

If you are interested in checking this out, email me at stopwritingalone@substack.com with the subject line: MASTERCLASS PASS. The first three people who reach out to me (before October 7th) will get the link.

When Does MasterClass Monday Begin?

I will be sharing the first official MasterClass Monday post this evening with the entire Stop Writing Alone Substack community! Make sure you are subscribed to get that delivered right to your inbox!