Des Moines Area Community College.

Continuing Education

Writing and Publishing

Beginner's Guide to Getting Published
Cost: $89
Learn how to give yourself the credibility you need to get your books and articles published. This step-by-step course will give you all the tools you need to get published.


Beginning Writer's Workshop
Cost: $85
If you've dreamed of writing creatively, this course is a great place to start. Get a taste of the writing life, improve your writing skills, and discover new ways to strengthen your creative muscles. It's an in-depth writing experience filled with challenging hands-on exercises, expert advice and plenty of direct support and encouragement.


The Craft of Magazine Writing
Cost: $89
Learn the skills to turn your dreams into bylines and help yourself to a bright future as a magazine writer.

Effective Business Writing
Cost: $89
Learn to develop powerful written documents that draw readers in and keep their attention.

Forensic Science for Writers
Cost: $89
This course will provide you with a quick education in forensic science, revealing all the secrets you’ll need to know in order to write about crimes and crime-solving with knowledge and confidence. You’ll get to know the key players in a criminal investigation—the first responder, the lead investigator, and the crime scene experts. You’ll explore how investigators analyze physical evidence, including blood, DNA, fingerprints, hair, documents, ammunition, and corpses.


Fundamentals of Technical Writing
Cost: $89
Learn the skills you need to succeed in the well-paying field of technical writing. You'll discover the secrets of successful technical writers, including technical writing conventions, interviewing skills, documentation management, publishing and formatting techniques and how to get your first job as a technical writer.

Journaling, Intro to
Cost: $89
Discover how journaling can help you learn more about yourself, explore your dreams, values and beliefs, improve your health, survive unwanted change, succeed in your career, and express your creativity.

Mystery Writing
Cost: $89
Mysteries are hot items on today's bestseller lists. Using vivid examples from best selling mystery novels, this course will teach you the techniques you need to become a successful author. Topics include three-act structure, the difference between plot and story, theme, premise, characters, and viewpoint, plus much more. Develop your original story idea and then brainstorm with the instructor and your fellow students in each lesson's discussion area.

Pleasures of Poetry
Cost: $89
If you want to write poetry, this course will help you create your best possible work. You will discover formal elements of craft, explore poetry topics, and learn how to prepare a manuscript for publication.

Publish it Yourself: How to Start and Operate Your Own Publishing Business
Cost: $89
Convert manuscripts into income by starting your own publishing company. Find out how to plan and design a cover, select paper, register your works, choose a printer, price your products, acquire barcodes, market your books and much more!

Romance Writing Secrets
Cost: $89
Learn how to write and sell romance novels. Topics to be covered include: character chemistry, the power of emotions, the art of romance, and handling love scenes. Plus, you’ll get the inside scoop on what it takes to get published in the romance market.

The Keys to Effective Editing
Cost: $89
If you aspire to be an editor, this course will teach you the fundamentals of top-notch editing for both fiction and non-fiction. If you're already working as an editor, you'll not only brush up on your skills, but will also learn about recent advances in your profession. If you're a writer, you will learn essential self-editing tools to give your manuscripts the professional look that publishers like to see.

Writing Fiction Like a Pro
 Cost: $89
Do you have an idea for a novel or short story but can’t seem to get it on paper?  This is a common experience for anyone who tries to write fiction using creative intuition alone.  What you need is a structure to guide you.  You’ll develop your own original story, beginning with your passion and theme.  From these you’ll discover your characters, their flaws, and the inner struggles that will bring them to life.  Then, you’ll structure your story, from start to finish.  Once you have mastered the techniques taught in this course, you’ll be prepared to … write fiction like a pro.

Write Your Life Story
Cost: $89
Learn how to create and distribute an inspirational and professional autobiography for family, friends, and others. Writing the story of your life can heal, inspire, and entertain. This course takes you from idea to complete manuscript.

Writerific
Cost: $89
Liberate your imaginative, creative genius and eliminate writer's block by using the tricks of published writers.

Writerific 2
Cost: $89
Increase writing confidence. Learn advanced methods to create/write whether you're starting a career or seeking personal satisfaction through writing. You'll learn to be the writer you've wanted to be and have fun.

Writer’s Guide to Descriptive Settings
Cost: $89
This course is filled with hands-on exercises that will help you create fascinating and unique works of fiction or nonfiction. You’ll begin by learning how to improve your powers of observation and description, become skilled at gathering and organizing important facts about people, places, foods, customs, and events in your community, etc.

Writing for Children
Cost: $89
In this highly interactive, hands-on course, you'll take pen to paper and begin to work on your first fiction or nonfiction manuscript. You'll explore the changing world of children's literature and understand the various formats - from baby's first books to novels for young adults. By researching the genre and recognizing niche players, you'll open doors of opportunity, many of which you may not have previously considered.

Writing Great Technical Documents
Cost: $89
Learn how to polish your writing and improve the effectiveness of your technical documentation. You'll learn how to choose the right words, write powerful sentences and paragraphs that flow, use technical terms, improve your grammar and punctuation, use graphics, and format your technical documents to get results.