Create your own experience with our Independent Study Journey. Meet as a pair, attend events of interest, and use coursework to help you plan creative projects and meet your goals.
1 Cycle
Civil Discourse: Connection & Persuasion (Summer 2025)
In this one-cycle journey, mentees will develop essential skills in public speaking, argumentation, and critical thinking. Through engaging activities and interactive discussions, participants will learn to craft persuasive speeches, construct well-reasoned arguments, and present their ideas with confidence. They will explore techniques for effective communication, refine their ability to think critically under pressure, and practice responding to diverse perspectives in a structured setting.
Community Togetherness (Summer 2025)
Come together in this wellness-focused Journey based in collaborative writing prompts and support for one another.
College & MFA Preparation (Summer 2025)
Preparing an application for college or graduate school can be a daunting experience. Join us for a Journey that unpacks everything you need to know about finding college and graduate school programs, applying to school, preparing personal essays, and getting the most out of your college or graduate school experience. (Mentees: ages 14-18; Mentors: ages 19+)
Aloud: Songwriting & Spoken Word (Summer 2025)
Enhance the power of your words by speaking or singing them aloud. In this journey, we’ll examine a variety of ways to share creative work using our voices and audio techniques with open mic events, podcasts, and songwriting.
Social Media & Marketing (Summer 2025)
This Journey is designed for mentees and mentors who want to understand the power of social media and how to use it effectively to grow an audience, promote their work, and build a personal or professional brand. From crafting engaging posts to creating a consistent online presence, this course covers the essential strategies and tools needed to thrive in the world of digital marketing.
Book Club: Summer Read (Summer 2025)
Each cycle, we’ll close read three new books and discuss them at monthly fixed meetings. When you apply, you can recommend a book that might be chosen for the journey! We’ll focus, in particular, on reading as writers and taking note of the ways each author crafts their story.
Read: Memoir (Spring 2025)
Each cycle, we’ll close read a new book and discuss it at monthly fixed meetings. We’ll focus, in particular, on reading as writers and taking note of the ways each author crafts their story. This cycle, we’ll be reading How to Say Babylon: A Memoir by Safiya Sinclair.
Careers for Creatives: Unexpected Opportunities
The Careers for Creatives: Unexpected Opportunities Journey is perfect for mentees and mentors who are looking to turn their passion for storytelling, content creation, or journalism into a career. Through a dynamic online course, mentoring sessions, and live networking events, you will explore various career paths available to writers today, learn practical skills to help you succeed, and discover how to build a sustainable career that aligns with your interests and strengths. Discover career paths in finance, technology, corporate communications, publishing and more!
Audio Storytelling (Spring 2025)
The Audiobooks Journey is for mentees and mentors who want to learn about the ways publishing companies create audio books and other audible content for publication.
On-Demand Mentoring Sessions (Spring 2025)
On-Demand Mentoring sessions are available for young writers who would like support or advice on a specific topic. These sessions are offered for Career Development, College Preparation, Creative Writing, or Wellness.
Zine Production (Fall 2025)
The Zine Production Journey is an initiative to create a short print publication centered around a specific theme. Mentees and mentors who participate in this Journey will focus their creativity on designing written pieces of nonfiction, fiction, or poetry to be printed the next edition of Girls Write Now’s zine series, Take Me With You.
This cycles’ zine will be focused on the theme of Nature. Pieces will discuss observations of the natural world and our natural selves.
College Research (Fall 2024)
College Research is available for two cohorts of mentees and mentors: those with a general interest in pursuing graduate education, including how to prepare for graduate studies, and undergraduate students who are already committed to graduate school and wish to show that commitment through an early research-intensive project.
Perspectives on Editorial (Spring 2025)
Embrace editing as an essential aspect of writing in this journey that leads you through lessons and experiences that explore everything from line edits and grammar to the psychology of revision. Great for individuals who are interested in honing their skills for editing their own creative work (and the work of others!)
Perspectives on Publishing & Marketing (Spring 2025)
Learn about the different ways to publish multimedia work and the fundamentals of marketing yourself and your work.
What’s the difference between Traditional Publishing and Independent Publishing? How is publishing a podcast different than publishing a literary magazine? What is the right path of publication for you?