I’ve found an online course I think I can complete and enjoy. It’s offered by UC Berkeley Extension. The full title is English X482 – 015 Creative Nonfiction Workshop. It runs from mid-May into August. 

Doesn’t this course description sound interesting?

“Learn to apply the techniques of storytelling to nonfiction prose pieces, including personal essays, features, commentaries, reviews, reports, journal entries and memoirs. Together, the instructor and other participants form your audience, offering support and critical feedback about your pieces. Weekly class discussions and writing assignments focus on story principles—such as plot, tension, scene and dialogue—that increase the readability of your work and form your material into publishable pieces.”

This course may help me write better and perhaps not feel so alone. Nearly all of the on-line and in person writer groups I’ve read about focus on fiction or on writing the Great American Novel. I’m not interested in either, I live in a world of non-fiction articles from 500 to 5,000 words. Although I’m fairly happy with my magazine and newspaper writing style, I look forward to being challenged and helped by other writers.

Perhaps you can find something you like in their catalog: http://extension.berkeley.edu/

Update: The course is actually called a workshop. That may explain the light work load.