Before the Ink Dries

Summer 2024 College Essay Boot Camps Dates Posted February/March 2024

Summer 2023 below for reference:

Enrollment started May 8th!

Please use the Contact me button below!

Come ENJOY writing your college essay! Or at least just get it done! And get it done well!

Or come take a class and marvel in the delight of putting words to the page—create something you love, something you’ll want to read back again and again — a gift that you’ll wish to read to others: a document that freezes a moment in your life.

Please use the “Contact Us" page to be added to the email list.

Classes are for four to six students and are taught in person; however they can be virtual if we discuss it and it truly makes sense.

All classes are held in Stowe, Vermont.

We will use both the conventional and tried-and-true to write our best stories.

We will work inside at tables and outside under trees. We will read out loud and silently. We will listen intently.

We will endeavor to learn to read and write like writers — ourselves — the writers that we are inside — hearing our own stories in the context of what makes a story a great one.

The course will have about 3-5 hours of homework spread out over the course; however, this is just an estimate. The time and focus put into the course will, as with most things in life, determine the amount taken away from the class and the quality of the final essay.

Come with an open mind and focus.
Leave understanding how writers make choices. Write with new purpose. And get your college essay done.

PAST Summet Dates and Times (2023)

SUMMER 2024 posted in Feb/March

Please use the contact button to be added to the email list

JUNE: (2023 for reference)

SESSION I: June 21st through June 25th
SESSION II: June 28th through July 1st

AUGUST: (2023 for reference)
SESSION III: August 9th and August 10th
SESSION IV: August 11th through August 13th
SESSION V: August 11th and August 12th

Living in the basement?
Wishing you lived in the basement?
Wondering if you picked the right college?
Grad school? Job?
Wondering everything?

Or are you a parenting wishing your child wondered more?
Wishing your child wondered less?
Or had something to hang his or her hat on?

That’s what I do.
I help with the wondering.
I help with direction —
a little guidance, coaching —
I’m between a gentle breeze and an extra paddle.

Mentoring, coaching, and teaching — this is my wheelhouse.
I love to connect with people,
especially younger ones. And I love to help them discover their unique strengths, passions, and paths.

I am licensed to administer the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTIⓒ), and use it (among other tools) with great success in my coaching practice.

It took me nine “careers” — including medicine, banking, advertising, and teaching to get where I am. Had I had had a little more guidance back between the ages of 18-26, my path might have been much straighter. But, then again, I would probably wouldn’t be here, doing this.

And this feels much like a calling.

Please let me tell you more.

You can contact me here, below,
or kimpope@gmail.com

See also
www.redirecttruenorth.com

WINTER 2024 NARRATIVE (COLLEGE ESSAY) WORKSHOPS:

Narrative I&II: Weekend Intensive ($275)

March 29th (Friday) — 6pm-830pm and

March 30th, Saturday — 930am-1pm

Narrative I Winter Evening Series

TBD

WINTER 2024 DAY TIME WRITING WORKSHOPS

Write Your Life Story I ($245)

January 3, 10, 17

830am-1015am

Write Your Life Story II ($245)

Jan 24, 31, Feb 7

830am-1015am

Sign up for both My Life Story I & Ii at the outset and take $100 (20%) off both courses

COURSES:

Narrative 1:
The Personal Essay
Object/Description

Narrative 2:
The Personal Essay
Drama/Tension/Pacing

”My Life Story”—Narrative Memoir

Summer 2024 COLLEGE ESSAY Boot Camps Will Be Posted Feb/March. Please use the contact tab to be added to the mailing list!

Everyone has a story.
Really good ones.

It’s time to write yours.

Let a little bit of guidance, a touch of instruction, a few model essays, and a tried and true workshop format help you get those stories down on paper.

You know, the ones you’ve always meant to write down.

Class Dates & Pricing now posted for Winter 2024

Please be in touch if you would like to arrange a private class for up to eight students -- I offer writing classes for students high school-aged to adult.

Classes are either virtual or in-person, held in Stowe, Vermont.

Classes cannot be a mixed format.

When classes are full, it will be posted. Please email and ask to be added to the waitlist.

Students will be given a spot off of the waitlist in the order in which they were added to the waitlist. If a person does not opt to take an open spot when it becomes free, the next student will be contacted.

50% of the class fee is due at enrollment. It is non-refundable unless the class does not have enough enrollment to run.

The remaining 50% is due by 14 calendar days before the first class. Any payment not made in full by this time will result in your spot being forfeited to a person on the waitlist. There are no exceptions. Our waitlist numbers can exceed spots in the class and this policy keeps it fair for everyone.

There is a 10% sibling discount for a sibling enrolled in a class within 12 months of a prior class’ start date. Please email in advance with questions.

Classes need a minimum of four to run and cap at a maximum of six.

Students need to bring a laptop, appropriate lunch/snacks, water, and outdoor clothing. We spend some of our class time outdoors.

A list of what to bring will be provided in advance of the first class.

Cell phones are allowed at breaks, but at no other times during class.

Appropriate dress, language, and behavior are expected at all times. A student will be sent home and asked to change or asked to leave for the day if this is not followed out of resepct for other students' and my time if this cannot be followed after two warnings.

Kim Pope and Truest North LLC reserve the rights to the following -- including but not limited to: all proprietary images, text, and logos, any and all proprietary materials distributed and taught during any course or tutoring arrangement, any and all verbally exchanged “tricks” and or “Ink Dries Methods.”

I am passionate about good writing — reading it, doing it, and teaching it.

A well-written note, text, letter, essay, story—it can change everything. Words say what we often cannot. Words open doors.

Our words matter. And those who know how to use words to their advantage, have a huge, well, advantage.

I graduated from Harvard College in June 2001, amd over the last 20 years, wrote, edited, and published while employed in various roles in the business and medical worlds — as well as taught English and Writing for 14 years in both private and public schools.

In 2004, I received a Master’s in English from the Bread Loaf School of English at Middlebury College, and in 2007 began teaching at The International School of Boston in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

While at The International School, I developed a “Personal Essay” elective, which I taught over two years in the 10th and 11th grades. The class culminated with each student writing a personal narrative during the 11th grade spring term. In the end, that final assignment usually became each student’s college admissions essay.

Additionally, I was a college alumni interviewer for Harvard for several years, and while I did not read students’ essays, I did see first-hand what made a candidate shine in the admissions arena. (I no longer interview because it is a conflict of interest.)

In short, I believe that students leave my course with a newfound appreciation for writing. I think they are better able to read “like writers,” and understand why authors make the choices that they do. Many leave newly enjoying writing — or enjoying it more than ever before.

I love teaching writing, and I feel that I connect with students in a special way -- as teacher and mentor.