Flash Out a Short Essay in Half a Day

A Rare Writing Workshop

May 12, 2022

I am honored to offer you this online workshop. I’m doing it in deep support and love for a friend, Holly Haworth, who was a student of mine at Wildbranch Workshop in Vermont over a decade ago. She’s raising money to get her first book finished. You know that I don’t offer many writing workshops—there are simply other things that tug more insistently at me. At this particular moment in life, for example, I’m trying to “Always Be Finishing Something.” I’ve started a lot of projects that I’m determined to complete, plus it’s spring and there’s the garden. You know that drill.

If you’re interested, I’ll guide you in writing a short essay in one morning (or afternoon) from the comfort of your own writing room. The short essay holds infinite possibilities for publishing, from a magazine-ready piece to a well-crafted post to meaningful newsletter copy to a short chapter in a book you’re working on. You can Zoom from idea to finished product in a matter of a few hours.
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Let me say right away that this is probably not a workshop for beginners. This is going to be results-oriented & somewhat fast-paced, and you will want to already be writing, even if it’s in your journal (and maybe especially if it’s in your journal.)

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Make yourself a thermos of tea and come to class with three ideas you’d like to work with.

You’ll make a storymap.

You’ll write a long scene (this will be where the major bit of writing takes place, but don’t be intimidated—we’ll ease our way to this place).

You’ll start to craft by doing a ton of revisions on this scene, shaping it as we work.

In between exercises, I will talk about driving lines, narrative arcs, and leads.

You’ll take away five solid ways to break narrative’s curse of boredom and write like a poet, meaning lyrically, with soaring, quotable lines.

During the last half-hour we will brainstorm places to publish.

Class includes handouts sent via email.
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For the time being, I’m offering 2 dates. If absolutely neither of these work for you, then we’ll open up space in June. These dates are

Saturday, May 14, 9am-1pm

or

Sunday, May 22 3-7pm

`To register, do 2 things:`

1. First, let me know which of the dates you want.

Email is the best way to communicate. My email address is wildfire1491 at yahoo.

Also, if you don’t mind quickly sketching out an idea, send that. Just one sentence is plenty. It’ll save time when we meet if you’re already clear about an idea for a flash essay. If you’re working with a huge topic, see if you can narrow it down to a size that will be more manageable in 500 words. And if you don’t have an idea yet, let me know that too.

2. Pay.

You’ll need to go on Holly’s Kickstarter & kick in $49. Here is the link—go there, set up a quick account if you don’t have one already, & simply donate $49. Select no reward.

If you have plenty of money & want my feedback on your essay, kick in $99. Feedback includes both line edits & copyediting via Track Changes plus at least 1 double-spaced page of comments.