Begins Saturday, June 21st, 2025

The class will meet weekly via Zoom on Saturdays, 10:00AM - 1:00PM Pacific

Any questions about this class? Use the Chat Button (lower left) to talk with us.

Led Samantha Ladwig, an essayist and book reviewer based on a small island in the Salish Sea. Her writing has been published by The Cut, Literary Hub, Vulture, Bustle, Vice, BUST, Real Simple, HuffPost, and Vox, among many others. She is a two-time Centrum Artist in Residence ('24/'25) and a Tin House Winter Workshop '25 alum. A former bookstore owner, Samantha is currently at work on a memoir-in-essays.

Read an Interview with Samantha about Going from Idea to First Draft. 

In this four-week generative workshop, participants will learn how to shape their experiences into essays that connect with readers, ultimately creating a solid first draft with knowledge of how to edit and submit their work.

When done well, personal essays show how a moment, big or small, changed the writer. In this 4-week workshop, participants will learn how to do just that - mine their experiences and intersect them with their own unique perspective to create a compelling first draft that will appeal to editors.

This is a generative, feedback-based workshop open to writers of all levels with discussions on editing, pitching your work, and techniques for finding the story within an event.

Over four weeks, you’ll learn how to:

Shape Your Experiences: Discover how to turn moments, big or small, into powerful narratives that resonate with readers.

Develop Your Unique Voice: Harness your perspective to create stand-out essays.

Edit and Refine: Gain valuable insights into editing your work, ensuring your first draft is polished and ready for submission.

Pitch Your Essays: Learn effective techniques for pitching your essays to editors and getting your work published.

This workshop is open to writers of all levels. You’ll participate in feedback-based sessions, engaging discussions on editing and pitching, and exercises that help you find the story within your experiences.

By the end of the course, you’ll have a solid first draft and the tools you need to continue refining and submitting your work.

Join us for an inspiring and supportive journey from idea to first draft. Sign up now and start turning your personal moments into essays that connect and inspire!

Samantha will provide essays by Damilola Oyedele and Lily Dancyger, as well as pitch examples.

COURSE TAKEAWAYS:

• Learn how to mine your lives and intersect significant moments, big and small, with your own unique perspective. 
  
• Learn editing techniques they can apply to current and future work.
• The do’s and don’t of pitching editors.
• Students will complete a first draft by the time the workshop wraps.
  

COURSE OUTLINE:

Week 1: Reading discussion, finding your unique angle

Week 2: Group feedback

Week 3: Group feedback, pitching your work 

Week 4: Group feedback, editing your work

ONLINE COURSE STRUCTURE:

This class meets weekly via Zoom. Come prepared for a super fun class with live interaction on Zoom each week and plenty of writing, reading, and talking!

• Samantha Ladwig | Live via Zoom

• Begins Saturday, June 21st, 2025
  

• The class will meet weekly via Zoom on Saturdays, 10:00AM - 1:00PM Pacific

Contact us HERE if you have any questions about this class.