Starts Wednesday, October 1st, 2025

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

Samantha Ladwig is 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 working 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 a vibrant online classroom, receive feedback and enjoy 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 is entirely asynchronous which means you complete the weekly assignments on your own schedule. There are no set meeting times in order to allow for greater participation; your cohort will consist of writers from across different time zones, which allows for a wonderful diversity of voices.

Along with your weekly deadlines there is plenty of interaction with Samantha and your peers within Wet Ink, our dedicated online classroom. Craft materials, lectures, reading assignments, and writing prompts are all available through the online classroom. Students also post work and provide and receive feedback within the online classroom environment.

You can get the work done as you see fit week-to-week, so it is perfect for any schedule. There are discussion questions each week inspired by the assigned readings and topics in the lecture notes. Students are encouraged to take these wherever is most compelling and/or useful for them. Samantha engages with these discussions throughout the week and you will receive feedback from all assigned writing activities.

HOW DOES WET INK WORK?

Wet Ink was built and designed specifically for online writing classes. Wet Ink is private, easy to use, and very interactive. You can learn more about the Wet Ink platform by Watching a Class Demo.

• Samantha Ladwig

• Begins Wednesday, October 1st, 2025

• Course is fully ONLINE; students can work according to their own schedule within weekly deadlines. Once you have enrolled the instructor will send you a link to our online classroom, provided via Wet Ink.

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