Online Class

Sunday, May 4, 1:00-3:00pm ET

In my workshops and craft seminars, I try hard to stay focused on the work at hand: close reading and rigorous writing, the kinds of attention and imagination possible when we treat the writer’s desk as a space free from outside pressures and anxieties.

This is a class about everything else: all the parts of the writing life that take place away from the desk.

We’ll talk about getting work into the world: submitting to journals, relationships with agents and editors, what a first-book author can do to help their book be successful. We’ll talk about the different things “success” can mean. We’ll talk about how to be a public-facing writer, maintaining a presence online and in the world while cultivating the privacy necessary for creative work, and the challenges of negotiating availability and boundaries with readers.

And we’ll talk about the two biggest (non-writing) challenges of the writing life: time and money. How do advances work? Is it even possible to make a living as a writer, short of selling millions of books? What makes up “the hustle” all the writers I know are constantly talking about? And if we’re all always hustling, how do we find time to write? (I’ve written novels while working full-time as a high school teacher and while living as a full-time writer. Time is always a problem.)

Here’s how it will work: Each registered participant will complete a form outlining questions and topics you want to hear about. Consider everything on the table: agents, editors, time management, finances, “platforms.” As best I can, and as candidly as I can, I'll build the seminar around the answers to your questions.

Two caveats: 1) I’ll try to address as many questions / topics as possible, but can’t promise that there will be time to answer every question received. The Q&A will be another chance for those I miss. 2) I’ll be speaking from my experience and the experience of my friends. That experience is limited and ongoing, and every writer’s life is unique. There will be questions I can’t answer, and in any case my answers may not be helpful to you. But I will be as candid as possible.

The session will be recorded for asynchronous viewing.

Limited full and half scholarships available on a rolling basis. To apply, fill out this form.

All prices in USD.