The Personal Essay in Progress

This new workshop is designed for writers who are already working on a variety of personal essay projects and want to receive regular feedback on them in a supportive and constructively critical environment. Each week, three to five students will bring in up to 5 pages (approximately 1,250-1,500 words) of a personal essay draft and receive on-the-spot feedback. Depending on enrollment, each student should expect to workshop at least three essay "chunks.” Based on students' needs, goals, and issues as they arise, the workshop will also offer weekly in-class readings, craft lessons, and exercises in order to practice techniques and explore solutions to common challenges faced by personal essay writers. The class is designed to be nimble, reactive, and require very little of students outside of class, so that you can focus on your work. The instructor will offer written feedback on one complete draft of any single essay. For intermediate and advanced students.