Class Description
Do you have an idea you want to explore in writing, or an experience you’d like to capture on the page, but aren’t sure where to begin? Does the prospect of writing about yourself, or people you know, give you pause? Are you accustomed to academic or business nonfiction, but want to learn to take a more creative approach? Have you ever read an essay that changed your life, and thought, “I want to do that, but how?”
How to Write a Personal Essay will cover all the fundamentals of essay writing, and will set you up with everything you need to know to start writing about your ideas and experiences with confidence and creativity. We’ll cover the fundamentals of what makes for a great personal essay, the many shapes personal essays can take, ethical methods for writing about real life and real people, and what the publication process is like. You’ll have a chance to connect with other aspiring essayists, develop and share your essay “elevator pitch” with the group, and leave with a set of individualized questions to further prompt your writing. Towards the end of class, we’ll discuss upcoming opportunities to continue your essay writing journey in an upcoming GrubStreet workshop.
Writing Roadmap: We've created a simple, goal-based writing roadmap to help you find the perfect GrubStreet course for your writing needs.
Thanks to the excellent literary citizenship of our donors, scholarships are available for all GrubStreet classes. To apply, click the gray "APPLY FOR SCHOLARSHIP" button. In order to be considered for a scholarship, you must complete your application at least one week before the start date of a class. Please await our scholarship committee's decision before registering for the class. We cannot hold spots in classes, so the sooner you apply, the better. Scholarships cannot be applied retroactively.
For more detailed information about GrubStreet scholarships, including how to contribute to scholarship funds for other students, click here.
This class will take place using Zoom videoconferencing. After registering, a yellow Resources tab will appear in this section containing a link to join class. Please note that you will need to be logged into view the Resources tab.
Zoom Participation:
In our experience, the intimate nature of a writing workshop benefits from on-camera participation. Students are of course welcome to turn their camera off whenever they need to, but it is a community norm for cameras to be on most of the time. You can learn more about using Zoom here.
Zoom Accessibility:
You can enable closed captioning at any time during the meeting by clicking the CC button at the bottom of the screen. If you'd like to access the transcript after class, please make sure to let your instructor ahead of time that you'd like a copy.