In-Person Series: “Pathway to the Personal: Writing Essays and Memoir” with Julie Poole

$225 for Members
$405 for Non-Members

Writing personal essay and memoir requires the rigorous belief that our personal experiences matter. The material of our lives cannot be brushed aside, silenced, or treated as insignificant when the art of personal writing aims to find connection—an intimacy with oneself and others. The gift of memoir is that it makes us feel less alone.

Together, we will find a path into our stories through exploring different techniques to locate an essay’s beginning and end. We will work on locating a story’s structure, voice, and timeline, paying close attention to common pitfalls that tend to slow readers down. A portion of each class will be devoted to silent writing, so you will have the time to put words down. Volunteers will be selected to read their most current work, receiving supportive encouragement from fellow writers. Weekly assigned readings will demonstrate different structural approaches to the personal essays and memoir, highlighting the forms flexibility. By the end of this course, you will have written piece that you are proud of and a clear vision for where to take your story next.

This is an in-person class series, taking place in Austin, TX.

This class series will be held in the Munday Library (3001 S Congress Ave Building LIBR, Austin, TX 78704) at the St. Edward’s College campus across three Saturdays. It will not be recorded, or made available online.

There will be paid parking ($6/day) available onsite if you pre-register your car. There is also a bus stop within walking distance, serving route 1 and route 486. More details will be provided prior to the first class date.

Individual Class Details

Week 1 (February 7 from 1:00-4:00 PM CST):

Permission to Speak: All too often, we’re told, in so many small ways, that personal essays and memoir is somehow self-involved and overly indulgent. These false messages tell us to say quiet. We’re filled with dread about who could get hurt if we tell the truth all the way.

Using readings from Melissa Febos’s Body Work: The Radical Power of Personal Narrative, we will examine what our stories need. Class discussion will approach the topic of “withholding.” We’ll ask what holds us back as writers? What fears get in our way? For our in-class writing session, we’ll pay close attention to how to craft a scene. Several volunteers will be selected to share their own work, as we get closer to understanding how scenes are essential building blocks for story.

Week 2 (February 14 from 1:00-4:00 PM CST):

Identifying the Story: Love, loss, violence, addiction, betrayal—these, and many other, experiences, are the material for personal narratives. Due to how profoundly these experiences change us, it can be difficult to identify what our stories are about. Vivian Gornick’s The Situation and the Story is a wonderful launching point to discuss how meaning and material intersect.

For our in-class writing session, we will examine how scenes and dialog work together to convey relatable human struggles. Several volunteers will be selected to share their own work, as we get closer to understanding how dialog is essential for moving the narrative forward.

Week 3 (February 21 from 1:00-4:00 PM CST):

Finding a Shape: Story structure often comes late in the writing game. For personal essays and memoir, in particular, it can be difficult to identify the right beginning, middle, and end. We’ll take a look at several essay examples and address how they handle the challenges of story structure and time. Our in-class writing session will experiment with a structural form to create a sense of narrative completeness. We’ll muddle through the dilemma of knowing when a story should end, and how best to navigate complex chronologies. Several volunteers will be selected to share their own work, as we get clearer on how addressing time in story and how it’s critical for keeping readers grounded.

Please note: This class will work best for you if you come to it expecting to create fresh work. We’ll brainstorm together how best to use class time to develop a personal essay or memoir excerpt that fits within the larger framework of your interests. Ideally, you’ll leave this course with roughly 5,000 words that you can continue to shape.

TAKE THIS CLASS IF:

• You have a story that needs to be told.
• You’re unsure how to structure your essay.
• You’d like a supportive setting in which to write.
• You’re craving community with other essayists and memoirists.
• You’d like to write a few thousand-word draft.

The deadline to register for this class is Friday, February 6 at 5:00 PM CST.

CONTINUING YOUR WRITING JOURNEY

SCHOLARSHIP INFORMATION

The WLT is committed to making our online classes accessible to all writers including writers who do not have the financial means to pay for programming. Five (5) seats in this class have been set aside for scholarship recipients to attend free of charge. Please note: two (2) of these seats will be reserved for students of St. Edward’s University.

Please fill out this application no later than 2 days prior to the first class date to be considered for one of the scholarship seats. We do not ask for any corroborating documents; we only ask that you help us understand your situation. If you are selected for one of the available seats you will be notified via email (from wlt@writersleague.org) no later than 24 hours before the start of the class. Please note, each writer is limited to no more than four (4) total scholarship seats per catalog season.