Summer School

I’m four pages along in Writing Down the Bones, and I already love the book.

Natalie Goldberg writes: Walking home from work that night, I stopped in the Centicore Bookstore on State Street and wandered up and down the aisles. I saw a thin title of poetry entitled Fruits and Vegetables by Erica Jong. The first poem I opened to in the book was about cooking an eggplant! I was amazed: “You mean you can write about something like that?”

That’s exactly how I feel about writing personal essay. You mean I can use material from my own life – dancing at my wedding, moving away from California, or being poked by an acupuncturist – and publish the stories in newspapers and magazines?

If you want to break into essay writing OR if you’ve already broken in but want the structure of a class to finish works-in-progress and keep up with submission goals, I’m here to help. C’mon over to my place on Tuesday nights this June where I’ll be teaching a 5-week course titled Personal Essay for Publication. Here are the details.

P.S. If you know people in the DC-area who might be interested, please help spread the word. Many thanks!