Despite a decade of social media dominance, email newsletters remain the most powerful tool in a writer's platform-building arsenal. Yet in the Substack era, many writers approach newsletters with confusion, reluctance, or half-hearted commitment—missing their true potential while chasing trends.

Let’s Talk About Sex, Baby!

A literarily relevant sex scene must do two things, advance plot and convey character. Everything else is delicious/poisonous icing on the cake (Depending on the purpose and tone of the sex scene!) In this seminar we’ll learn how to craft sex scenes while maintaining our authentic voices. We'll discuss tips and tools and through short readings, collaborative discussion as well as in class writing prompts, we’ll discover together what makes a sex scene necessary and maybe even profound.

Craft Chat with Anna Bliss

Anna Bliss, author of Bonfire Night will join us via Zoom for a members only craft chat. We host craft chats with authors, editors, and agents every few months to give members an in-depth look at the industry and a chance to ask their burning questions about writing process, publication process, and more.

Got Agent Questions? We’ve Got an Agent Who Just Might Have the Answers

Back by popular demand, our Ask an Agent series continues with Annie Hwang of Ayesha Pande Literary Agency. Annie will be with us for an hour to talk all things book agent. How to get an agent, tips for great query letters, how to know your agent is ‘the one’, what happens after your book gets sold, and so much more.

How can art serve as resistance to tyranny?

How can we as writers fight our own hopelessness and take a stand?

As creators we deal in empathy, so right now feels pretty tough. But by writing not just for ourselves but for the people who need to hear our voices, we can find a new vision and commitment to creating. In 2025 and beyond, it's time to make the weird art. Let's do it together.

Let’s Go Deeper

The personal essay is…personal. It’s right there in the title. But adding those personal details can sometimes be tricky. Maybe you aren’t ready to explore the subject. Maybe you are just too close to it still. Maybe you think you are getting personal but everyone keeps telling you they want more.

Craft Chat with Julie Buntin

Julie Buntin, author of Marlena and the forthcoming novel Famous Men will join us via Zoom for a members only craft chat. We host craft chats with authors, editors, and agents every few months to give members an in-depth look at the industry and a chance to ask their burning questions about writing process, publication process, and more.

Looking for a publisher to call home for your manuscript? So many roads are overwhelming. I can help narrow the view along the journey.

Does it feel like your creative well has run a bit dry?

In Cultivating Your Creativity we will discuss and practice techniques to get your creativity flowing. This is an interactive workshop with a free write to identity your blocked areas, a mind mapping demo, art journaling, and tips to take on the dreaded writer’s block. There will be space to try out these techniques! Writers are guaranteed to leave this workshop inspired and ready to write.

Get Those Submissions Under Control!

In this course, you will get information on how to submit to literary journals: what to include in your cover letter, how to craft the perfect bio, how to find and determine which journals are worth submitting to, and how to log your submissions. We will leave some time to submit to a journal together.

Rescuing Your Abandoned Drafts.

Ever sat down and written the beginning of a piece you absolutely
loved? Maybe it was in a workshop, and you read it aloud and everyone
loved it. Maybe you were on your own and you leaned back in your chair
and said, “This is AMAZING.”

Darling, You’re Making a Scene

Whether we're writing long-form or short fiction or memoir, we need to engage our readers via lively, memorable scenes that draw the reader in, make them care about our story and turn to the next page. This workshop will give you the skills to write, arrange and edit really memorable scenes in your nonfiction and fiction writing.

Our Fall open mic is here!

Come read what you’ve been working on. Things you’ve had published, things that are fresh off the printer. Or, if you don’t feel like reading this time around just come support your fellow Babes!

Writing Through Grief

Led by Christy Wopat, author of Almost a Mother: Love, Loss, and Finding Your People When Your Baby Dies, this workshop will walk you through several different techniques to use writing as a therapeutic tool for grief expression.

Let the ideas flow.

The Creativity Oasis is not a workshop, its an hour long guided brainstorming session in which you’ll have the chance to generate new writing.

(un)Masking

Every day, different personas come out of us depending on many factors, including who we are interacting with and where we are. We should bring many versions of ourselves to the page too.

Tiny True Stories

We think our lives are interesting, but do readers? How do you make your true story resonate with an audience in 1,000 words or less? In this workshop led by memoirist and personal essayist Nadine Kenney Johnstone, you will learn why it’s crucial for writers to write their truth and make readers care right away. Whether you are working on a full-length memoir or short essays, the techniques you’ll learn in this class will help elevate your personal essays or short memoir scenes.

Looking for an Agent?

Are you writing a book? Have you already written it? Are you starting your journey toward finding an agent? If you said yes to any of those things then this workshop is for you. Join us for an informal evening with Melanie Figueroa an agent with Root Literary as she talks about finding an agent, keeping an agent, and selling your book.

Walking the Tight Rope

Let's talk about writing historical fiction! We'll discuss the various definitions and sub-genres of historical fiction, researching your topic, when to stop researching your topic, balancing history and story, dealing with dialogue, and anticipating reader biases.

Our spring open mic is here! Come read what you’ve been working on. Things you’ve had published, things that are fresh off the printer. Or, if you don’t feel like reading this time around just come support your fellow Babes!

Playing with Poetry

In this workshop, we will go over examples of what is canonically understood to constitute a poem, and subsequently apply that logic to less traditional or “non-poetic” forms. Investigating the liminal space between what does and doesn’t count as a poem will breed rich conversations, and will inform the work generated in the free-write and workshopping parts of the session.

If you want to traditionally publish a nonfiction book, a completed manuscript usually isn't enough to land you a book deal. You'll also need a book proposal. A book proposal is essentially a business plan for your book; it convincingly argues why your book is a salable product in today's market.

The Last Open Mic of the Year!

Its the last Open Mic of 2023. Come read what you’ve been working on all year. Things you’ve had published, things that are fresh off the printer. Plus, whether you choose to read or not we’ll be setting goals for 2024 and talking about where our writing might take us in the next year.