Four Week: “Hysterical Women: Writing About The Mess In Our Minds”

“Hysterical Women: Writing About The Mess In Our Minds”

Sylvia Plath. Susannah Kaysen. Elizabeth Wurtzel. Catherine Cho. Esme Wang. Terese Marie Mailhot. Juliet Escoria. We will use the writing of a selection of these authors (and more) as a launching point for our own exploration of the darkness in our minds. Come ready to talk about the taboos and tough stuff that most of us keep hidden away in locked boxes and to dive into class writing exercises designed to get you to “go there”. You will walk away from this class with the nuts and bolts of a draft in place. We’re going to take out our shovels and dig in.

You'll be in good hands. Ruthie has worked with hundreds of writers to turn their ideas into narrative gold. Her clients have received major non-fiction book deals with Simon & Schuster, Harper Collins, and more. They’ve gotten agent representation by Aevitas Creative Management, Park & Fine Literary and Media and Janklow & Nesbit. And her clients’ essays have been published in The New York Times, Electric Literature, HuffPost Personals, Vogue, Cosmo, Catapult, Tablet, Health Magazine, New England Journal of Medicine, Well + Good and more.

Ruthie’s not only an accomplished editor, she’s a writer too. You can find her essays in Vogue, Glamour, O Magazine, The New York Times, The Atlantic, The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Salon, Slate, Newsweek, and more. Most recently, she was the Deputy Editor at ForbesWomen.

What You’ll Get:

• In class writing exercises and readings that will inspire you to get beneath the surface of your story to the beating heart of what you’re really trying to say.

• A tight-knit community of like-minded writers who will provide feedback and support on your writing.

• In-class feedback from myself + your peers

• One private 30-minute session with me to review my edits to your essay

Logistics:

• This class is best suited for those working on memoir, creative nonfiction, and personal essays.

• Writers in this class will be ready to work consistently and be eager to learn.

• Classes will meet on Zoom for 1.5 hours per session.

What You’ll Walk Away With:

• A draft of an essay that reflects the work + learning of the course

• New tools + techniques to use in your writing going forward

• A creative community to support your story

• An invitation to my community of writers for resource sharing, edit exchanges, book/essay recommendations, first dibs on future classes and so much more