VIRTUAL

The Essay Builder: 8-Week Workshop & 1-1 Coaching

This 8-week course gives you the craft tools, personalized feedback, and one-on-one coaching you need to write and submit your personal essays. Each week, we’ll address a new technique for generating and revising personal essays, while also exploring the publishing landscape and strategies for pitching and submitting. You will receive in-depth feedback on 10-15 pages of your essays, along with coaching from the instructor.

You’ll leave with 2-3 new essays drafted and 1-2 ready to submit for publication.

THE DETAILS

8 live classes via Zoom, October 24-December 19, 2024, Thursdays 10:30am-2pm ET (No Class on Thanksgiving)
All sessions will be recorded (so you can sign up even if you can’t join every session live)

In this workshop, you will:

LEARN

craft tools for generating and revising personal essays.

REFINE

your essay drafts through in-depth written and oral feedback.

PROBLEM-SOLVE

craft challenges in your essays through targeted revision exercises and one-on-one coaching.

accountability and structure around finishing and submitting essays.

DEVELOP

BUILD

a community of peers who will provide support, motivation, and guidance all the way to publication.

Course Overview

  • Each class will begin with an in-depth exploration of one major craft topic, including discussion of published essays that utilize these techniques. You will then apply these strategies to your own work through craft-focused writing and revision exercises.

  • The first four classes will focus on generating essay ideas and drafts. Then, we’ll turn to talking about revision and submitting, which will include workshopping of early drafts of student essays. Every writer will have the chance to be workshopped once (10-15 pages of one or more personal essays, depending on the class size). This will include both oral feedback in an in-class workshop, along with written feedback from the instructor (Note that written feedback will NOT be required from you and your classmates).

  • The course includes a 1-hour one-on-one consulting session with the instructor to discuss craft challenges, feedback on your pages, and plans for revising and submitting your essays. This may also include discussing ideas for future essays, building your platform in support of your memoir, and compiling an essay collection.

  • Additionally, the instructor will provide weekly “accountability checks” by email to help keep you on track with your writing goals.

  • You will come out of this course with detailed feedback on your essays-in-progress, an in-depth understanding of craft, and a roadmap for moving forward. The goal is to have 2-3 new essays drafted and 1-2 ready to submit for publication.

Meet the instructor:

Katie Bannon is a writer, editor, and educator whose work has appeared in The Washington Post, The Rumpus, ELLE, Newsweek, and more. A graduate of GrubStreet’s Memoir and Essay Incubators, she holds an MFA in Creative Nonfiction from Emerson College. Her memoir manuscript was a finalist for the Permafrost Nonfiction Book Prize. She currently teaches writing at GrubStreet and lives in Central Massachusetts with her husband and two cats.

TESTIMONIALS

  • “Katie is the best writing instructor I have ever had. Her presentation was impeccable. She provided an abundance of ideas, details, examples, and information. In fact, the class was overflowing with information. I have nothing but praise for Katie and the class content.”

  • “Holy moly, this was a superb class. Instructor was well-prepared with lots of valuable and well-organized information and ideas. I have already begun applying some of the tools from class to revise—and what a difference it's making!”

  • “Katie was an amazing instructor- she explained core concepts with clarity and ease, provided excellent examples and writing samples, and created a very supportive learning environment. The class truly exceeded my expectations!”

Cost Details

Which includes:
• 28 hours of instruction in an intimate, small-group setting.
• In-depth written feedback on 10-15 pages of your essays
• 1 hour of one-on-one coaching with the instructor, with weekly email check-ins
• 150-page workbook filled with craft takeaways, resources, and a curated list of places to submit your personal essays.
• Recordings of all sessions in case you can’t join live or want to rewatch.

*Payment plans are available upon request.

$1285* for the workshop & coaching

This workshop is for…

  • Writers who are in the process of drafting one or more personal essays, but hitting roadblocks

  • Writers who are interested in writing and publishing personal essays, but don’t know where to start

  • Writers who are looking for one-on-one feedback and coaching on their essays

  • Memoirists looking to build their platform by publishing personal essays related to their book project

This workshop is not for…

  • Writers who are working on a fiction project

  • Writers who do not want to include personal stories in their essays

FAQs

  • Not to worry! All sessions will be recorded, so you can participate at a time that’s convenient for you. Those recordings will be available for you to watch for 90 days after the course ends.

  • No! Some writers will come in with essays drafted, while others may have only general ideas for personal essays. This course is focused on generating new material as well as revising existing material, so it’s fine if you haven’t started the writing process yet.

  • One unique aspect of this workshop is that, while you'll be getting in-depth written feedback from me, you will not be giving written feedback to other writers. This means the focus will be on your own work and writing / revising your own essays. With that said, you can expect to read ~40 pages of student essays per week during our last four classes (when we start workshopping), along with some optional readings that accompany the craft lessons.

  • All you need to participate is a computer and internet. I’ll be sending a Zoom link ahead of our first class. We’ll be discussing the basics of Zoom and how to use it at the beginning of class.

  • Please feel free to let me know about any accessibility needs you have (you’ll be prompted to answer this question as part of the checkout process). I am committed to making this an excellent and accessible experience for all!

  • • 28 hours of instruction in an intimate, small-group setting.
    • In-depth written feedback on 10-15 pages of your essays
    • 1 hour of one-on-one coaching with the instructor, with weekly email check-ins
    • 150-page workbook filled with craft takeaways, resources, and a curated list of places to submit your personal essays.
    • Recordings of all sessions in case you can’t join live or want to rewatch.

  • No portion of your class fee is refundable within 10 days of the class start date. Refunds will be sent within 30 days of receipt of notice of cancellation.

    If the class needs to be cancelled for any reason (for instance due to low-enrollment, with fewer than 8 participants), you are entitled to a full refund.

    The Essay Builder reserves the right to cancel the intensive in the event of civil unrest, natural disaster or Act of God. In the event of cancellation of the intensive in its entirety, you will receive a full refund of any fees paid. You agree to release The Essay Builder and its agents and/or representatives from any liability, including consequential expenses you may have incurred in planning to attend.

Space is limited, so be sure to snag a spot while you still can.

Ready to kickstart your essay writing?