Upcoming Classes

Switch to Calendar View

• Writing the Hardest Part: How Writers Bring Difficult Experience to the Page - Part III Continued (Erin James)

  • Start
    September 14, 2026
  •  
  • End
    November 30, 2026
  •  
  • Schedule
    12 sessions
  • Location
    WriterHouse
  • Spaces left
    3

  This class* will meet in person at WriterHouse for 12 sessions on Mondays from 9:30-11:45 AM, Sept. 14 through Nov. 30.

  * Prerequisite for this class: completion of Writing the Hardest Part - Parts I, II, and III. Email programs@writerhouse.org if you would like to pay in two installments.

  Description
  

  “Let’s face it. We’re undone by each other. And if we’re not, we’re missing something.” Judith Butler, Precarious Life

  Much has been written about the self-care that writers must practice if engaged in the art of transforming our most painful and difficult moments into story. This class will leave that up to our therapists, and focus instead on the justifications for doing so, and how to care for those on the receiving end of our stories. 

  Rooted in Maggie Nelson’s theory of art as “a place where all elements—even extremities—of what it feels like to be human can be heard and find place,” we will explore the techniques used by various nonfiction writers to handle difficult content, expand upon the craft archive of trauma we began to build in Part I of this course, and workshop our works-in-progress.

  In addition to exploring the creative struggles of other writers and drawing inspiration from what helped them put words to their experience, we will hold space for our own anxieties about writing difficult experience and engage in craft exercises meant to help us do so with care for and awareness of the self and the other.

  Participants will also receive feedback on their works-in-progress and provide feedback to others. In-class writing will be generative, and a variety of prompts will be offered each week. Participants will leave with a framework for bringing their difficult experiences to the page and feedback on their current work. 

  In this 12-week offering, we will continue to give and receive feedback on our work, explore personal essays and longer memoir excerpts, and take time for in-class writing and discussion.   
  

  About the Instructor

  Erin has taught English and Creative Writing for over a decade and received her MFA in Creative Writing from Antioch University in 2024. 

  In addition to working with students at WriterHouse for the past ten years, she has been a judge for the Writer‘s Eye Creative Writing Contest hosted by the University of Virginia’s Fralin Museum of Art. She has also been a student and teacher-counselor at UVA’s Young Writers Workshop. She has attended two week-long workshops for Teachers as Writers at Bard College’s Institute for Writing and Thinking in 2014 and 2016 and received an author fellowship to attend the Martha’s Vineyard Institute for Creative Writing in 2021. Before she began teaching, she studied Journalism and English at New York University and received her undergraduate degree in English from the University of Virginia. In addition to writing, Erin loves reading, hiking, practicing and teaching yoga, cooking, being outside, traveling, and spending time with her sons Noah and Jacob, and friends.

  Show details
• Short Stories Continued: From Brainstorm to Submission (Kristie Smeltzer and Stephanie Malia Morris)

  • Start
    November 18, 2026
  •  
  • End
    December 16, 2026
  •  
  • Schedule
    3 sessions
  • Location
    WriterHouse
  • Spaces left
    10

  Register

  This class  is a continuation of the Fall Term Short Stories class. It will meet in person for 8 sessions every two weeks starting Wed., Nov. 18 from 2:00 – 4:30 PM. Additional sessions will be held on Dec. 2, and Dec. 16. The date and time of the remaining 5 sessions will be announced by the instructors.

  Description

  It’s a long, hard road between that first unwritten plot bunny and finally seeing your name in print—luckily, you don’t have to travel it alone. This intensive, generative six-week workshop supports writers through the process of brainstorming, drafting, workshopping, revising, and submitting a short story for publication. By the end of this class, you will have a complete and revised short story ready for submission.

  This class is a good fit for fiction writers interested in writing for publication, from beginners dipping their toes into the submission process for the first time to intermediate writers crafting a story for a specific deadline. Writers will develop a list of publishing opportunities and a submission strategy that will guide their practice at every stage of their career. Wherever you are in your writing journey, this class encourages you to explore your vision and boldly try new things. Writing can be lonely and submitting can be intimidating—but neither has to be.

  About the Instructors

  Kristie Smeltzer's fiction has been published by Scribes*MICRO*Fiction, MonkeyBicycle, Atticus Review, and others. She is currently working on several novels. She earned her MFA in creative writing at the University of Central Florida. Kristie has taught at WriterHouse since 2016, and her students have gone on to publish their work in literary magazines, with small presses, and through large publishing houses. She also helps others tell their stories as a developmental editor and writing coach. Learn more at www.kristiesmeltzer.com. 

  Stephanie Malia Morris holds an MFA in Fiction from the Michener Center for Writers. She has received fellowships from Kimbilio, Periplus, and the Horror Writers Association, and was a recipient of the Octavia E. Butler Memorial Scholarship Award and graduate of the 2017 Clarion West Writers Workshop. Her short fiction has appeared or is forthcoming in Uncanny, Nightmare, Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy, and elsewhere. Her short story, “Bride Before You,” was adapted as an episode of the anthology Horror Noire on Shudder.

  Show details