Pivotal Moments: A Personal Writing Workshop

We are excited to offer a four-part intensive course in personal essay writing with author Jane Ganahl. Please note the sessions will take place from 4.00pm to 6.00pm on four consecutive Wednesdays: July 29, August 5, August 12 and August 19. The total cost for the four week session is $400, and is limited to 9 people.

About the Workshop

Every day there are moments that could inspire a personal essay: finding your late mother’s favorite shoes, being asked by your curious grandchild when you’re going to die, walking past a restaurant and smelling the pungent aroma of a birthplace you have not seen in decades. These are moments that cause you to pause, reflect and learn: the basis of a solid personal essay. In this three-part introductory class, you’ll learn how to identify these pivotal moments, find the lessons therein, and write about them in a way that resonates with readers. Because the best personal essays don’t just relate something that happened to you — they draw the reader in with deep sharing and offer a new perspective. The goal: write an essay - or at least get a solid first draft done - in three weeks!

Students will learn:

- How to choose a topic (and topics to avoid)

- The 5 elements of a good essay

- How to structure your essay with an outline

- The importance of perspective

About the Instructor

Jane Ganahl is a writer, teacher, and co-founder of the Litquake festival. As a Hearst newspaper journalist for many years, she wrote the “Single Minded” column for the Chronicle, which led to her memoir, Naked on the Page: The Misadventures of My Unmarried Midlife. She was also the editor of the anthology Single Woman of a Certain Age. Her essays have appeared in five different anthologies and in the magazines Spirituality & Health, VanityFair.com, RollingStone.com, Huffington Post, Bazaar, and Salon, among other places. She is also a crazy cat lady, with a small nonprofit that tends feral colonies on the San Mateo County coast. Read more at: janeganahl.com.…