writing class radio

This episode showcases the effectiveness of using the story spine structure. The story spine is a story structure as old as time. It’s the model every fairytale follows. It works really well for all stories because it’s intuitive. It’s in our collective unconscious. You will hear three prompt responses from Writing Class Radio’s First Annual Key Largo Writing Retreat. We told our students to think about a time everything changed and then we walked them through the story spine. Kim Costigan, Pamela Lear, and Dr. Jane Marks brought the bag!You will also hear about the other stories at the retreat that were published after hard core edits. Start planning to attend our next Key Largo Writer’s Retreat in Dec 2023.Writing Class Radio is hosted by Allison Langer and Andrea Askowitz. Guest host Zorina Frey. Audio production by Matt Cundill, Evan Surminski and Aiden Glassey at the Sound Off Media Company. Theme music is by Emia.There’s more writing class on our website including stories we study, editing resources, video classes, writing retreats, and live online classes. Join our writing community by following us on Patreon. If you want to write with us every week, you can join our First Draft weekly writers groups. You have the option to join Allison Langer on Tuesdays 12-1 ET and/or Zorina Frey Wednesdays 7-8pm ET. You’ll write to a prompt and share what you wrote. If you’re looking to take your writing to the next level, or if you are a business owner, community activist, group that needs healing, entrepreneur and you want to help your team write better, check out all the classes we offer on our website: writingclassradio.com.Join the community that comes together for instruction, an excuse to write, and most importantly, the support from other writers. To learn more, go to www.Patreon.com/writingclassradio. Or sign up HERE for First Draft for a FREE Zoom link.A new episode will drop every other WEDNESDAY. There’s no better way to understand ourselves and each other, than by writing and sharing our stories. Everyone has a story. What’s yours?For a transcription of today’s episode click here.

Today on our show, we’re talking about how to write about a situation that is ongoing. Typically, at the end of an essay, the narrator writes about what they learned or how they changed. But what if transition IS the change? What happens if there is no happy (or sad) ending…yet?On this episode, Ariane Malfait writes about her transition–-one that is still in progress and may always be. Ariane tells the story of shedding the masculine body she felt never fit. At 19, after bottom surgery, she expects to finally feel like herself, but when she wakes up from surgery, she is plunged into darkness. Her story is called The Creation of Flesh.Ariane Malfait is a Belgian journalism student with a passion for writing. She writes mainly nonfiction and poetry but loves to experiment with other genres. You can find Ariane on Instagram and Medium.Writing Class Radio is hosted by Allison Langer and Andrea Askowitz. Audio production by Matt Cundill, Evan Surminski and Aiden Glassey at the Sound Off Media Company. Theme music is by Emia. For a transcription of today’s episode click here.There’s more writing class on our website, including stories we study, editing resources, video classes, writing retreats, and live online classes. For $35/month you can join our First Draft weekly writers groups. You have the option to join Allison on Tuesdays 12-1 ET and/or Zorina Frey Wednesdays 7-8pm ET. You’ll write to a prompt and share what you wrote. If you’re looking to take your writing to the next level, check out all the classes we offer on our website, writingclassradio.com.Join the community that comes together for instruction, an excuse to write, and most importantly, the support from other writers. To learn more, go to www.Patreon.com/writingclassradio. Or sign up HERE for First Draft for a FREE Zoom link.A new episode will drop every other WEDNESDAY. There’s no better way to understand ourselves and each other, than by writing and sharing our stories. Everyone has a story. What’s yours?

On this episode, we bring you a story written by Dr. Jane Marks, a conservation ecologist and professor of Aquatic Ecology at Northern Arizona University (NAU). Jane came to Writing Class Radio with the goal of making her academic writing more personal. What she didn’t realize is that writing class, specifically writing personal essays, forces the narrator to go deep and ask the question WHY? Why am I writing this? Why does anyone care? Why is this important to me? Why do I care so much about what people think?Jane’s story is called, Hating Brussel Sprouts Is Not My Biggest Problem. It could have been called The More Things Change, the More Brussels Sprouts Stay the Same. She wrote this essay in First Draft, worked on it in Second Draft, and when Jane felt she had answered the whys, she submitted it to the podcast. Jane has been taking classes with Writing Class Radio for almost two years. Until we read her bio, we had no idea what a badass she is. Jane TOTALLY downplays her brilliance! Jane Marks was featured as the lead scientist in the PBS documentary, A River Reborn: The Restoration of Fossil Creek, narrated by actor Ted Danson and she co-produced the video documentary Parched: The Art of Water in the Southwest. For more Dr. Jane Marks, go to https://ecoss.nau.edu/team/jane-marks/Writing Class Radio is hosted by Allison Langer and Andrea Askowitz. Audio production by Matt Cundill, Evan Surminski and Aiden Glassey at the Sound Off Media Company. Theme music is by Emia.There’s more writing class on our website including stories we study, editing resources, video classes, writing retreats, and live online classes. Join our writing community by following us on Patreon. For $35/month you can join our First Draft weekly writers groups. You have the option to join Allison, Tuesdays 12-1 ET and/or Zorina Frey Wednesdays 7-8pm ET. You’ll write to a prompt and share what you wrote.Join the community that comes together for instruction, an excuse to write, and most importantly, the support from other writers. To learn more, go to www.Patreon.com/writingclassradio. Or sign up HERE for First Draft for a FREE Zoom link.Click here for a transcript of this episode

Today on our show, we bring you a story by Pamela Druckerman that has voice, laugh out loud humor, and self knowing, which makes for a reliable narrator. The best part is the narrator doesn’t wait until the end to give a status report. We feel like we are on the adventure with her.There are so many things the narrator does well in this essay including normalizing a threesome. She does this by using language and humor to bring the listener into her adventure with her husband. You do not want to miss this episode. Pamela Druckerman is a journalist, an Emmy-winning documentary producer, and the author of five books including Bringing Up Bébé, which has been translated into 31 languages. This essay is adapted from her book There Are No Grown-Ups: A midlife coming-of-age story. Get it here from our favorite Indie, Books & Books. Writing Class Radio is hosted by Allison Langer and Andrea Askowitz. Audio production by Matt Cundill, Evan Surminski, and Aiden Glassey at the Sound Off Media Company. Theme music is by Emia.There’s more writing class on our website including stories we study, editing resources, video classes, writing retreats, and live online classes. Join our writing community by following us on Patreon. For $35/month you can join our First Draft weekly writers groups. You have the option to join Allison, Tuesdays 12-1 ET and/or Zorina Frey Wednesdays 7-8pm ET. You’ll write to a prompt and share what you wrote.Join the community that comes together for instruction, an excuse to write, and most importantly, the support from other writers. To learn more, go to www.Patreon.com/writingclassradio. Or sign up HERE for First Draft for a FREE Zoom link.Join the community that comes together for instruction, an excuse to write, and most importantly, the support from other writers.A new episode will drop every other WEDNESDAY. There’s no better way to understand ourselves and each other, than by writing and sharing our stories. Everyone has a story. What’s yours?A Transcript of this episode is Available here.

Today on our show, we bring you a story by Sally Quon called Finding Home.Sally’s story is an exercise in restraint. Andrea tried a little experiment with Sally’s submission in order to make the story more powerful. She asked Sally to cut all seven mentions of the word, abuse. Andrea learned of this technique while taking a course with Dan Wakefield who assigned the book Name All the Animals by Alison Smith. The book is about grief and yet, the word grief is mentioned only once. Listen and learn why this method is so effective.Sally Quon lives in the Okanagan. She has been shortlisted for Vallum Magazine’s Chapbook Prize and is an associate member of the League of Canadian Poets. Her personal blog, https://featherstone-creative.com is where she posts her back-country adventures and photos. She has been published in Chicken Soup for the Soul, Big-Stories About Life in a Plus Size Body, and Writing For Life. Her first collection of poetry, Beauty Born of Pain, is due to be released in 2023. You can find her at the following places: FaceBook: Sally Quon, Instagram: @sallyquon, Twitter: @QuonSallyWriting Class Radio is hosted by Allison Langer and Andrea Askowitz. Audio production by Matt Cundill, Evan Surminski and Aiden Glassey at the Sound Off Media Company. Theme music is by Emia.There’s more writing class on our website including stories we study, editing resources, video classes, writing retreats, and live online classes. Join our writing community by following us on Patreon. For $35/month you can join our First Draft weekly writers groups. You have the option to join Allison, Tuesdays 12-1 ET and/or Zorina Frey Wednesdays 7-8pm ET. You’ll write to a prompt and share what you wrote. First session is free. Click First Draft for Zoom link. We also added a new tips clinic every second Saturday. Click Tips Clinic to register.Join the community that comes together for instruction, an excuse to write, and most importantly, the support from other writers. To learn more, go to www.patreon.com/writingclassradio.A new episode will drop every other WEDNESDAY. If you would like a transcript of the episode, click here.

Today, we bring you a story by Terry Barr with a secret he’s kept most of his life. This story highlights the importance of telling the truth and letting go of shame, in this case, about sexual assault. You’ll also hear Terry’s pitch when he submitted his essay to the podcast. AND, we discuss structure. Terry’s structure is exactly what Allison loves. If you want to hear your own stories on Writing Class Radio, this is a great episode to hear. This episode will help you understand what we look for and how to land a story on our show.Terry Barr writes about music and culture at medium.com/@terrybarr. His most recent essay collection, The American Crisis Playlist was nominated for a 2022 Pushcart Prize. His work can also be found at Tell Your Story, storySouth, and Under the Sun. He lives in Greenville, SC, with his family.Writing Class Radio is hosted by Allison Langer and Andrea Askowitz. Audio production by Matt Cundill, Evan Surminski and Aiden Glassey at the Sound Off Media Company. Theme music is by Emia.There’s more writing class on our website, writing class radio dot com including stories we study, editing resources, video classes, writing retreats, and live online classes. Join our writing community by following us on Patreon. For $35/month you can join our First Draft weekly writers groups. You have the option to join Allison, Tuesdays 12-1 ET and/or Zorina Frey Wednesdays 7-8pm ET. You’ll write to a prompt and share what you wrote. If you’re looking to take your writing to the next level, for $145/mth you’ll get First Draft and Second Draft. In Second Draft, each week, three people bring a second draft for feedback. Join the community that comes together for instruction, an excuse to write, and most importantly, the support from other writers. To learn more, go to www.patreon.com/writingclassradio.A new episode will drop every other WEDNESDAY. There’s no better way to understand ourselves and each other, than by writing and sharing our stories. Everyone has a story. What’s yours?

On today’s episode, we’re bringing you an old episode that’s still relevant and awesome, in case you missed it back in season one.You’ll meet a bunch of students from season 1: Frenchie, Tobi Ash, Cynthia Castillo, Bo, and Nicki Post. You’ll also hear a brief interview with each and the epic talent of Patricia Carlin, aka Frenchie, singing, playing piano, and whistling the tune of Auld Lang Syne. For the in-class prompt, Andrea played Auld Lang Syne. Listen to this episode to see what our students came up with and how important writing and sharing is to the psyche. This is also a fascinating look at the development of our podcast. We’ve been at this seven years and 145 episodes. We’re about to hit 1 million downloads!Stay tuned to find out what Auld Lang Syne actually means and to get a list of the best of Writing Class Radio 2022. Happy New Year!Writing Class Radio is hosted by Allison Langer and Andrea Askowitz. Audio production by Matt Cundill, Evan Surminski and Aiden Glassey at the Sound Off Media Company. Theme music is by Justina Shandler. There’s more writing class on our website, writing class radio dot com including stories we study, editing resources, video classes, writing retreats, and live online classes. Join our writing community by following us on Patreon. For $35/month you can join our First Draft weekly writers groups. You have the option to join Allison, Tuesdays 12-1 ET and/or Zorina Frey Wednesdays 7-8pm ET. You’ll write to a prompt and share what you wrote. If you’re looking to take your writing to the next level, for $145/mth you’ll get First Draft and Second Draft. In Second Draft, each week, three people bring a second draft for feedback. Join the community that comes together for instruction, an excuse to write, and most importantly, the support from other writers. To learn more, go to www.patreon.com/writingclassradio.A new episode will drop every other WEDNESDAY. There’s no better way to understand ourselves and each other, than by writing and sharing our stories. Everyone has a story. What’s yours?Image by Myriams-Fotos from Pixabay 

Today on our show, we bring you a story by Emily Henderson titled After Our Son Died, My Husband Gave Me The Most Meaningful Christmas Gift Of My Life. Emily workshopped this essay in our Final Draft class and then the Huffington Post published it on December 25, 2021. This story is an excellent example of using an object to convey emotion, details, and telling in addition to showing. Emily tells us how she’s feeling the entire story which intensifies her vulnerability. To hear another of Emily’s stories, listen to Episode 103: Writing the Same Story Over and Over. Emily Henderson is a runner and writer living in Santa Barbara, California. Her essays have appeared in Scary Mommy, the Santa Barbara Independent, Huffington Post, and Writing Class Radio. Emily is currently writing a memoir about processing the loss of her son while running every street in her city. You can follow her on Instagram at @emilykathleenwrites or visit emilykathleenwrites.com.Writing Class Radio is hosted by Allison Langer and Andrea Askowitz. Audio production by Matt Cundill, Evan Surminski and Aiden Glassey at the Sound Off Media Company. Theme music is by Justina Shandler. There’s more writing class on our website, writing class radio dot com including stories we study, editing resources, video classes, writing retreats, and live online classes. Join our writing community by following us on Patreon. For $35/month you can join our First Draft weekly writers groups. You have the option to join Allison on Tuesdays 12-1 ET and/or Zorina Frey Wednesdays 7-8pm ET. You’ll write to a prompt and share what you wrote. If you’re looking to take your writing to the next level, for $145/mth you’ll get First Draft and Second Draft. In Second Draft, each week, three people bring a second draft for feedback. To try First Draft for free, email Andrea@writingclassradio.com. Join the community that comes together for instruction, an excuse to write, and most importantly, the support from other writers. To learn more, go to www.patreon.com/writingclassradio.A new episode will drop every other WEDNESDAY. There’s no better way to understand ourselves and each other, than by writing and sharing our stories. Everyone has a story. What’s yours?

Today on our show, we’re sharing another story by Corey Devon Arthur. Corey’s stories have been aired on Episode 120: My Pen Uncovers the Real Me and Episode 128: My New Manifesto.Corey Devon Arthur has served 25 years on a life sentence for robbery and murder and is currently housed at Otisville Correctional Institution in New York. Corey is an artist and writer who has been published on Writing Class Radio and The Marshall Project. The story Corey wrote for this episode was in response to our callout for men’s abortion stories and it came in at 3,000 words. Allison loved the entire story, because she pretty much loves everything Corey writes. She made a few edits, asked Corey a bunch of questions, and the story got longer. She sent it to Andrea, sure she would love it. Only, Andrea was like, What is all this? Andrea whittled it down to 1,113 words. So today we’re talking about omitting needless words and why that is important.We have a guest host. Xaire Vii co-hosted the prison series to help us get things right. Xaire is a poet, singer-songwriter, actor, and educator who teaches writing and poetry to kids in the foster care system and kids caught up in a detention center.This episode of Writing Class Radio is hosted by Allison Langer, Andrea Askowitz and Xaire Vii. Audio production by Matt Cundill, Evan Surminski, and Aidan Glassey at the Sound Off Media Company. Theme music by Justina Shandler.There’s more writing class on our website www.writingclassradio.com including essays to study, editing resources, video classes, writing retreats, and live online classes. Join our writing community.Follow us on Patreon to join our First Draft weekly writers groups. You have the option to join me on Tuesdays 12-1 ET and Zorina Wednesdays 7-8 pm ET. You’ll write to a prompt and share what you wrote. If you’re looking to take your writing to the next level, we have two Second Draft writing groups. Each week, three people bring a finished draft for feedback. Join the community that comes together for instruction, an excuse to write, and most importantly, the support from other writers. To learn more, go to www.Patreon.com/writingclassradio. Or email andrea@writingclassradio.com for a Zoom link. First session is FREE.A new episode will drop every other WEDNESDAY. There’s no better way to understand ourselves and each other, than by writing and sharing our stories. Everyone has a story. What’s yours?

Today on our show, we’re talking about beginnings and endings. What is an effective way to begin a story and a satisfying way to end? The story we bring you on this episode is an amazing example of how to start with appropriate grounding and how to land/end the essay like a gymnast. The narrator isn’t just a beginning and ending genius, she also uses lingo associated with her theme. This style is effective, because the reader feels more drawn in. Another example of that same type of inclusive linguistic style was discussed on Episode 110: How to Write About Death: Use an Obsession. Jackie Ashton told the story of her best friend’s cancer by using the situation of a Golden State Warriors obsession and basketball lingo throughout. Shawna Kenney submitted the essay you will hear today and we were blown away. Her story is called Words with Mom.Shawna Kenney is the author of four books, the latest being Live at the Safari Club: A History of HarDCore Punk in the Nation’s Capital 1988-1998. Kenney is a Contributing Editor with Narratively and her work has appeared in The New York Times, Playboy, Creative Nonfiction, Vice, Bust, Rock the Bells and more. She teaches memoir writing with the UCLA Extension Writers Program. Writing Class Radio is hosted and produced by Allison Langer, and Andrea Askowitz. With frequent guest host, Zorina Frey. Audio production by Matt Cundill, Evan Surminski, and Aidan Glassey at the Sound Off Media Company. Theme music by Justina Shandler.There’s more writing class on our website www.writingclassradio.com including essays to study, editing resources, video classes, writing retreats, and live online classes. Join our writing community.Follow us on Patreon to join our First Draft weekly writers groups. You have the option to join Allison on Tuesdays 12-1 ET and Zorina Wednesdays 6-7pm ET. You’ll write to a prompt and share what you wrote. If you’re looking to take your writing to the next level, we have two Second Draft writing groups. Each week, three people bring a finished draft for feedback. Join the community that comes together for instruction, an excuse to write, and most importantly, the support from other writers. To learn more, go to www.Patreon.com/writingclassradio. Or email andrea@writingclassradio.com for a Zoom link. First session is FREE.A new episode will drop every other WEDNESDAY. There’s no better way to understand ourselves and each other, than by writing and sharing our stories. Everyone has a story. What’s yours?