🏖️🍹  Summer classes are live for members! Catch them now at the early bird rate. General registration opens May 27  🏄🏻‍♀️🌊

Class Catalog

Ain’t Gonna Lie: Writing “Truth”

with Shankar Narayan

How is truth shaped by culture, power, and storytelling? Through readings, discussion, and writing, you’ll examine "truth" as a creative, philosophical, and political force in this part-analytic, part-generative course.

generative, close reading, cohort

4 Sessions July 16, 2025 - August 6, 2025 5:00-7:00 pm PT Online Fiction

Submit Strategically: Short Fiction, Essays, and Poetry

with Alle C. Hall

Ready to publish your short work? This class breaks down the submission process with practical tools, personalized strategy, and clear guidance—so you can send your writing out with confidence and a plan that fits you.

professional development, publishing

2 Sessions July 19, 2025 - July 26, 2025 1:10-3:10 pm PT Online Fiction

Short but Mighty: Crafting Flash Nonfiction

with Kate Carmody

Discover the power of small stories. This class explores flash nonfiction—personal essays under 1,000 words—with guided prompts, discussion, and craft techniques to help you write with clarity, depth, and emotional impact in a compressed form. 

generative, craft, close reading

1 Session July 19, 2025 - July 19, 2025 1:10-4:10 pm PT Online Fiction

Writing Short Humor & Telling Big Jokes

with Mayur Chauhan

Learn to turn your funniest ideas into sharp, publishable humor pieces. This crash course covers structure, voice, and punchlines—helping you draft and shape short humor that’s smart, surprising, and submission-ready. No comedy experience required.

generative, craft, close reading, workshop

4 Sessions July 21, 2025 - August 11, 2025 5:00-7:00 pm PT Online Fiction

Novel Immersion

with Elise Hooper

Ready to begin—or recommit to—your novel? This supportive class offers structure, encouragement, and craft tools to help you generate new pages, deepen your story, and build momentum that lasts through the middle stretch and beyond.

generative, craft

6 Sessions July 22, 2025 - August 26, 2025 5:00-7:00 pm PT In Person Fiction

Character Arcs: Conflict, Crisis, and Change

with Elizabeth Villamán

Take your character from flat and forced to complex, authentic, and unforgettable in this craft-focused class. We’ll explore the emotional and psychological transformations that drive our characters—and our narrative.

generative, craft, creative practice

4 Sessions July 23, 2025 - August 13, 2025 5:00-7:00 pm PT Online Fiction

Writing For the Ear: Podcasts, Video Essays, Radio and More

with Jenny Asarnow

Learn to write for a listening audience. This playful, practical class helps you craft vivid, spoken storytelling—perfect for podcasts, video, audio memoir, or performance. Leave with tools, techniques, and a one-minute monologue of your own.

generative, craft, workshop

2 Sessions July 23, 2025 - July 30, 2025 5:00-7:30 pm PT In Person Nonfiction

Finding the Poet Within

with Holly Day

You’ve been writing poems—now learn how they work. This beginner-friendly class offers a supportive introduction to poetic craft, helping you build skills in imagery, sound, and form so you can write with more confidence and creative freedom.

generative, craft, creative practice

4 Sessions July 24, 2025 - August 14, 2025 7:10-9:10 pm PT Online Poetry

Writing Love and Loss

with Meghan Lamb

Explore love and loss as powerful engines of story. This generative class helps writers of all genres move beyond cliché, crafting emotionally complex work that captures intimacy, longing, and the many shapes connection can take.

craft, close reading, creative practice

6 Sessions July 24, 2025 - August 28, 2025 5:00-7:00 pm PT Online Fiction

Imagined Realities: Speculative Fiction Survey

with Evan Ramzipoor

Speculative fiction lets us play, question, and rebuild reality. In this generative class, we’ll read masters of the form and write our own strange, bold, world-bending stories—leaving with new starts and new freedom on the page.

craft, close reading, creative practice

8 Sessions July 26, 2025 - September 13, 2025 10:00-12:00 pm PT Online Fiction

Poetry Essentials: Writing the Turn

with Elisabeth Blair

Some poems pivot, changing everything that came before. In this poetry workshop, you’ll explore how a well-timed shift in tone or perspective can add depth, surprise, and emotional power—and learn to craft poetic turns for impact.

generative, craft, workshop

6 Sessions July 26, 2025 - August 30, 2025 10:00-12:00 pm PT Online Poetry

Yes, No, Want: Writing with Your Inner Compass

with Shana Graham

Write from the body, not just the brain. This somatic workshop blends movement, reflection, and writing to help you connect with desire, truth, and voice—so your work speaks from a place that’s bold, grounded, and fully your own.

generative, creative practice, personal growth

1 Session July 26, 2025 - July 26, 2025 1:10-4:10 pm PT In Person Nonfiction

High Intensity Fiction Generator

with Monika Sengul-Jones

Build creative momentum through fast-paced writing bursts in this energizing fiction class. You’ll generate fresh material, quiet your inner critic, and leave with story starts—and the exhilaration of finally getting words on the page.

generative, creative practice

1 Session July 26, 2025 - July 26, 2025 1:10-4:10 pm PT In Person Fiction

Beyond the First Draft

with Megan Boatright

You’ve got a draft—now what? This supportive class helps fiction, nonfiction, and hybrid writers move from draft to done, with revision strategies for everything from big-picture structure to smoother transitions. Clarify, reshape, and bring your work closer to finished.

craft, workshop

6 Sessions July 29, 2025 - September 2, 2025 5:00-7:00 pm PT In Person Fiction

Worldbuilding: Setting and Psyche

with Scott Driscoll

Learn to craft immersive worlds that resonate emotionally. This generative course explores how setting and character shape each other, helping you build story worlds that breathe, echo inner landscapes, and carry meaning far beyond the map.

generative, craft, workshop

6 Sessions July 29, 2025 - September 2, 2025 7:10-9:10 pm PT Online Fiction

Finding the Heart of Your Story

with Stephanie Dethlefs

Lost in the fog of a draft—or unsure where to begin? This class helps you reconnect with your story’s emotional core and build a working blueprint, with craft tools to carry you from first idea to final page.

craft, workshop

6 Sessions July 30, 2025 - September 3, 2025 10:00-12:00 pm PT Online Fiction

Publishing Fundamentals: Book Proposals, Query Letters, and Pitches

with Elise McHugh

You’ve written the book—now pitch it with power. This class helps you craft a compelling query, pitch, and proposal while staying true to your voice, giving you the tools to confidently navigate the traditional publishing landscape.

professional development, publishing

6 Sessions July 31, 2025 - September 4, 2025 7:10-9:10 pm PT Online Fiction

The Places We Go

with Ines Rodrigues

Explore how place shapes memory, identity, and story. In this generative class, you’ll write each week, read authors grappling with belonging, home, and displacement, and reflect on the quiet power of the landscapes that live inside you.

generative, creative practice

6 Sessions August 2, 2025 - September 6, 2025 10:00-12:00 pm PT Online Fiction

How to Read a Poem

with Jeanine Walker

Discover how reading poems aloud can transform the way you write and revise. This one-day class blends listening, vocal practice, and revision—and includes the opportunity to share your work at a public reading. No performance experience required.

close reading, creative practice, professional development

1 Session August 2, 2025 - August 2, 2025 1:10-4:10 pm PT In Person Fiction

The Art of the Personal Essay

with Kate Carmody

When something needs to be said, writing makes it real. In this generative personal essay class, you’ll shape lived experience into voice-driven work with clarity and resonance. Through guided prompts and thoughtful structure, you’ll say what only you can—and uncover what the writing’s been waiting to show you.

generative, craft, creative practice

6 Sessions August 4, 2025 - September 15, 2025 5:00-7:30 pm PT Online Nonfiction

Memoir of a Single Day

with Molly Schaeffer

Discover how much a single day can hold. This generative workshop invites deep attention to the everyday, using art, writing, and collaborative prompts to explore observation, experimentation, and the richness hidden in ordinary moments.

generative, cohort, creative practice

4 Sessions August 5, 2025 - August 26, 2025 5:00-7:00 pm PT Online Fiction

Delicious Strangeness: Writing Magical Realism

with Stephanie Hammer

Explore magical realism as a mindset, rather than a genre. In this playful, generative class, you’ll experiment with writing that blends the strange and the real—crafting stories that glow with mystery, metaphor, and emotional truth.

generative

1 Session August 12, 2025 - August 12, 2025 5:30-7:30 pm PT Online Fiction

Mastering Creative Research

with Ladane Nasseri

Turn curiosity into insight. This class helps you use research as a creative tool—teaching you how to gather, structure, and integrate material in ways that deepen your writing and sharpen the story you’re truly trying to tell.

generative, craft

4 Sessions August 15, 2025 - September 5, 2025 10:00-12:00 pm PT Online Fiction

Writing Dialogue: Beneath the Speech

with Alex Madison

Great dialogue lives in what’s unsaid. In this one-day class, you’ll learn to write charged, layered conversations that reveal character, deepen tension, and drive your story forward—with craft tools you can return to again and again.

generative, craft, close reading

1 Session August 16, 2025 - August 16, 2025 1:10-4:10 pm PT In Person Fiction