Dates: December 1st & 8th (take one or both)
Time: 12-5pm
Location: West Village, NYC
Price: $150 for both, $80 for one
(Online class also coming soon)

You have everything you think you need for your essay: you have the events, you have the material you want to cover. But you can’t seem to get the story right. What’s happening?

Maybe the issue isn’t the essay, but the form you’re using!

At some point we learned that all stories should be told in chronological order. Yes, there’s some usefulness to relating events in the order in which they occurred, but this approach can also be very limiting. Sometimes the traditional form won’t cut it for what we’re trying to say and do. That’s where experimentation comes in.

Sometimes, it’s the juxtaposition of events that gives our memories meaning.

Sometimes, it’s in experimentation that we find our form!

What if the best way to write your story is via a want ad? Or maybe it’s a resume as an essay? What about a recipe? Can that be an essay? Can we write an essay using google maps? What about list?

The answer to all of these is YES!

In this writing intensive class, we will:
* ask radical questions about the essay form itself;
* read and analyze sample essays that deconstruct nontraditional forms to see how writers have used them to tell surprising and moving tales; and
* do exercises based on these forms to inspire participants to take risks with form.

You’ll also have the opportunity to share a few paragraphs (if you want to, of course) of your new work with your classmates, and by the end of each day you’ll have the beginnings of a few pieces.

What you should know:
* The class is a two part class, both five hours: December 1st & 8th, 12-5pm
* You can take both classes or just one.
* $80 one class
* $150 for both
* $30 non-refundable registration fee required to hold your seat.
* Full payment due by November 30th

Contact writingourlivesworkshop@gmail.com for questions and/or to register.

About the facilitator:

Vanessa Mártir is a NYC based writer, educator and writing coach. She is currently completing her memoir, A Dim Capacity for Wings, and chronicles the journey at vanessamartir.blog. A five-time VONA/Voices and two-time Tin House fellow, Vanessa’s essays have been widely published including in The Rumpus, The Butter, Bitch Magazine, Kweli Journal, the VONA/Voices Anthology, Dismantle, and the New York Times Bestseller Not That Bad, edited by Roxane Gay. She is the creator of the Writing Our Lives Workshop and the Writing the Mother Wound Class, which she teaches in NYC and online. When not writing or teaching, you can find Vanessa either on a dance floor, in a gym punching a bag or hiking in the woods. You can keep up with her relentless grind at vanessamartir.com.