Fridays, January 12 to February 16, 1-2pm EST
Online, 10 Students Max
$375
Enroll in this class.
Start your weekend off right (write!) with this shot to your imaginative spirit, designed specifically for the busy person who craves a little space in their schedule for creativity and community. Inspired by the popular class Writing for Women on the Verge, with a little bit of that good #1000wordsofsummer accountable energy tossed into the mix, this course will feature readings, writing prompts, and shared writing time for an hour on Fridays.
We only have an hour together, so we’ll make it count. Each class will have a theme—joy, persistence, nature, vulnerability, sex, voice—and begin with a reading on that theme followed by a short craft talk. Then we’ll settle in with a prompt to write together, after which we’ll share (if you’re feeling ready to, that is), and set creative goals for the week to come. The class is generative, meant to inspire you to get to work and, hopefully, keep at that work between classes and beyond. You can write in any genre you like—nonfiction, fiction, poetry, stream-of-consciousness, journaling, fragments, rants, letters, lists—whatever feels right each day. There’s no homework, no outside reading, and no critical workshopping.
Sneak it in on your lunch break! Or pretend you’re at a meeting so your coworkers don’t know what’s up. Believe me, I know how hard it is to feel like you have a creative self when you are beset on all sides by the demands of the work week plus whatever else you have going on in your personal life. So let this class be a lifeline, or at least an hour you can put into your schedule every week for your freaky creativity to flourish. It’s Friday, so let’s celebrate, resist the BS, and roll into the weekend with good, positive creative energy.
Enroll in this class.
About the Instructor
Brian Gresko (he/they) is a writer based in Brooklyn, where they co-run Pete’s Reading Series, the borough's longest running literary venue. Their work has appeared in Poets & Writers Magazine, Slate, The Atlantic, Longreads, The Rumpus, and many other publications. Also a stay-at-home parent, they edited the anthology When I First Held You: 22 Critically Acclaimed Writers Talk about the Triumphs, Challenges, and Transformative Experience of Fatherhood. They received their MFA in fiction from The New School, and was the first in their family to attend college, at Oberlin.
Student Testimonials
Brian is a caring, kind, and intuitive teacher. In addition to being genuinely excited about writing and teaching it as a craft, he's responsive to questions and generous with his time. I learned a lot in the nonfiction class I took with Brian, and left with a deeper understanding of how to create emotional connections with a reader, follow the arc of a narrative, and choose details that move the story forward. – Luna Adler
I came in wanting to produce at least two chapters from my next haiku book, but instead I got the tools I needed to write an entire next book—one that is going to be challenging, but that I'm going to be really proud of. In Brian's class, I felt like I “leveled up,” learning creative strategies to organize and make my work more readable and interesting. I gained an excitement and enthusiasm for writing that I didn't have before - an energy that I plan to keep flowing now that the class is done! – Kristen Lem, author of Haiku to Fall in Love To
I took Brian's workshop in non-fiction and worked on two pieces with the class, while also reading and giving feedback on students' work. That experience reignited my writing process in a serious way. I continued to work on the second piece from the class with Brian one-on-one, and he encouraged me to submit it for publication. He helped me understand the submission process, and tracked down contacts at the publications on my short list. That piece kinda blew up on the Internet and the next thing I know I have a literary agent and am working on a full-length book project. Will you get an agent by taking Brian's class? Unclear. But you will gain an honest understanding of both your strengths and tics as a writer, and hopefully a kick in the motivation pants while you're at it. – Christina Wallace