Alert & Fierce

“It turns out that having someone who believed in my failure more than in my success kept me alert. It made me fierce. Without ever meaning to, my father taught me at an early age to give up on the idea of approval. I wish I could bottle that freedom now and give it to every young writer I meet, with an extra bottle for the women.”

ANN PATCHETT

We hope you survived last week’s election week, with your humor and resilience in tact. With gratitude for the wise words of Ann Patchett, now is the time to be alert and fierce, and put that alertness and fierceness into our writing!

We're opening up new classes in December. There is one spot open in our Tuesday night class, which starts up again on Tuesday,. December 1 and on December 4, we’re introducing a brand new, six-week, Friday midday workshop called, "Write Like a Motherf***er." This intensive workshop will focus on short reading assignments and in class-writing exercises. You will arrive feeling inspired, and leave feeling energized, with new work in hand.

What We’re Reading

We just finished Maggie O’Farrell’s Hamnet and Douglas Stuart’s Shuggie Bain, and are reading and listening to Rachel Beanland’s Florence Adler Swims Forever. All three novels are told from multiple points of view. And if you’re looking for a great, short read, check out student Elissa Caterfino Mandel’s moving piece about her husband’s legacy, Bulls and Bears, just published in the Pennsylvania Gazette.

What are you reading now? Tell us here.

As always, thank you for being a vital part of our writing community