They say it takes 66 days to build or renew a habit. In this 12-week class (a few extra days for good measure!) we’ll establish and support the habit of writing: we’ll give it regular space in our lives and schedules in order to bring the craft into greater focus and let us go deeper into the projects we’ve been wanting to create.
Writers’ Happy Hour is a group that will offer accountability, support, and good company to writers of all types. We clock in at 5:30 every Monday evening (feel free to bring your beverage of choice) for an hour of experimentation and inspiration. In our twelve sessions, we will discuss good writing in terms of technique, application, and audience. Our sessions will always include a short writing prompt, discussion of craft elements, and ideas to work with on your own. I will offer recommended reading throughout the week, as well as exercises to try as you continue your practice.
This course is appropriate for writers in all genres; cross-pollination benefits us all! I will specifically pull examples from memoir, food writing, investigative nonfiction, poetry, fiction, and children’s books. This is not a formal workshop course, but all participants will have the opportunity to share work in progress.
Participant feedback from Rachel's fall Happy Hour session:
"All my experiences in writing classes have been in fiction or nonfiction, so I loved thinking about poetry from a writer's POV and found much that transferred to nonfiction. And the fact that we were all doing such different work made it more collaborative, like a support group."
"I loved the reading suggestions: they were always great and often new to me. I enjoyed the writing exercises and prompts, which yielded real surprises, and always got the juices flowing. And I enjoyed hearing the voices and getting input from a variety of writers."
Rachel Richardson is a co-founder and co-director of Left Margin LIT. She is also the author of two books of poems,
Hundred-Year Wave and Copperhead.
Rachel has taught at a number of universities, including Stanford, UC Davis, and USF’s MFA in Writing program. She has been awarded NEA and Wallace Stegner Fellowships, and her poems have been published in the New York Times Magazine, Slate, and many journals.