Today on our show, we bring you a story by Farida Taha. Farida writes about losing her daughter to cancer and how she’s moving forward. We talk a lot about loss on our podcast, because writing is how so many people process grief. We believe writing opens the heart, clears the mind, and helps us understand and process. In this essay, Farida throws out some incredibly poignant lines that reveal intense pain and so much hope for the future.

Farida Taha is a writer and mother of three. She is originally from New York City and resides in Miami, FL. She is an avid listener and former writing class radio student. You can find her on Instagram @faridae.

If you're looking for a writing coach to help your student with college application essays, contact Allison Langer.

Writing Class Radio is hosted by Allison Langer and Andrea Askowitz. Audio production by Matt Cundill, Evan Surminski, and Aiden Glassey at the Sound Off Media Company. Theme music is by Justina Shandler.

A transcription of this episode is available on the network webpage.

There’s more writing class on our website including stories we study, editing resources, video classes, writing retreats, and live online classes. Join our writing community by following us on Patreon. 

If you want to write with us every week, you can join our First Draft weekly writers groups. You have the option to join Allison on Tuesdays 12-1 ET and/or Mondays with Eduardo Winck 8-9 pm ET. You’ll write to a prompt and share what you wrote. If you’re a business owner, community activist, group that needs healing, entrepreneur, or scientist and you want to help your team write better, check out all the classes we offer on our website, writingclassradio.com.

Join the community that comes together for instruction, an excuse to write, and the support from other writers. To learn more, go to www.Patreon.com/writingclassradio. Or sign up HERE for First Draft for a FREE Zoom link.

A new episode will drop every other WEDNESDAY. 

There’s no better way to understand ourselves and each other, than by writing and sharing our stories. Everyone has a story. What’s yours?

Today on our show, we bring you a story by Sarena Neyman. Sarena is in Allison’s 2nd Draft class, which is made up of writers who come together to share a draft of their essay and receive feedback from the group. Sarena’s stories are funny and brimming with voice and perfect landings.

Sarena Neyman has been writing for numerous human rights groups for more than 20 years, working on causes from digital privacy to affordable housing to marriage equality. She writes for cabinlife.com and PeaceVoice.com. Sarena lives in Western Massachusetts.

If you're looking for a writing coach to help your student with college application essays, contact Allison Langer.

Writing Class Radio is hosted by Allison Langer and Andrea Askowitz. Audio production by Matt Cundill, Evan Surminski, and Aiden Glassey at the Sound Off Media Company. Theme music is by Justina Shandler.

There’s more writing class on our website including stories we study, editing resources, video classes, writing retreats, and live online classes. Join our writing community by following us on Patreon. 

A Transcription of this episode is available on our Network Website.

If you want to write with us every week, you can join our First Draft weekly writers groups. You have the option to join Allison on Tuesdays 12-1 ET and/or Mondays with Eduardo Winck 8-9 pm ET. You’ll write to a prompt and share what you wrote. If you’re a business owner, community activist, group that needs healing, entrepreneur, or scientist and you want to help your team write better, check out all the classes we offer on our website, writingclassradio.com.

Join the community that comes together for instruction, an excuse to write, and the support from other writers. To learn more, go to www.Patreon.com/writingclassradio. Or sign up HERE for First Draft for a FREE Zoom link.

A new episode will drop every other WEDNESDAY. 

There’s no better way to understand ourselves and each other, than by writing and sharing our stories. Everyone has a story. What’s yours?

Today on our show we bring you a story by Morgan Sutton that embodies everything a story should embody. The story uses no extra words; the narrator looks inside herself; and the story matters to the broader world.

The story is so important because it explains a very dangerous and ugly assumption that is often made about women who’ve been raped. Morgan does it by examining her own situation and her own assumptions. There’s no preaching. And there’s nothing dogmatic. This is what writing and storytelling is all about. Getting to the truth. 

Morgan workshopped this story at Writing Class Radio’s annual writing boot camp in Key Largo. She did the work to make the story great. Morgan Sutton is a hospice nurse who lives in Austin, Texas with her husband.

Writing Class Radio is hosted by Allison Langer and Andrea Askowitz. Audio production by Matt Cundill, Evan Surminski, Chloe Emond-Lane, and Aiden Glassey at the Sound Off Media Company. Theme music is by Justina Shandler.

There’s more writing class on our website including stories we study, editing resources, video classes, writing retreats, and live online classes. Join our writing community by following us on Patreon. 

If you want to write with us every week, you can join our First Draft weekly writers groups. You have the option to join Allison on Tuesdays 12-1 ET and/or Mondays with Eduardo Winck 8-9 pm ET. You’ll write to a prompt and share what you wrote. If you’re a business owner, community activist, group that needs healing, entrepreneur, or scientist and you want to help your team write better, check out all the classes we offer on our website, writingclassradio.com.

Join the community that comes together for instruction, an excuse to write, and the support from other writers. To learn more, go to www.Patreon.com/writingclassradio. Or sign up HERE for First Draft for a FREE Zoom link.

A new episode will drop every other WEDNESDAY. 

There’s no better way to understand ourselves and each other, than by writing and sharing our stories. Everyone has a story. What’s yours?

This episode is about story structure and all things done well in an essay. LiAnne Yu tells a story about watching TV with her Chinese immigrant parents. As a narrator she brings us into her world--dinners in front of the TV with her parents. She uses detail to reveal character--Mork & Mindy, Sex and the City, and Fox News. She follows the five Cs of story structure: context, circumstance, complication, change, consequence.

LiAnne Yu is an anthropologist and writer based in San Francisco and Kailua Kona, Hawaii. Her story was originally published in The New York Times, July 17, 2020.

Writing Class Radio is a podcast where you’ll hear true personal stories and learn a little about how to write your own stories. Writing Class Radio is equal parts heart and art. By heart we mean the truth in a story. By art we mean the craft of writing. No matter what’s going on in our lives, writing class is where we tell the truth. It’s where we work out our shit, and figure out who we are. There’s no place in the world like writing class and we want to bring you in.

Writing Class Radio is co-hosted by Allison Langer (www.allisonlanger.com) and Andrea Askowitz (www.andreaaskowitz.com). Writing Class Radio is produced by Virginia Lora, Andrea Askowitz and Allison Langer. Mia Pennekamp is our media specialist.

Theme music is by Emia. Additional music by Podington Bear and Ari Herstand.

There’s more writing class on our website (www.writingclassradio.com), Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/writingclassradio/), Instagram and Twitter (@wrtgclassradio).

If you love the lessons you get on each episode, you can get them ALL in one place--our three-part video series--for $50. Click Video Classes on our website.

Writing Class Radio is now open to submissions from our listeners. Go to the submissions page on our website for guidelines. We pay!

If you want to be a part of the movement that helps people better understand each other through storytelling, we are now on Patreon. For $10/month you can join Andrea’s submissions conversation. We’ll support each other as we try to get our stories published. For $25/month you can join Allison’s weekly writers lunch, where you can write and share your work. Go to www.Patreon.com/writingclassradio or click here to support us.

This episode is about using a character to express the voice of reason. So often in a story, the narrator is in a bind and can’t see clearly. In the story we bring you today, the narrator’s wife says something that opens the narrator’s mind to a different point of view. The narrator went years believing something that might not be true. In this story, he artfully showed us the moment the story he told himself was called into question. 

Today’s story is by listener Nicholas Garnett, an adjunct professor of creative writing at Florida International University and Miami Book Fair International. He’s editor of the journal Sliver of Stone. His writing has appeared in Salon.com, The Florida Book Review, and other places including Best Sex Writing of 2013. Most importantly, he’s the co-producer of Lip Service, which is a Knight Foundation award winning live storytelling show in Miami. Andrea produced Lip Service for nine years and Nick was her co-producer for a few years. He’s a super nice guy and a great writer and editor. 

Writing Class Radio is a podcast where you’ll hear true personal stories and learn a little about how to write your own stories. Writing Class Radio is equal parts heart and art. By heart we mean the truth in a story. By art we mean the craft of writing. No matter what’s going on in our lives, writing class is where we tell the truth. It’s where we work out our shit, and figure out who we are. There’s no place in the world like writing class and we want to bring you in.

Writing Class Radio is co-hosted by Allison Langer (www.allisonlanger.com) and Andrea Askowitz (www.andreaaskowitz.com). Writing Class Radio is produced by Virginia Lora, Andrea Askowitz and Allison Langer. Ariel Henley is our media specialist.

Theme music is by Emia. Additional music by Podington Bear and Ari Herstand.

There’s more writing class on our website (www.writingclassradio.com), Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/writingclassradio/), Instagram and Twitter (@wrtgclassradio).

If you love the lessons you get on each episode, you can get them ALL in one place--our three-part video series--for $50. Click Video Classes on our website.

Writing Class Radio is now open to submissions from our listeners. Go to the submissions page on our website for guidelines. We pay!

If you want to be a part of the movement that helps people better understand each other through storytelling, we are now on Patreon. For $10/month you can join Andrea’s submissions conversation. We’ll support each other as we try to get our stories published. For $25/month you can join Allison’s weekly writers lunch, where you can write and share your work. Go to www.Patreon.com/writingclassradio or click here to support us.

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS: Do you have a story you just can’t get right? If you’re brave enough, we’ll edit it on the air. Send a Word doc (1,500 words max) to info@writingclassradio.com. Write HARD EDITS in the subject line.

Today on our show, we’re talking about how every word in a story matters. We have a story to share that illustrates this point so well. Essayist, teacher, and Writing Class Radio listener Amy Paturel submitted her story called “The Other Love of His Life,” which was originally published in Newsweek, April 2009. 

Amy’s story is a great example of how every word must lead to the final conclusion. Every scene, detail, and description should move the story forward. If not...cut. 

This got us thinking about how our words matter, not just to move a story along, but also because what we say or don’t say impacts other people. In Episode 81, we spoke to agent Barbara Poelle about getting a literary agent. We left out a crucial part of the conversation about bringing out stories by and about people of color. Listener Taiwo Adesina wrote to us to let us know. We are grateful and sorry.  

Writing Class Radio is a podcast where you’ll hear true personal stories and learn a little about how to write your own stories. Writing Class Radio is equal parts heart and art. By heart we mean the truth in a story. By art we mean the craft of writing. No matter what’s going on in our lives, writing class is where we tell the truth. It’s where we work out our shit, and figure out who we are. There’s no place in the world like writing class and we want to bring you in.

Writing Class Radio is co-hosted by Allison Langer (www.allisonlanger.com) and Andrea Askowitz (www.andreaaskowitz.com). Writing Class Radio is produced by Virginia Lora, Andrea Askowitz and Allison Langer. Ariel Henley is our media specialist.

Theme music is by Emia. Additional music by Podington Bear.

There’s more writing class on our website (www.writingclassradio.com), Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/writingclassradio/), Instagram and Twitter (@wrtgclassradio).

If you love the lessons you get on each episode, you can get them ALL in one place--our three-part video series--for $50. Click Video Classes on our website.

Writing Class Radio is now open to submissions from our listeners. Go to the submissions page on our website for guidelines. We pay!

If you want to be a part of the movement that helps people better understand each other through storytelling, we are now on Patreon. For $10/month you can join Andrea’s submissions conversation. We’ll support each other as we try to get our stories published. For $25/month you can join Allison’s weekly writers lunch, where you can write and share your work. Go to www.Patreon.com/writingclassradio or click here to support us.

This episode of Writing Class Radio is dedicated to George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and all those who have lost their lives in a senseless murder.

The story we share with you on this episode is by student and poet Zorina Frey. Last Saturday, May 30, 2020, Andrea gave students a writing prompt and 14 minutes to write about whatever came to mind. Zorina’s response is helping us sit with the sadness, anger, and grief. It is a story that’s helping us reflect and process everything that’s going on. 

The prompt was Religion. 

Writing Class Radio is a podcast where you’ll hear true personal stories and learn a little about how to write your own stories. Writing Class Radio is equal parts heart and art. By heart we mean the truth in a story. By art we mean the craft of writing. No matter what’s going on in our lives, writing class is where we tell the truth. It’s where we work out our shit, and figure out who we are. There’s no place in the world like writing class and we want to bring you in.

Writing Class Radio is co-hosted by Allison Langer (www.allisonlanger.com) and Andrea Askowitz (www.andreaaskowitz.com). Writing Class Radio is produced by Virginia Lora, Andrea Askowitz and Allison Langer. Ariel Henley is our media specialist.

Theme music is by Emia. 

There’s more writing class on our website (www.writingclassradio.com), Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/writingclassradio/), Instagram and Twitter (@wrtgclassradio).

If you love the lessons you get on each episode, you can get them ALL in one place--our three-part video series--for $50. Click Video Classes on our website.

Writing Class Radio is now open to submissions from our listeners. Go to the submissions page on our website for guidelines. We pay!

If you want to be a part of the movement that helps people better understand each other through storytelling, we are now on Patreon. For $10/month you can join Andrea’s submissions conversation. We’ll support each other as we try to get our stories published. For $25/month you can join Allison’s weekly writers lunch, where you can write and share your work. Go to www.Patreon.com/writingclassradio or click here to support us.

Today on our show, we share a New York Times Modern Love essay we love by Jessica Strawser, editor-at-large at Writer’s Digest. Her essay caught the attention of literary agent Barbara Poelle, an agent with the Irene Goodman Literary Agency and the author of Funny You Should Ask: Mostly Serious Answers to Mostly Serious Questions About the Publishing Industry. Her book is based on her Writer's Digest column of the same name. On today’s show, we share our conversation with Barbara about how to get an agent.

We asked Barbara all kinds of questions: Is now a good time to query? How do I find an agent? Is there such a thing as a dream agent? Do authors even need an agent? What should I do before signing an agent? We also ask the big question: Can we write about certain experiences that aren’t our own? Barbara gives us the insider info. 

Writing Class Radio is a podcast where you’ll hear true personal stories and learn a little about how to write your own stories. Writing Class Radio is equal parts heart and art. By heart we mean the truth in a story. By art we mean the craft of writing. No matter what’s going on in our lives, writing class is where we tell the truth. It’s where we work out our shit, and figure out who we are. There’s no place in the world like writing class and we want to bring you in.

Writing Class Radio is co-hosted by Allison Langer (www.allisonlanger.com) and Andrea Askowitz (www.andreaaskowitz.com). Writing Class Radio is produced by Virginia Lora, Andrea Askowitz and Allison Langer. Ariel Henley is our media specialist.

Theme music is by Emia. Additional music is by Justina Shandler and Poddington Bear.

There’s more writing class on our website (www.writingclassradio.com), Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/writingclassradio/), Instagram and Twitter (@wrtgclassradio).

If you love the lessons you get on each episode, you can get them ALL in one place--our three-part video series--for $50. Click Video Classes on our website.

Writing Class Radio is now open to submissions from our listeners. Go to the submissions page on our website for guidelines. We pay!

If you want to be a part of the movement that helps people better understand each other through storytelling, we are now on Patreon. For $10/month you can join Andrea’s submissions conversation. We’ll support each other as we try to get our stories published. For $25/month you can join Allison’s weekly writers lunch, where you can write and share your work. Go to www.Patreon.com/writingclassradio or click here to support us.

Today on our show, we are talking about what we can’t stop talking about, the coronavirus. Every email, text, call starts with, “How are you holding up?” It’s beautiful and exhausting, so we put out a call for coronavirus stories.

We have two stories to share. One is by our own Andrea Askowitz who is still living in Madrid. Madrid is one of the most contagious cities on earth and if you’ve seen her videos of her family dancing on FB, you are aware she’s going a little stir-crazy. Writing has helped calm her. 

And we have a story by Sari Botton, the essays editor of Longreads. In Sari’s essay, she gives us permission to tell our stories even if they feel petty. We always say, stories matter. And now, stories matter as much as ever. But for those of us too freaked out to write, Sari also gives us permission to take the pressure off producing. 

We talk a lot on our show about situation and story. The stories you will hear today are both about this coronavirus situation, but they also bring us something more about the human condition. We hope these stories are both comforting and inspiring.

Sari Botton’s list of writing resources for anyone interested in writing now:

• Vanessa Mártir offers many personal essay prompts that she made available for free in 2019 on her Writing Our Lives site.
• Cookbook author Julia Turshen is offering free food writing workshops via Instagram Live.
• Rachel McKibbens is offering writing prompts for 30 days in a Twitter thread. (Anyone can access them, but she is asking for donations to The Pink Door, the writers’ retreat for women-identified writers of color.)
• Weds., 3/25 The Writing Barn is offering a free webinar called “Writing Through Troubled Times.”
• Nancy Stohlman and Kathy Fish are offering 30 days of free writing prompts.
• Toby Litt has a free 10-session short story writing workshop online.
• The Porch Writers’ Collective in Tennessee is offering daily writing prompts on Twitter. They’ll be moving them to email, so sign up here.
• Barrel House is offering free online write-ins.
• Anna Polonyi has started Quarantine Quill, via the Paris Institute for Critical Thinking, a podcast on which she offers one writing prompt and one writing tip each day, for the duration of the lockdown in Paris.
• Stonewall Writers & Readers is hosting free writers’ groups online.
• Leigh Shulman is offering free online writing workshops next week, and also free writing prompts via email.
• And one more from Sari: I’ve got an into-level essay writing workshop on Skillshare. If you sign up for it, you can get a two-month free trial that lets you access all the courses on their site. Right now, Skillshare is also offering two months free (without having to give credit-card information) for current K-12 and college students, and others who qualify based on need. (I’m pretty dorky in my video, and I wish I’d thought to like, style my hair that day…? But I stand by the content of it.)

Writing Class Radio is a podcast where you’ll hear true personal stories and learn a little about how to write your own stories. Writing Class Radio is equal parts heart and art. By heart we mean the truth in a story. By art we mean the craft of writing. No matter what’s going on in our lives, writing class is where we tell the truth. It’s where we work out our shit, and figure out who we are. There’s no place in the world like writing class and we want to bring you in.

Writing Class Radio is co-hosted by Allison Langer (www.allisonlanger.com) and Andrea Askowitz (www.andreaaskowitz.com). Writing Class Radio is produced by Virginia Lora, Andrea Askowitz and Allison Langer. Ariel Henley is our media specialist.

Theme music is by Emia. Additional music is by Ari Herstand, Justina Shandler, and Poddington Bear,

There’s more writing class on our website (www.writingclassradio.com), Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/writingclassradio/), Instagram and Twitter (@wrtgclassradio).

If you love the lessons you get on each episode, you can get them ALL in one place--our three-part video series--for $50. Click Video Classes on our website.

Writing Class Radio is now open to submissions from our listeners. Go to the submissions page on our website for guidelines. We pay!

If you want to be a part of the movement that helps people better understand each other through storytelling, we are now on Patreon. For $10/month you can join Andrea’s submissions conversation. We’ll support each other as we try to get our stories published. For $25/month you can join Allison’s weekly writers lunch, where you can write and share your work. Go to www.Patreon.com/writingclassradio or click here to support us.

Today on our show, we take a look at bringing an obsession into a story. It’s possible to go deep into an obsession that has almost nothing to do with the story you are trying to tell without being distracting. That obsession can deepen the meaning of the story by giving us a peek into you, the narrator. 

Editors get a lot of stories about cancer, dead dogs, aging parents, etc. We’re not saying, stay away from these topics. We’re saying, writing about an obsession is a way to write about death (or any of these topics) in a new and interesting way. 

The story you’ll hear is from listener Jackie Ashton. This story was previously published in the March 2019 issue of Real Simple.

We also talk about why it’s important to write and read stories about death, because hiding from feelings is never good. This story illustrates what someone who is going through a difficult time might need the most: friends who remind them of joy by experiencing it with them.

Writing Class Radio is a podcast where you’ll hear true personal stories and learn a little about how to write your own stories. Writing Class Radio is equal parts heart and art. By heart we mean the truth in a story. By art we mean the craft of writing. No matter what’s going on in our lives, writing class is where we tell the truth. It’s where we work out our shit, and figure out who we are.

There’s no place in the world like writing class and we want to bring you in.

Writing Class Radio is co-hosted by Allison Langer (www.allisonlanger.com) and Andrea Askowitz (www.andreaaskowitz.com). Writing Class Radio is produced by Virginia Lora, Andrea Askowitz and Allison Langer and sponsored by The Launchpad at The University of Miami, which aims to make the practice of entrepreneurship available to all students and alumni.

Theme music is by Christine Corey. Additional music is by EMIA, Blue Jay, and Podington Bear.

There’s more writing class on our website (www.writingclassradio.com), Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/writingclassradio/), Instagram and Twitter (@wrtgclassradio).

If you love the lessons you get on each episode, you can get them ALL in one place--our three-part video series--for $50. Click Video Classes on our website.

Writing Class Radio is now open to submissions from our listeners. Go to the submissions page on our website for guidelines. We pay!

If you want to be a part of the movement that helps people better understand each other through storytelling, we are now on Patreon. For $10/month you can join Andrea’s submissions conversation. We’ll support each other as we try to get our stories published. For $25/month you can join Allison’s weekly writers lunch, where you can write and share your work. Go to www.Patreon.com/writingclassradio or click here to support us.

We’re pinking out and we want you to pinkout with us by supporting one of our cancer charities: https://www.writingclassradio.com/camo-elephant-projectThe Pink Wig Project or 305 Pink Pack.

Today on our show, we’re talking about how writing helps you figure out how you think. And helps you see yourself, specifically your failures more clearly because it’s hard to ignore a pattern when you see it in writing.

We share an essay by listener, Karen Debonis who’s story, “Even the Weak Can Weather the Storm” is about what it ultimately took to make her change from being overly agreeable to a fierce badass defender of her child. It wasn’t his illness that was the catalyst, but reading back on what she’d written about herself years ago when her son was going through his illness and not liking herself.

Karen Debonis began writing twenty years ago after her eleven-year-old son was diagnosed with a brain tumor. Then she put the writing aside to care for her kid. A few years ago, Karen revisited her manuscript. Karen lives and writes in upstate New York. You can find her writing at www.KarenDeBonis.com.

Facebook: www.facebook.com/KDeBoniswriter/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/KarenDeBonis

Instagram: www.instagram.com/karendeboniswriter/

Writing Class Radio is a podcast where you’ll hear true personal stories and learn a little about how to write your own stories. Writing Class Radio is equal parts heart and art. By heart we mean the truth in a story. By art we mean the craft of writing. No matter what’s going on in our lives, writing class is where we tell the truth. It’s where we work out our shit, and figure out who we are.

There’s no place in the world like writing class and we want to bring you in.

Writing Class Radio is co-hosted by Allison Langer (www.allisonlanger.com) and Andrea Askowitz (www.andreaaskowitz.com). Writing Class Radio is produced by Virginia Lora, Andrea Askowitz and Allison Langer and sponsored by The Launchpad at The University of Miami, which aims to make the practice of entrepreneurship available to all students and alumni. 

Theme music is by Christine Corey. Additional music is by Ari Herstand and Podington Bear.

There’s more writing class on our website (www.writingclassradio.com), Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/writingclassradio/), Instagram and Twitter (@wrtgclassradio).

If you love the lessons you get on each episode, you can get them ALL in one place--our three-part video series--for $50. Click Video Classes on our website.

Writing Class Radio is now open to submissions from our listeners. Go to the submissions page on our website for guidelines. We pay!

If you want to be a part of the movement that helps people better understand each other through storytelling, we are now on Patreon. For $10/month you can join Andrea’s submissions conversation. We’ll support each other as we try to get our stories published. For $25/month you can join Allison’s weekly writers lunch, where you can write and share your work. Go to www.Patreon.com/writingclassradio or click here to support us.

Today on our show, we’re talking to Susan Shapiro about literary citizenship. 

A literary citizen is someone who does good things for other literary people like re-tweet their published essays, share insider dos and don’ts, and hook people up with editors. Being a good literary citizen will help you get published because it shows that you know what’s going on in the literary world, helps build your platform, and it probably brings you some good karma. Susan Shapiro has made a career out of doing all these things and more. She’s written 12 books and thousands of essays. She teaches at NYU and The New School.

We also share an essay by Susan Shapiro that was published in 2016 in The Cut, which is in New York Magazine. We love this essay and it’s about literary citizenship in a weird way.

Susan is the author of Byline Bible, which is literary citizenship in book form. Byline Bible teaches you how to write a query letter, what publications want what kinds of stories, how to attract an agent, and gives lots of great examples of essays published by her students. Every author who wants to get published must read Byline Bible. 

Writing Class Radio is a podcast where you’ll hear true personal stories and learn a little about how to write your own stories. Writing Class Radio is equal parts heart and art. By heart we mean the truth in a story. By art we mean the craft of writing. No matter what’s going on in our lives, writing class is where we tell the truth. It’s where we work out our shit, and figure out who we are.

There’s no place in the world like writing class and we want to bring you in.

Writing Class Radio is co-hosted by Allison Langer (www.allisonlanger.com) and Andrea Askowitz (www.andreaaskowitz.com). Writing Class Radio is produced by Virginia Lora, Andrea Askowitz and Allison Langer and sponsored by The Launchpad at The University of Miami, which aims to make the practice of entrepreneurship available to all students and alumni. 

Theme music is by Christine Corey. Additional music is by EMIA, and Podington Bear.

There’s more writing class on our website (www.writingclassradio.com), Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/writingclassradio/), Instagram and Twitter (@wrtgclassradio).

If you love the lessons you get on each episode, you can get them ALL in one place--our three-part video series--for $50. Click Video Classes on our website.

Writing Class Radio is now open to submissions from our listeners. Go to the submissions page on our website for guidelines. We pay!

If you want to be a part of the movement that helps people better understand each other through storytelling, we are now on Patreon. For $10/month you can join Andrea’s submissions conversation. We’ll support each other as we try to get our stories published. For $25/month you can join Allison’s weekly writers lunch, where you can write and share your work. Go to www.Patreon.com/writingclassradio or click here to support us.

Click to Join our camo-elephant hat project. Get an elephant hat for all the elephants (people who support you/people you love) in your life and support the The Pink Wig Project.

On this episode, you’ll hear two stories about abortion, because we believe abortion stories must be told to keep abortions safe, legal, and accessible. If all women who had abortions told their stories, abortion would not be stigmatized, public perception would change, and laws would change. 

We put a call out for abortion stories. We received several, all from women who did not regret their abortions. According to The Guardian, 95% of all women who have abortions don’t regret them. So this is the story we’re telling on this episode.  

The two stories are told from different perspectives in terms of time. It’s really important to be aware of where you’re standing in time while telling a story. Nicki Post, a past student in our class and a regular on our podcast, tells her story from 10 years out. Holly Bullis, a listener from Boulder, Colorado sets her story on the day she has her abortion. 

If you want more Nicki Post, you can hear her stories on Episode 12: Emotional Hangover, Episode 14: Taboo, Episode 23: I Fart, You Fart, and Episode 35: What Makes You You?. For more Holly Bullis, you can find her on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/HollyBullis or go to her blog The Underside of Leaves. https://theundersideofleaves.wordpress.com/ 

Writing Class Radio is a podcast where you’ll hear true personal stories and learn a little about how to write your own stories. Writing Class Radio is equal parts heart and art. By heart we mean the truth in a story. By art we mean the craft of writing. No matter what’s going on in our lives, writing class is where we tell the truth. It’s where we work out our shit, and figure out who we are. 

There’s no place in the world like writing class and we want to bring you in.

Writing Class Radio is co-hosted by Allison Langer (www.allisonlanger.com) and Andrea Askowitz (www.andreaaskowitz.com). Writing Class Radio is produced by Virginia Lora, Andrea Askowitz and Allison Langer and sponsored by The Launchpad at The University of Miami, which aims to make the practice of entrepreneurship available to all students and alumni. 

Theme music is by Christine Corey. Additional music is by EMIA, and Podington Bear.

There’s more writing class on our website (www.writingclassradio.com), Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/writingclassradio/), Instagram and Twitter (@wrtgclassradio). 

If you love the lessons you get on each episode, you can get them ALL in one place--our three-part video series. You get three videos for $50. Click Video Classes on our website.

Writing Class Radio is now open to submissions from our listeners. Go to the submissions page on our website for guidelines. We pay!

If you want to be a part of the movement that helps people better understand each other through storytelling, we’ve made it easy for you to get involved. We are now on Patreon. For $10/month you can join Andrea’s submissions conversation. We’ll support each other as we try to get our stories published. For $25/month you can join Allison’s weekly writers lunch, where you can write and share your work. Go to www.Patreon.com/writingclassradio or click here to support us.

Click to Join our camo-elephant hat project. Get an elephant hat for all the elephants (people who support you/people you love) in your life or make a donation to The Pink Wig Project.

Today on our show, we bring you a story by Jasmine Anenberg, a PhD student at The Center for Ecosystem Science and Society (ECOSS) at Northern Arizona University (NAU). Her story is about losing a friend but gaining something he taught her, which is seeing the beauty in small things. She takes this lesson into her fieldwork as she studies mosses in dirt.

Her story was originally performed on stage at the Flagstaff Festival of Science in October 2023. This was a Collaboration with ECOSS, Northern Arizona University, and Story Collider, a podcast that airs true science stories. Jasmine was totally present while telling her story on stage and her delivery was spot on. 

Writing Class Radio worked with Dr. Bruce Hungate and Dr. Jane Marks, ecologists and professors at NAU. They have been taking classes with us for about three years. Last year, they were like, Hey, we gotta get our students to personalize their science stories and then they hired us to work with their students online and in person and all of it culminated in a show, which got a standing ovation. Jane and Bruce know that connecting on a personal level will help scientists convey their messages to a broader public and hopefully save the world. 

Writing Class Radio is hosted by Allison Langer and Andrea Askowitz. Audio production by Matt Cundill, Evan Surminski, Chloe Emond-Lane, and Aiden Glassey at the Sound Off Media Company. Theme music is by Justina Shandler.

There’s more writing class on our website including stories we study, editing resources, video classes, writing retreats, and live online classes. Join our writing community by following us on Patreon. 

If you want to write with us every week, you can join our First Draft weekly writers groups. You have the option to join Allison on Tuesdays 12-1 ET and/or Mondays with Eduardo Winck 8-9 pm ET. You’ll write to a prompt and share what you wrote. If you’re a business owner, community activist, group that needs healing, entrepreneur, or scientist and you want to help your team write better, check out all the classes we offer on our website, writingclassradio.com.

A Transcription of this episode can be found here.

Join the community that comes together for instruction, an excuse to write, and the support from other writers. To learn more, go to www.Patreon.com/writingclassradio. Or sign up HERE for First Draft for a FREE Zoom link.

A new episode will drop every other WEDNESDAY. 

There’s no better way to understand ourselves and each other, than by writing and sharing our stories. Everyone has a story. What’s yours?

Today on our show, we’re talking to Lilly Dancyger, an editor at Catapult, among many things. She’s also a freelance editor at Narratively and Barrelhouse Books, a memoir writing teacher, writer, curator of Memoir Monday, and the editor of the just-released anthology called Burn It Down. We talked to her about what she’s looking for in an essay, and how to successfully pitch to Narratively and Catapult. Read this before you submit to Lilly or anywhere. 

Ariel Henley reads her essay called There’s a Mathematical Equation that Proves I’m Ugly--Or So I Learned in My Seventh Grade Art Class, which was published in Narratively. Lilly tells us why she chose Ariel’s essay.

And because Ariel’s essay spawned a book deal, we got Ariel on the phone to talk about how she went from idea, to essay, to publication, to agent, to published book. 

This episode is an inspiration to anyone looking to write their stories. 

Writing Class Radio is a podcast where you’ll hear true personal stories and learn a little about how to write your own stories. Writing Class Radio is equal parts heart and art. By heart we mean the truth in a story. By art we mean the craft of writing. No matter what’s going on in our lives, writing class is where we tell the truth. It’s where we work out our shit, and figure out who we are. 

There’s no place in the world like writing class and we want to bring you in.

Writing Class Radio is co-hosted by Allison Langer (www.allisonlanger.com) and Andrea Askowitz (www.andreaaskowitz.com). Writing Class Radio is produced by Virginia Lora, Andrea Askowitz and Allison Langer and sponsored by The Launchpad at The University of Miami, which aims to make the practice of entrepreneurship available to all students and alumni. 

Theme music is by Christine Corey. Additional music is by Justina Shandler, Ari Herstand, Andi G. Cohen, and Podington Bear.

There’s more writing class on our website (www.writingclassradio.com), Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/writingclassradio/), Instagram and Twitter (@wrtgclassradio).

If you love the lessons you get on each episode, you can get them ALL in one place--our three-part video series. You get three videos for $50. Click on Video Classes on our website.

Writing Class Radio is now open to submissions from our listeners. Go to the submissions page on our website for guidelines. We pay!

If you want to be a part of the movement that helps people better understand each other through storytelling, we’ve made it easy for you to get involved. We are now on Patreon. For $10/month you can join Andrea’s submissions conversation. We’ll support each other as we try to get our stories published. For $25/month you can join Allison’s weekly writers lunch, where you can write and share your work. Go to www.Patreon.com/writingclassradio or click here to support us.

Click to Join our camo-elephant hat project. Get an elephant hat for all the elephants (people who support you/people you love) in your life or make a donation to The Pink Wig Project.

We recorded this show from Miami and Madrid. If you are new to Writing Class Radio, welcome. 

Today on our show, we have the brilliant and generous Dani Shapiro, author of five novels and five memoirs, plus thousands of essays and a podcast called Family Secrets. A few years ago, Andrea sat down with Dani and talked about thinking like a writer, repeating themes in writing, figuring out what a story is about, and the conflicts all writers face, especially mothers, in revealing other people’s stories. 

Dani Shapiro also reads a story published in the New York Times Book Review in 2013 that we adore. It’s called The Me My Child Mustn’t Know.

Dani Shapiro’s newest memoir, Inheritance is one of our favorite memoirs. In her early 50s, Dani found out her father was not her biological father. Inheritance is a thrilling page-turner. Click here to buy it. 

Writing Class Radio is a podcast where you’ll hear true personal stories and learn a little about how to write your own stories. Writing Class Radio is equal parts heart and art. By heart we mean the truth in a story. By art we mean the craft of writing. No matter what’s going on in our lives, writing class is where we tell the truth. It’s where we work out our shit, and figure out who we are. 

There’s no place in the world like writing class and we want to bring you in.

Writing Class Radio is co-hosted by Allison Langer (www.allisonlanger.com) and Andrea Askowitz (www.andreaaskowitz.com). Writing Class Radio is produced by Virginia Lora, Andrea Askowitz and Allison Langer and sponsored by The Launchpad at The University of Miami, which aims to make the practice of entrepreneurship available to all students and alumni. 

Theme music is by Christine Corey. Additional music is by Emia and Podington Bear.

There’s more writing class on our website (www.writingclassradio.com), Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/writingclassradio/), Instagram and Twitter (@wrtgclassradio).

If you love the lessons you get on each episode, you can get them ALL in one place--our three-part video series. You can buy one for $20 or all three videos for $50. Click on Video Classes on our website.

Writing Class Radio is now open to submissions from our listeners. Go to the submissions page on our website for guidelines. We pay!

If you want to be a part of the movement that helps people better understand each other through storytelling, we’ve made it easy for you to get involved. We are now on Patreon. For $10/month you can join Andrea’s submissions support conversation. We’ll support each other as we try to get our stories published. For $25/month you can join Allison’s weekly writers lunch, where you can write and share your work. Go to www.Patreon.com/writingclassradio or click here to support us.

Today our show is going to be a little different because shit just got really real. Three weeks ago, Allison was diagnosed with Stage 3 ovarian cancer. In this episode, we share the stories we wrote about this situation. We are treating this episode as if we’re in writing class by sharing our own writing and critiquing it, because writing and sharing and then getting and giving feedback is how we deal with whatever's going on in our lives. We thought writing and critiquing would help us process what’s going on. 

We hope that hearing our stories will motivate you to write and stay connected to the people you love while you go through your own shit.

Writing Class Radio is a podcast where you’ll hear true personal stories and learn a little about how to write your own stories. Writing Class Radio is equal parts heart and art. By heart we mean the truth in a story. By art we mean the craft of writing. No matter what’s going on in our lives, writing class is where we tell the truth. It’s where we work out our shit, and figure out who we are. 

There’s no place in the world like writing class and we want to bring you in.

Writing Class Radio is co-hosted by Allison Langer (www.allisonlanger.com) and Andrea Askowitz (www.andreaaskowitz.com). Writing Class Radio is produced by Virginia Lora, Andrea Askowitz and Allison Langer and sponsored by The Launchpad at The University of Miami, which aims to make the practice of entrepreneurship available to all students and alumni. 

Theme music is by Christine Corey. 

There’s more writing class on our website (www.writingclassradio.com), Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/writingclassradio/), Instagram and Twitter (@wrtgclassradio).

If you love the lessons you get on each episode, you can get them ALL in one place--our three-part video series. Through summer 2019, you get three videos for the price of two. That’s $40 for the series. Click on Video Classes on our website.

Writing Class Radio is now open to submissions from our listeners. Go to the submissions page on our website for guidelines. We pay!

If you want to be a part of the movement that helps people better understand each other through storytelling, we’ve made it easy for you to get involved. We are now on Patreon. For $10/month you can join Andrea’s publishing conversation. We’ll support each other as we try to get our stories published. For $25/month you can join Allison’s weekly writers lunch, where you can write and share your work. This takes place via Zoom, so anyone can join from anywhere in the world. Go to www.Patreon.com/writingclassradio or click here to join.

Today on our show, we’re talking about how to create a scene and why scenes matter. We often bring up the writing tip show AND tell. The scene is the show. It’s the action. It’s where we put dialogue and show character. Scenes are the moments we remember.

For more on show and tell, listen to Episode 47: Show and Tell. You’ll hear one of Andrea Askowitz’s stories, where she fights with her son about homework. And you’ll hear stories by Allison Langer and Misha Mehrel where they show and tell effectively.

Listener Michael Howell submitted the essay in this episode, How Are You Really? In his story, Mike creates the most well-described and horrifying scene while in combat in Afghanistan. He slows down, so the reader/listener knows something huge is about to happen. He gives telling details and transitions out of the scene to slow down the moment. Today, we share his story with you.

Mike Howell is a 29-year-old Veteran who fought in Afghanistan. Mike Joined the Marines out of high school and is currently working as an auto service advisor. He’s also in school for business and writing. Mike hopes to eventually become a full time author. 

Writing Class Radio is a podcast where you’ll hear true personal stories and learn a little about how to write your own stories. Writing Class Radio is equal parts heart and art. By heart we mean the truth in a story. By art we mean the craft of writing. No matter what’s going on in our lives, writing class is where we tell the truth. It’s where we work out our shit, and figure out who we are. 

There’s no place in the world like writing class and we want to bring you in.

Writing Class Radio is co-hosted by Allison Langer (www.allisonlanger.com) and Andrea Askowitz (www.andreaaskowitz.com). Writing Class Radio is produced by Virginia Lora, Andrea Askowitz and Allison Langer and sponsored by The Launchpad at The University of Miami, which aims to make the practice of entrepreneurship available to all students and alumni. 

Theme music is by Christine Corey. Additional music is by Adriel Borshansky. 

There’s more writing class on our website (www.writingclassradio.com), Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/writingclassradio/), Instagram and Twitter (@wrtgclassradio).

If you love the lessons you get on each episode, you can get them ALL in one place--our three-part video series. Through summer 2019, you get three videos for the price of two. That’s $40 for the series. Click on Video Classes on our website.

Writing Class Radio is now open to submissions from our listeners. Go to the submissions page on our website for guidelines. We pay!

If you want to be a part of the movement that helps people better understand each other through storytelling, we’ve made it easy for you to get involved. We are now on Patreon. For $10/month you can join Andrea’s submissions support group. We’ll support each other as we try to get our stories published. For $25/month you can join Allison’s weekly writers lunch, where you can write and share your work. Go to www.Patreon.com/writingclassradio or click here to support us.

This episode contains content about a suicide attempt.

Today on our show, we’re talking about a container, which is a cool way to structure a story. It’s a method to tell your entire story while you are contained in a place or period of time. For example, on a plane, in a meeting, or an afternoon at a hair appointment. The goal is for the narrator to take the reader or listener along in the moment while stepping out of the container to tell a much bigger story. 

Lorinne Griswold, a listener from San Francisco, submitted her story, Self Care, which details her 20-year-old daughter’s attempted suicide. 

Lorinne’s essay starts right before her hair appointment and ends when she leaves that appointment. The story is told while Lorinne is sitting in the stylists chair. She expertly takes us in and out of that appointment so we feel like we are sitting in the chair with her. We learn so much about her daughter, past struggles with being a mother. We also learn how she has been dealing with the current situation, and what she has learned.

Lorinne Griswold graduated from St. Mary’s College of California with a B.S. in business and has been working for Chevron for almost 30 years. Lorinne told us she has always used journaling as a creative outlet, but when she started struggling with her oldest daughter a few years ago, journaling became one of the only ways to untangle all the messy feelings in her head. She has filled more than 100 journals but has never shared her writing with anyone. That all changed when she found the Writing Class Radio podcast and realized that she wasn’t the only one using writing to work out her SH!T. Listening to others be vulnerable and honest gave Lorinne the courage to write and submit her own story. 

Writing Class Radio is a podcast where you’ll hear true personal stories and learn a little about how to write your own stories. Writing Class Radio is equal parts heart and art. By heart we mean the truth in a story. By art we mean the craft of writing. No matter what’s going on in our lives, writing class is where we tell the truth. It’s where we work out our shit, and figure out who we are. 

There’s no place in the world like writing class and we want to bring you in.

Writing Class Radio is co-hosted by Allison Langer (www.allisonlanger.com) and Andrea Askowitz (www.andreaaskowitz.com). Writing Class Radio is produced by Virginia Lora, Andrea Askowitz and Allison Langer and sponsored by The Launchpad at The University of Miami, which aims to make the practice of entrepreneurship available to all students and alumni. 

Theme music is by Christine Corey. Additional music is by Kevin Miles Wilson.

There’s more writing class on our website (www.writingclassradio.com), Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/writingclassradio/), Instagram and Twitter (@wrtgclassradio).

If you love the lessons you get on each episode, you can get them ALL in one place--our three-part video series. Through summer 2019, you get three videos for the price of two. That’s $40 for the series. Click on Video Classes on our website.

Writing Class Radio is now open to submissions from our listeners. Go to the submissions page on our website for guidelines. We pay!

If you want to be a part of the movement that helps people better understand each other through storytelling, we’ve made it easy for you to get involved. We are now on Patreon. For $10/month you can join Andrea’s submissions support group. We’ll support each other as we try to get our stories published. For $25/month you can join Allison’s weekly writers lunch, where you can write and share your work. Go to www.Patreon.com/writingclassradio or click here to support us.

Today on our show, we’re talking about how to write about the unbelievable. Things like UFOs, mediums, and talking to the dead. In the story you’ll hear, our narrator hears a voice from beyond.

In this episode, like many past episodes, we also get into the concept of likeable narrator. If you want more on likeable narrator, listen to these episodes: Likeable Narrator--Be the Biggest Asshole in the Story; A Time I Fucked Up part 1 and part 2.

We bring up likeable narrator, because we feel like the most effective way to write about the unbelievable is to be an extra-reliable narrator--someone the reader or listener can trust. The narrator has to express doubt, or else risk sounding like a crazy person. You also have to give details and reasons why you believe (a real situation or scene). Don’t try to over-convince the reader or listener, just tell your story with vulnerability.

Pat Martin, a listener from Atlanta, Georgia, submitted the story in this episode. Her story was previously published in Guideposts Magazine. Pat Martin is a nurse, pastor, speaker and author of the book, You Can Get There From Here. She’s also the founder and executive director of the non-profit KIDDS Dance Project. Her philosophy for life is, "Character is better than talent any day.” 

Writing Class Radio is a podcast where you’ll hear true personal stories and learn a little about how to write your own stories. Writing Class Radio is equal parts heart and art. By heart we mean the truth in a story. By art we mean the craft of writing. No matter what’s going on in our lives, writing class is where we tell the truth. It’s where we work out our shit, and figure out who we are. 

There’s no place in the world like writing class and we want to bring you in.

Writing Class Radio is co-hosted by Allison Langer (www.allisonlanger.com) and Andrea Askowitz (www.andreaaskowitz.com). Writing Class Radio is produced by Virginia Lora, Andrea Askowitz and Allison Langer and sponsored by The Launchpad at The University of Miami, which aims to make the practice of entrepreneurship available to all students and alumni. 

Theme music is by Christine Corey. Additional music is by Adriel Borshansky and Podington Bear.

There’s more writing class on our website (www.writingclassradio.com), Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/writingclassradio/), Instagram and Twitter (@wrtgclassradio).

If you love the lessons you get on each episode, you can get them ALL in one place--our three-part video series. Through summer 2019, you get three videos for the price of two. That’s $40 for the series. Click on Video Classes on our website.

Writing Class Radio is now open to submissions from our listeners. Go to the submissions page on our website for guidelines. We pay!

If you want to be a part of the movement that helps people better understand each other through storytelling, we’ve made it easy for you to get involved. We are now on Patreon. For $10/month you can join Andrea’s submissions support group. We’ll support each other as we try to get our stories published. For $25/month you can join Allison’s weekly writers lunch, where you can write and share your work. Go to www.Patreon.com/writingclassradio or click here to support us.

Today on our show, we’re talking about how to end a story when the situation is ongoing. You’ll hear an essay by the Brazilian born Miami writer, Camile Flosi Araujo. Camile brings us into her world, which changed dramatically for her when she got into a car accident that left her paralyzed from the waist down. She made a startling discovery, not that she’s pissed about the accident, although she is, but that she’s pissed at herself for how she lived before the accident. Listen to hear how she expertly ends the story that she’s still living.

A version of Camile’s story was first told at Lip Service, a live storytelling event in Miami. Our co-host Andrea Askowitz produced Lip Service for nine years before leaving it under the leadership of the Miami Book Fair.

Writing Class Radio is a podcast where you’ll hear true personal stories and learn a little about how to write your own stories. Writing Class Radio is equal parts heart and art. By heart we mean the truth in a story. By art we mean the craft of writing. No matter what’s going on in our lives, writing class is where we tell the truth. It’s where we work out our shit, and figure out who we are. 

There’s no place in the world like writing class and we want to bring you in.

Writing Class Radio is co-hosted by Allison Langer (www.allisonlanger.com) and Andrea Askowitz (www.andreaaskowitz.com). Writing Class Radio is produced by Virginia Lora, Andrea Askowitz and Allison Langer and sponsored by The Launchpad at The University of Miami, which aims to make the practice of entrepreneurship available to all students and alumni. 

Theme music is by Justina Shandler. Additional music is by Kevin Myles Wilson and Podington Bear. For more Camile Flosi Araujo find her at https://www.facebook.com/camileflosiaraujo/.

There’s more writing class on our website (www.writingclassradio.com), Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/writingclassradio/) and Twitter (@wrtgclassradio).

If you love the lessons you get on each episode, you can get them ALL in one place--our three-part video series. Through summer 2019, you get three videos for the price of two. That’s $40 for the series. Click on Video Classes on our website.

Writing Class Radio is now open to submissions from our listeners. Go to the submissions page on our website for guidelines. We pay!

If you want to be a part of the movement that helps people better understand each other through storytelling, we’ve made it easy for you to get involved. We are now on Patreon. For $10/month you can join Andrea’s submissions support group. We’ll support each other as we try to get our stories published. For $25/month you can join Allison’s weekly writers club (Tuesdays 12-1pm ET), where you can write and share your work. Go to www.Patreon.com/writingclassradio or click here to support us.

Today on our show, we’re talking about metaphors and how they work in a story. We share a story by Elizabeth Newdom whose story is shaped around a metaphor. Elizabeth’s essay first appeared in Motherwell, an online magazine that tells all sides of the parenting story.  

We called the editors of Motherwell, Randi Olin and Lauren Apfel, a badass editing duo and talked to them about their tag team approach to editing, what grabbed them about Elizabeth’s story, and the use of metaphors.

We’ll take you behind the scenes, so you can learn how to submit to Motherwell.

Writing Class Radio is a podcast where you’ll hear true personal stories and learn a little about how to write your own stories. Writing Class Radio is equal parts heart and art. By heart we mean the truth in a story. By art we mean the craft of writing. No matter what’s going on in our lives, writing class is where we tell the truth. It’s where we work out our shit, and figure out who we are.

There’s no place in the world like writing class and we want to bring you in.

Writing Class Radio is co-hosted by Allison Langer (www.allisonlanger.com) and Andrea Askowitz (www.andreaaskowitz.com). Writing Class Radio is produced by Virginia Lora, Andrea Askowitz and Allison Langer and sponsored by The Launchpad at The University of Miami, which aims to make the practice of entrepreneurship available to all students and alumni.

Theme music is by Justina Shandler. Additional music is by Ari Herstand and Podington Bear.

There’s more writing class on our website (www.writingclassradio.com), Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/writingclassradio/) and Twitter (@wrtgclassradio).

If you love the lessons you get on each episode, you can get them ALL in one place--our three-part video series. Through summer 2019, you get three videos for the price of two. That’s $40 for the series. Click on Video Classes on our website.

Writing Class Radio is now open to submissions from our listeners. Go to the submissions page on our website for guidelines. We pay!

If you want to be a part of the movement that helps people better understand each other through storytelling, we’ve made it easy for you to get involved. We are now on Patreon. Go to www.Patreon.com/writingclassradio or click here to support us.

Today on our show we’re talking about perseverance, a quality important if you want to be a writer, a runner, or someone successful at crafting the dreaded college essay. What makes your essay stand out to publishers and to college admissions directors is the situation and the story. They want to see the loss or the win, because that’s what allows others to connect with your story. They also want to know what you learned from the experience and how that experience informed your character.

Allison Langer has been working with high school students all over the country on their college admissions essays. This is the second episode in a two-part series where we bring you common app essays.

Ransom Everglades High School graduate Wesley Cusack wrote the following essay about the challenges he faced in track and cross country and what he learned from not quitting.

If you or your high schooler needs help getting started or editing along the way, Allison Langer can help. Click here for more information.

Common app essay prompts:

1. Background

2. Obstacle or challenge that you faced.

3. When you changed your belief.

4. A problem you’d like to solve.

5. Accomplishment that sparked personal growth.

6. A topic (obsession) that you find so engaging that it makes you lose track of time.

7. Any topic (YAY!)

Writing Class Radio is a podcast where you’ll hear true personal stories and learn a little about how to write your own stories. Writing Class Radio is equal parts heart and art. By heart we mean the truth in a story. By art we mean the craft of writing. No matter what’s going on in our lives, writing class is where we tell the truth. It’s where we work out our shit, and figure out who we are.

There’s no place in the world like writing class and we want to bring you in.

Writing Class Radio is co-hosted by Allison Langer (www.allisonlanger.com) and Andrea Askowitz (www.andreaaskowitz.com). Writing Class Radio is produced by Virginia Lora, Andrea Askowitz and Allison Langer and sponsored by The Launchpad at The University of Miami, which aims to make the practice of entrepreneurship available to all students and alumni.

Theme music is by Justina Shandler. Additional music is by Ari Herstand.

There’s more writing class on our website (www.writingclassradio.com), Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/writingclassradio/) and Twitter (@wrtgclassradio).

If you love the lessons you get on each episode, you can get them ALL in one place--our three-part video series. Through spring 2019, you get three videos for the price of two. That’s $40 for the series. Click on Video Classes on our website.

Writing Class Radio is now open to submissions from our listeners. Go to the submissions page on our website for guidelines. We pay!

If you want to be a part of the movement that helps people better understand each other through storytelling, we’ve made it easy for you to get involved. We are now on Patreon. Go to www.Patreon.com/writingclassradio or click here to support us.

Today on our show we’re talking about bragging, specifically on the dreaded college essay. How do you brag yourself up without sounding like a total $#&%$#? (We’re PG for the high schoolers...as if). The answer is, you have to be willing to get vulnerable and reveal your ugly side, then you can brag all you want.

Allison has been working with high school students all over the country on their college admissions essays. This is the first episode in a two-part series where we bring you common app essays.

Palmer Trinity high school senior Julia Irvin wrote this essay from the point of view of her sister, which is a clever and effective way to reveal good and bad details about the narrator.

If you or your high schooler needs help getting started or editing along the way, Allison Langer can help. Click here for more information.

Common app essay prompts:

1. Background

2. Obstacle or challenge that you faced.

3. When you changed your belief.

4. A problem you’d like to solve.

5. Accomplishment that sparked personal growth.

6. A topic (obsession) that you find so engaging that it makes you lose track of time.

7. Any topic (YAY!)

Writing Class Radio is a podcast where you’ll hear true personal stories and learn a little about how to write your own stories. Writing Class Radio is equal parts heart and art. By heart we mean the truth in a story. By art we mean the craft of writing. No matter what’s going on in our lives, writing class is where we tell the truth. It’s where we work out our shit, and figure out who we are.

There’s no place in the world like writing class and we want to bring you in.

Writing Class Radio is co-hosted by Allison Langer (www.allisonlanger.com) and Andrea Askowitz (www.andreaaskowitz.com). Writing Class Radio is produced by Virginia Lora, Andrea Askowitz and Allison Langer and sponsored by The Launchpad at The University of Miami, which aims to make the practice of entrepreneurship available to all students and alumni.

Theme music is by Justina Shandler. Additional music is by Emia

There’s more writing class on our website (www.writingclassradio.com), Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/writingclassradio/) and Twitter (@wrtgclassradio).

If you love the lessons you get on each episode, you can get them ALL in one place--our three-part video series. Through spring 2019, you get three videos for the price of two. That’s $40 for the series. Click on Video Classes on our website.

Writing Class Radio is now open to submissions from our listeners. Go to the submissions page on our website for guidelines. We pay!

If you want to be a part of the movement that helps people better understand each other through storytelling, we’ve made it easy for you to get involved. We are now on Patreon. Go to www.Patreon.com/writingclassradio or click here to support us.

Today on our show, we bring you a story by Jennifer Byrne, who conjures the courage to leave her husband after she's faced with removing a bird that flew into her house. Her story is an excellent example of using a book-end structure.

Jennifer has been published in the New York Times (Tiny Love Stories), The Cut, Psychology Today, Good Housekeeping, Atlas Obscura, McSweeney's Internet Tendency, The New Yorker Daily Shouts and The Guardian. She lives in New Jersey. 

Writing Class Radio is hosted by Allison Langer and Andrea Askowitz. Audio production by Matt Cundill, Evan Surminski, Chloe Emond-Lane, and Aiden Glassey at the Sound Off Media Company. Theme music is by Justina Shandler.

A transcription of this episode can be found here.

There’s more writing class on our website including stories we study, editing resources, video classes, writing retreats, and live online classes. Join our writing community by following us on Patreon. 

If you want to write with us every week, you can join our First Draft weekly writers groups. You have the option to join Allison on Tuesdays 12-1 ET and/or Mondays with Eduardo Winck 8-9 pm ET. You’ll write to a prompt and share what you wrote. If you’re a business owner, community activist, group that needs healing, entrepreneur, or scientist and you want to help your team write better, check out all the classes we offer on our website, writingclassradio.com.

Join the community that comes together for instruction, an excuse to write, and the support from other writers. To learn more, go to www.Patreon.com/writingclassradio. Or sign up HERE for First Draft for a FREE Zoom link.

A new episode will drop every other WEDNESDAY. 

There’s no better way to understand ourselves and each other, than by writing and sharing our stories. Everyone has a story. What’s yours?

Do you know how sometimes when you’re reading a story you feel like the story slows down in a critical moment? Maybe the narrator describes the people in a room or the birds on a tree nearby. Maybe there’s a flashback to a memory. In that moment, the reader becomes hyper aware and hopefully totally drawn in.

Today on our show we’re talking about slowing down and expanding a moment. A moment in a story that says to the reader, “Hey, pay attention. I’m about to give you some details that are important to the story.”

Devan Sandiford, a listener from Brooklyn, NY submitted a story where he slows down in the most important moment, both by explaining what’s happening in detail and by going back to another memory that explains why this moment matters.

Writing Class Radio is a podcast where you’ll hear true personal stories and learn a little about how to write your own stories. Writing Class Radio is equal parts heart and art. By heart we mean the truth in a story. By art we mean the craft of writing. No matter what’s going on in our lives, writing class is where we tell the truth. It’s where we work out our shit, and figure out who we are.

There’s no place in the world like writing class and we want to bring you in.

Writing Class Radio is co-hosted by Allison Langer (www.allisonlanger.com) and Andrea Askowitz (www.andreaaskowitz.com). Writing Class Radio is produced by Virginia Lora, Andrea Askowitz and Allison Langer and sponsored by The Launchpad at The University of Miami, which aims to make the practice of entrepreneurship available to all students and alumni.

Theme music is by Justina Shandler. Additional music is by Adriel Borshansky and Ari Herstand.

There’s more writing class on our website (www.writingclassradio.com), Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/writingclassradio/) and Twitter (@wrtgclassradio).

If you love the lessons you get on each episode, you can get them ALL in one place--our three-part video series. Through spring 2019, you get three videos for the price of two. That’s $40 for the series. Click on Video Classes on our website.

Writing Class Radio is now open to submissions from our listeners. Go to the submissions page on our website for guidelines. We pay!

If you want to be a part of the movement that helps people better understand each other through storytelling, please click here to support us.

In class, sometimes we ask people to close their eyes and smell sunblock, or freshly baked bread. Sometimes we play a Beatles song or have students squeeze Play-Doh. Sometimes we throw out a word like pussy. Then, we ask students to write about the first thing that comes to mind. All of these prompts inspire stories.

Today on our show we’re talking about how inspiration for stories can come in a word, a song, a scent, or an object like a dress.

You will hear a story by Nancy Brier, a listener from Palm Desert, California. Nancy’s essay starts with a dress, goes to another dress, to cancer and then back to the dress. But it is really a story about seizing the day.

Writing Class Radio is a podcast where you’ll hear true personal stories and learn a little about how to write your own stories. Writing Class Radio is equal parts heart and art. By heart we mean the truth in a story. By art we mean the craft of writing. No matter what’s going on in our lives, writing class is where we tell the truth. It’s where we work out our shit, and figure out who we are.

There’s no place in the world like writing class and we want to bring you in.

Writing Class Radio is co-hosted by Allison Langer (www.allisonlanger.com) and Andrea Askowitz (www.andreaaskowitz.com). Writing Class Radio is produced by Virginia Lora, Andrea Askowitz and Allison Langer and sponsored by The Launchpad at The University of Miami, which aims to make the practice of entrepreneurship available to all students and alumni.

Theme music is by Justina Shandler. Additional music is by Podington Bear. There’s more writing class on our website (www.writingclassradio.com), Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/writingclassradio/) and Twitter (@wrtgclassradio).

If you love the lessons you get on each episode, you can get them ALL in one place--our three-part video series. For the month of April 2019, you get three videos for the price of two. That’s $40 for the series. Click on Video Classes on our website.

Writing Class Radio is now open to submissions from our listeners. Go to the submissions page on our website for guidelines. We pay!

If you want to be a part of the movement that helps people better understand each other through storytelling, please go to writingclassradio.com and hit the DONATE button.

Today on our show we’re talking about pitching to publications, what to include in a query letter and all the homework you need to do before you pitch to an editor. Writer Baylea Jones shares her pitch and her story.

We speak with Ravishly editor Erin Khar about what it was like to receive Baylea’s pitch, as well as why she chose Baylea’s story. Erin will also discuss the basic how-to’s for submitting stories for Ravishly and elsewhere.

Writing Class Radio is a podcast where you’ll hear true personal stories and learn a little about how to write your own stories. Writing Class Radio is equal parts heart and art. By heart we mean the truth in a story. By art we mean the craft of writing. No matter what’s going on in our lives, writing class is where we tell the truth. It’s where we work out our shit, and figure out who we are.

There’s no place in the world like writing class and we want to bring you in.

Writing Class Radio is co-hosted by Allison Langer (www.allisonlanger.com) and Andrea Askowitz (www.andreaaskowitz.com). Writing Class Radio is produced by Virginia Lora, Andrea Askowitz and Allison Langer and sponsored by The Launchpad at The University of Miami, which aims to make the practice of entrepreneurship available to all students and alumni.

This episode is also sponsored by Matt Cundill of the Sound off podcast. Matt can help you get your podcast started, help with audio production and voiceovers. He knows everything there is to know about radio and podcasting.

And by Allison Langer, an editor who can help take your essay from page to publication.

Theme music is by Justina Shandler. Additional music is by Podington Bear. There’s more writing class on our website (www.writingclassradio.com), Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/writingclassradio/) and Twitter (@wrtgclassradio).

If you love the lessons you get on each episode, you can get them ALL in one place--our three-part video series. For the month of April 2019, you get three videos for the price of two. That’s $40 for the series. Click on Video Classes on our website.

Writing Class Radio is now open to submissions from our listeners. Go to the submissions page on our website for guidelines. We pay!

If you want to be a part of the movement that helps people better understand each other through storytelling, please go to writingclassradio.com and hit the DONATE button.

Details matter. Details bring the reader/listener into a world they may know nothing about. They help us trust the narrator. The more specific the details; the more universal the story. In this episode we bring you a story by Inessa Freylekhman. She’s a Feng Shui expert, speaker, spiritual counselor and author. Inessa uses details well throughout her story, but there is one specific detail that exemplifies the type of detail we’re always looking for. Listen for it. To help you get specific in your own stories, ask yourself: Like what?

Writing Class Radio is a podcast where you’ll hear true personal stories and learn a little about how to write your own stories. Writing Class Radio is equal parts heart and art. By heart we mean the truth in a story. By art we mean the craft of writing. No matter what’s going on in our lives, writing class is where we tell the truth. It’s where we work out our shit, and figure out who we are.

There’s no place in the world like writing class and we want to bring you in.

Writing Class Radio is co-hosted by Allison Langer (www.allisonlanger.com) and Andrea Askowitz (www.andreaaskowitz.com). Writing Class Radio is produced by Virginia Lora, Andrea Askowitz and Allison Langer and sponsored by The Launchpad at The University of Miami, which aims to make the practice of entrepreneurship available to all students and alumni.

This episode is also sponsored by the podcast, Made Visible, hosted by Harper Spero who struggles with a hidden illness. She uses her podcast to bring other people’s hidden illnesses to light.

Theme music is by Justina Shandler. Additional music is by Podington Bear. There’s more writing class on our website (www.writingclassradio.com), Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/writingclassradio/) and Twitter (@wrtgclassradio).

If you love the lessons you get on each episode, you can get them ALL in one place--our three-part video series. For the month of April 2019, you get three videos for the price of two. That’s $40 for the series. Click on Video Classes on our website.

Writing Class Radio is now open to submissions from our listeners. Go to the submissions page on our website for guidelines. We pay!

If you want to be a part of the movement that helps people better understand each other through storytelling, please go to writingclassradio.com and hit the DONATE button.

On this episode, we talk about procrastination. We also talk about speaking directly to the reader from a place of experience. And giving advice, which is really hard in a story and in life. If you're willing to be vulnerable, you can do it.

We’re starting with a story by Jenni Berrett called You Aren’t Lazy--You’re Just Terrified: On Paralysis and Perfectionism. Jenni is a columnist at Ravishly, an online magazine that celebrates the mess of being human. Her story is relevant to all of us messy humans, especially the messy writers among us.

Writing Class Radio is a podcast where you’ll hear true personal stories from the students in our class and learn a little about how to write your own stories. Writing Class Radio is equal parts heart and art. By heart we mean the truth in a story. By art we mean the craft of writing. No matter what’s going on in our lives, writing class is where we tell the truth. It’s where we work out our shit, and figure out who we are. There’s no place in the world like writing class and we want to bring you in.

Writing Class Radio is co-hosted by Allison Langer (www.allisonlanger.com) and Andrea Askowitz (www.andreaaskowitz.com). Writing Class Radio is produced by Virginia Lora, Andrea Askowitz and Allison Langer. Writing Class Radio is sponsored by The Launchpad at The University of Miami which aims to make the practice of entrepreneurship available to all students and alumni. This episode is also sponsored by the podcast, Made Visible. Made Visible is hosted by Harper Spero who struggles with a hidden illness. She uses her podcast to bring other people’s hidden illnesses to light. This episode is also sponsored by Allison Langer, writing coach and editor. Theme music is by Justina Shandler. Additional music is by Podington Bear. You can find all our music on our website. There’s more writing class on our website (www.writingclassradio.com), twitter (@wrtgclassradio) and Facebook. Writing Class Radio is now open to submissions from our listeners. Go to the submissions page on our website for guidelines. We pay! If you want to be a part of the movement that brings people together through storytelling, please go to writingclassradio.com and hit the DONATE button.

In this episode we’re talking about writing about death. We have a story by Leslie Gray Streeter, a columnist for the Palm Beach Post who also contributes to Modern Loss,    the online magazine dedicated to normalizing the way we talk about loss. Leslie’s story is called, What I did with My Husband’s Life Insurance Money. Leslie uses humor and a conversational style when writing about the death of her husband, the same humor and voice she’d use to write about anything.

We also speak with Gabrielle Birkner, the editor and co-founder of Modern Loss and editor of a book with the same name. Gabi reveals her process of editing and publishing stories about death. She also speaks about working with writers who are often, not only writing about very difficult and personal topics, but also submitting stories for publication for the first time.

Writing Class Radio is a podcast where you’ll hear true personal stories from the students in our class and learn a little about how to write your own stories. Writing Class Radio is equal parts heart and art. By heart we mean the truth in a story. By art we mean the craft of writing. No matter what’s going on in our lives, writing class is where we tell the truth. It’s where we work out our shit, and figure out who we are. There’s no place in the world like writing class and we want to bring you in.

Writing Class Radio is co-hosted by Allison Langer (www.allisonlanger.com) and Andrea Askowitz (www.andreaaskowitz.com). Writing Class Radio is produced by Virginia Lora, Andrea Askowitz and Allison Langer. Writing Class Radio is sponsored by The Launchpad at The University of Miami which aims to make the practice of entrepreneurship available to all students and alumni. This episode is also sponsored by the podcast, Made Visible. Made Visible is hosted by Harper Spero who struggles with a hidden illness. She uses her podcast to bring other people’s hidden illnesses to light. This episode is also sponsored by Allison Langer, writing coach and editor. Theme music is by Justina Shandler.Additional music is by Podington Bear. You can find all our music on our website. There’s more writing class on ourwebsite (www.writingclassradio.com), twitter (@wrtgclassradio) and Facebook. Writing Class Radio is now open to submissions from our listeners. Go to the submissions page on our website for guidelines. We pay! If you want to be a part of the movement that brings people together through storytelling, please go to writingclassradio.com and hit the DONATE button.

In this episode we air the winner of our fall writing contest--Jen Antill. The prompt: A Time I Had an Unpopular Opinion reaped a story about a woman who is pregnant at 24, but doesn’t want to be. It turns out, she never wanted to be a mother. Starting with a prompt like a time you had an unpopular opinion can lead to a story with tension, conflict, and high stakes, all of which make for a great story.

Writing Class Radio is a podcast where you’ll hear true personal stories from the students in our class and learn a little about how to write your own stories. Writing Class Radio is equal parts heart and art. By heart we mean the truth in a story. By art we mean the craft of writing. No matter what’s going on in our lives, writing class is where we tell the truth. It’s where we work out our shit, and figure out who we are. There’s no place in the world like writing class and we want to bring you in.

Writing Class Radio is co-hosted by Allison Langer (www.allisonlanger.com) and Andrea Askowitz (www.andreaaskowitz.com). Writing Class Radio is produced by Virginia Lora, Andrea Askowitz and Allison Langer. Writing Class Radio is sponsored by The Launchpad at The University of Miami which aims to make the practice of entrepreneurship available to all students and alumni. This episode is also sponsored by the podcast, Made Visible. Made Visible is hosted by Harper Spero who struggles with a hidden illness. She uses her podcast to bring other people’s hidden illnesses to light. This episode is also sponsored by Allison Langer, writing coach and editor. Theme music is by Justina Shandler.Additional music is by Podington Bear. You can find all our music on our website. There’s more writing class on ourwebsite (www.writingclassradio.com), twitter (@wrtgclassradio) and Facebook. Writing Class Radio is now open to submissions from our listeners. Go to the submissions page on our website for guidelines. We pay! If you want to be a part of the movement that brings people together through storytelling, please go to writingclassradio.com and hit the DONATE button.

This is the final episode of the Andrea Show. For the last seven weeks, we brought you a story written and read by Writing Class Radio co-host, Andrea Askowitz, with commentary by her editor, co-host, Allison Langer. Andrea took a weekly essay challenge on her 50th birthday in May 2018, which was inspired by a quote by the author of Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury. He said, “Write a short story every week. It’s not possible to write 52 bad stories in a row.” This week Andrea’s story conflates editors and friends, because in her mind, they both keep you from embarrassing yourself. Andrea makes the case that an editor is a friend you can’t live without. Allison and Andrea discuss what they’ve learned through the process of writing and editing stories.

Writing Class Radio is a podcast where you’ll hear true personal stories from the students in our class and learn a little about how to write your own stories. Writing Class Radio is equal parts heart and art. By heart we mean the truth in a story. By art we mean the craft of writing. No matter what’s going on in our lives, writing class is where we tell the truth. It’s where we work out our shit, and figure out who we are. There’s no place in the world like writing class and we want to bring you in.

Writing Class Radio is co-hosted by Allison Langer (www.allisonlanger.com) and Andrea Askowitz (www.andreaaskowitz.com). Writing Class Radio is produced by Virginia Lora, Andrea Askowitz and Allison Langer. Writing Class Radio is sponsored by The Launchpad at The University of Miami which aims to make the practice of entrepreneurship available to all students and alumni. This episode is also sponsored by the podcast, Made Visible. Made Visible is hosted by Harper Spero who struggles with a hidden illness. She uses her podcast to bring other people’s hidden illnesses to light. This episode is also sponsored by Allison Langer, writing coach and editor. Theme music is by Justina Shandler.Additional music is by Podington Bear. You can find all our music on our website. There’s more writing class on ourwebsite (www.writingclassradio.com), twitter (@wrtgclassradio) and Facebook. Writing Class Radio is now open to submissions from our listeners. Go to the submissions page on our website for guidelines. We pay! If you want to be a part of the movement that brings people together through storytelling, please go to writingclassradio.com and hit the DONATE button.

For the next two weeks, we will bring you a story written and read by Writing Class Radio co-host, Andrea Askowitz, with commentary by her editor, co-host, Allison Langer. Andrea took a weekly essay challenge, which was inspired by a quote by the author of Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury. He said, “Write a short story every week. It’s not possible to write 52 bad stories in a row.” This week Andrea takes us on a 12-mile run through Miami, where she snaps something in her leg. She uses the experience to discover her real Achilles heel, which is her fear of getting fat. In this episode, Andrea and Allison disagree over edits. Hear how they duke it out.

Writing Class Radio is a podcast where you’ll hear true personal stories from the students in our class and learn a little about how to write your own stories. Writing Class Radio is equal parts heart and art. By heart we mean the truth in a story. By art we mean the craft of writing. No matter what’s going on in our lives, writing class is where we tell the truth. It’s where we work out our shit, and figure out who we are. There’s no place in the world like writing class and we want to bring you in.

Writing Class Radio is co-hosted by Allison Langer (www.allisonlanger.com) and Andrea Askowitz (www.andreaaskowitz.com). Writing Class Radio is produced by Virginia Lora, Andrea Askowitz and Allison Langer. Writing Class Radio is sponsored by The Launchpad at The University of Miami which aims to make the practice of entrepreneurship available to all students and alumni. This episode is also sponsored by the podcast, Made Visible. Made Visible is hosted by Harper Spero who struggles with a hidden illness. She uses her podcast to bring other people’s hidden illnesses to light. This episode is also sponsored by Allison Langer, writing coach and editor. Theme music is by Justina Shandler. Additional music is by Podington Bear. You can find all our music on our website. There’s more writing class on ourwebsite (www.writingclassradio.com), twitter (@wrtgclassradio) and Facebook. Writing Class Radio is now open to submissions from our listeners. Go to the submissions page on our website for guidelines. We pay! If you want to be a part of the movement that brings people together through storytelling, please go to writingclassradio.com and hit the DONATE button.

For the next three weeks, we will bring you a story written and read by Writing Class Radio co-host, Andrea Askowitz, with commentary by her editor, co-host, Allison Langer. Andrea took a weekly essay challenge, which was inspired by a quote by the author of Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury. He said, “Write a short story every week. It’s not possible to write 52 bad stories in a row.” On this episode, Allison and Andrea talk about a subject that comes up in every writing class: What do you do about writing about other people? Andrea tells a funny story about how everyone in her life wants to be included in her stories, even if they’re not portrayed in a glowing light. She reveals she wants to be included too. After the story is read, Allison and Andrea discuss what it took to get to the why in the story and what edits were made along the way. We hope this process will help writers get inspired to write.

Writing Class Radio is a podcast where you’ll hear true personal stories from the students in our class and learn a little about how to write your own stories. Writing Class Radio is equal parts heart and art. By heart we mean the truth in a story. By art we mean the craft of writing. No matter what’s going on in our lives, writing class is where we tell the truth. It’s where we work out our shit, and figure out who we are. There’s no place in the world like writing class and we want to bring you in.

Writing Class Radio is co-hosted by Allison Langer (www.allisonlanger.com) and Andrea Askowitz (www.andreaaskowitz.com). Writing Class Radio is produced by Virginia Lora, Andrea Askowitz and Allison Langer. Writing Class Radio is sponsored by The Launchpad at The University of Miami which aims to make the practice of entrepreneurship available to all students and alumni. This episode is sponsored by Allison Langer, writing coach and editor. Theme music is by Justina Shandler. Additional music is by Podington Bear. You can find all our music on our website. There’s more writing class on our website (www.writingclassradio.com), twitter (@wrtgclassradio) and Facebook. Writing Class Radio is now open to submissions from our listeners. Go to the submissions page on our website for guidelines. We pay! If you want to be a part of the movement that brings people together through storytelling, please go to writingclassradio.com and hit the DONATE button.

Today on our show, we bring you a story by Nick Link, a PhD student in the Mack Lab and part of the Center for Ecosystem Science and Society (ECOSS) at Northern Arizona University. His story was originally performed on stage at the Flagstaff Festival of Science in October 2023. This was a Collaboration with ECOSS, Northern Arizona University, and Story Collider, a podcast that airs true science stories.

We worked with Dr. Bruce Hungate and Dr. Jane Marks, ecologists and professors at NAU. They have been taking classes with us for about three years. Last year, they were like, Hey, we gotta get our students to personalize their science stories and hired us to work with their students. We did that online and in person and all of it culminated in a show, which got a standing ovation. Jane and Bruce know that connecting on a personal level will help scientists convey their messages to a broader public and hopefully save the world. 

Nick’s story takes a personal experience that has been burned into his memory. As an undergraduate student, he and his housemates almost burned down the neighborhood when they got rid of their Christmas trees. This experience led him to his work today, building natural fire breaks in the forest of Alaska. 

A Transcription of this episode can be found here.

Writing Class Radio is hosted by Allison Langer and Andrea Askowitz. Audio production by Matt Cundill, Evan Surminski, Chloe Emond-Lane, and Aiden Glassey at the Sound Off Media Company. Theme music is by Justina Shandler.

There’s more writing class on our website including stories we study, editing resources, video classes, writing retreats, and live online classes. Join our writing community by following us on Patreon. 

If you want to write with us every week, you can join our First Draft weekly writers groups. You have the option to join Allison on Tuesdays 12-1 ET and/or Mondays with Eduardo Winck 8-9 pm ET. You’ll write to a prompt and share what you wrote. If you’re a business owner, community activist, group that needs healing, entrepreneur, or scientist and you want to help your team write better, check out all the classes we offer on our website, writingclassradio.com.

Join the community that comes together for instruction, an excuse to write, and the support from other writers. To learn more, go to www.Patreon.com/writingclassradio. Or sign up HERE for First Draft for a FREE Zoom link.

A new episode will drop every other WEDNESDAY. 

There’s no better way to understand ourselves and each other, than by writing and sharing our stories. Everyone has a story. What’s yours?

This week, Andrea uses the epistolary form--story written as a letter--to get her point across. The letter form is very intimate because the narrator is speaking directing to you. We hope this process will help writers get published or at least get inspire to write. For the next four weeks, we will bring you a story written and read by Writing Class Radio co-host, Andrea Askowitz, with commentary by her editor, co-host, Allison Langer. Andrea took a weekly essay challenge, which was inspired by a quote by the author of Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury. He said, “Write a short story every week. It’s not possible to write 52 bad stories in a row.”

Writing Class Radio is a podcast where you’ll hear true personal stories from the students in our class and learn a little about how to write your own stories. Writing Class Radio is equal parts heart and art. By heart we mean the truth in a story. By art we mean the craft of writing. No matter what’s going on in our lives, writing class is where we tell the truth. It’s where we work out our shit, and figure out who we are. There’s no place in the world like writing class and we want to bring you in.

Writing Class Radio is co-hosted by Allison Langer (www.allisonlanger.com) and Andrea Askowitz (www.andreaaskowitz.com). Writing Class Radio is produced by Virginia Lora, Andrea Askowitz and Allison Langer. Writing Class Radio is sponsored by The Launchpad at The University of Miami which aims to make the practice of entrepreneurship available to all students and alumni. This episode is sponsored by Allison Langer, writing coach and editor. Theme music is by Justina Shandler. Additional music is by Podington Bear. You can find all our music on our website. There’s more writing class on our website (www.writingclassradio.com), twitter (@wrtgclassradio) and Facebook. Writing Class Radio is now open to submissions from our listeners. Go to the submissions page on our website for guidelines. We pay! If you want to be a part of the movement that brings people together through storytelling, please go to writingclassradio.com and hit the DONATE button.

For the next five weeks, we'll bring you a story written and read by Writing Class Radio co-host, Andrea Askowitz, with commentary by her editor, co-host, Allison Langer.

Andrea took a weekly essay challenge, which was inspired by a quote by the author of Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury. He said, “Write a short story every week. It’s not possible to write 52 bad stories in a row.” This week, something cool happened. Andrea didn’t know what to write about, so she called Allison and they both set timers for 15 minutes and wrote to the prompt: Christmas.

On this episode, Allison and Andrea read the stories they wrote. And they talk about how to get from writing prompt to getting published. Andrea writes about what bringing a Christmas tree into her Jewish family meant for them. And why she thinks the Christmas tree is the gateway drug to Christianity. Allison reads her story, which was recently published in The Washington Post. The story is about her perspective as a photographer who takes holiday pictures of other families while suffering through the grief of losing her daughter. Andrea details exactly what was considered in the editing process and what ultimately led to the final paragraph, where Allison steps into the higher register and speaks directly to the reader/listener. They also talk about the question they always ask their students: What is this story about? We hope this process will inspire you to write and get published.

Writing Class Radio is a podcast where you’ll hear true personal stories from the students in our class and learn a little about how to write your own stories. Writing Class Radio is equal parts heart and art. By heart we mean the truth in a story. By art we mean the craft of writing. No matter what’s going on in our lives, writing class is where we tell the truth. It’s where we work out our shit, and figure out who we are. There’s no place in the world like writing class and we want to bring you in.

Writing Class Radio is co-hosted by Allison Langer (www.allisonlanger.com) and Andrea Askowitz (www.andreaaskowitz.com). Writing Class Radio is produced by Virginia Lora, Andrea Askowitz and Allison Langer. Writing Class Radio is sponsored by The Launchpad at The University of Miami which aims to make the practice of entrepreneurship available to all students and alumni. This episode is sponsored by Allison Langer, writing coach and editor. Theme music is by Justina Shandler. Additional music is by Podington Bear. You can find all our music on our website. There’s more writing class on our website (www.writingclassradio.com), twitter (@wrtgclassradio) and Facebook. Writing Class Radio is now open to submissions from our listeners. Go to the submissions page on our website for guidelines. We pay! If you want to be a part of the movement that brings people together through storytelling, please go to writingclassradio.com and hit the DONATE button.

This is week three of an eight-week experiment. We’re bringing you a story a week by Writing Class Radio co-host, Andrea Askowitz, with commentary by her editor, co-host, Allison Langer. Andrea took a weekly essay challenge, which was inspired by a quote by the author of Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury. He said, “Write a short story every week. It’s not possible to write 52 bad stories in a row.” On this episode, Andrea tells a story about what girls have to endure in our modern world. She was inspired by Christine Blasey Ford’s testimony and wrote about an incident that happened to her daughter at sleepaway camp when a 13-year-old boy threatened to rape her. Allison and Andrea discuss how Andrea used a current topic to tell a personal story. They discuss the submission process. And the advice given by writer, teacher, Susan Shapiro, in her book Byline Bible, on how to make your story relevant now. They discuss what it took to get to the why in the story and what edits were made along the way. We hope this process will help writers get published and inspired to write.

Writing Class Radio is a podcast where you’ll hear true personal stories from the students in our class and learn a little about how to write your own stories. Writing Class Radio is equal parts heart and art. By heart we mean the truth in a story. By art we mean the craft of writing. No matter what’s going on in our lives, writing class is where we tell the truth. It’s where we work out our shit, and figure out who we are. There’s no place in the world like writing class and we want to bring you in.

Writing Class Radio is co-hosted by Allison Langer (www.allisonlanger.com) and Andrea Askowitz (www.andreaaskowitz.com). Writing Class Radio is produced by Virginia Lora, Andrea Askowitz and Allison Langer. Writing Class Radio is sponsored by The Launchpad at The University of Miami which aims to make the practice of entrepreneurship available to all students and alumni. This episode is sponsored by Allison Langer, writing coach and editor. Theme music is by Justina Shandler. Additional music is by Podington Bear. You can find all our music on our website. There’s more writing class on our website (www.writingclassradio.com), twitter (@wrtgclassradio) and Facebook. Writing Class Radio is now open to submissions from our listeners. Go to the submissions page on our website for guidelines. We pay! If you want to be a part of the movement that brings people together through storytelling, please go to writingclassradio.com and hit the DONATE button.

For the next seven weeks, we will bring you a story written and read by Writing Class Radio co-host, Andrea Askowitz, with commentary by her editor, co-host, Allison Langer. Andrea took a weekly essay challenge, which was inspired by a quote by the author of Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury. He said, “Write a short story every week. It’s not possible to write 52 bad stories in a row.” This week, Andrea tells a funny story about a not funny at all topic--her brother’s cancer diagnosis. After the story is read, Allison and Andrea discuss how Andrea uses humor to deal with tough subjects. They discuss what it took to get to the why in the story and what edits were made along the way. We hope this process will help writers get published or at least get inspire to write.

Writing Class Radio is a podcast where you’ll hear true personal stories from the students in our class and learn a little about how to write your own stories. Writing Class Radio is equal parts heart and art. By heart we mean the truth in a story. By art we mean the craft of writing. No matter what’s going on in our lives, writing class is where we tell the truth. It’s where we work out our shit, and figure out who we are. There’s no place in the world like writing class and we want to bring you in.

Writing Class Radio is co-hosted by Allison Langer (www.allisonlanger.com) and Andrea Askowitz (www.andreaaskowitz.com). Writing Class Radio is produced by Virginia Lora, Andrea Askowitz and Allison Langer. Writing Class Radio is sponsored by The Launchpad at The University of Miami which aims to make the practice of entrepreneurship available to all students and alumni. This episode is sponsored by Allison Langer, writing coach and editor. Theme music is by Justina Shandler. Additional music is by Podington Bear. You can find all our music on our website. There’s more writing class on our website (www.writingclassradio.com), twitter (@wrtgclassradio) and Facebook. Writing Class Radio is now open to submissions from our listeners. Go to the submissions page on our website for guidelines. We pay! If you want to be a part of the movement that brings people together through storytelling, please go to writingclassradio.com and hit the DONATE button.

Welcome to Season 6. For the next eight weeks, we will bring you a story a week written and read by co-host, Andrea Askowitz, with commentary by her editor, co-host, Allison Langer. This week, Andrea tells us why she took a weekly essay challenge, which was inspired by a quote by the author of Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury. He said, “Write a short story every week. It’s not possible to write 52 bad stories in a row.” After the story is read, Allison and Andrea discuss the piece, what it took to get to the why in the story and what edits were made along the way. Why, pray tell, is Andrea writing an essay a week? We hope this process will help writers get published or at least get inspired to write.

Writing Class Radio is a podcast where you’ll hear true personal stories from the students in our class and learn a little about how to write your own stories. Writing Class Radio is equal parts heart and art. By heart we mean the truth in a story. By art we mean the craft of writing. No matter what’s going on in our lives, writing class is where we tell the truth. It’s where we work out our shit, and figure out who we are. There’s no place in the world like writing class and we want to bring you in.

Writing Class Radio is co-hosted by Allison Langer (www.allisonlanger.com) and Andrea Askowitz (www.andreaaskowitz.com). Writing Class Radio is produced by Virginia Lora, Andrea Askowitz and Allison Langer. Writing Class Radio is sponsored by The Launchpad at The University of Miami which aims to make the practice of entrepreneurship available to all students and alumni. This episode is sponsored by Allison Langer, writing coach and editor. Theme music is by Justina Shandler. Additional music is by Podington Bear. You can find all our music on our website. There’s more writing class on our website (www.writingclassradio.com), twitter (@wrtgclassradio) and Facebook. Writing Class Radio is now open to submissions from our listeners. Go to the submissions page on our website for guidelines. We pay! If you want to be a part of the movement that brings people together through storytelling, please go to writingclassradio.com and hit the DONATE button.

This is our 50th episode and our last episode of Season 5. Today we’re talking about omitting needless words because who has time for excessive blah, blah, blah. You will hear a great example of a story that got chopped in half. Allison Langer’s story called Why I decided to ignore the judgy snobs (like me) and have my babies on my own was published in the Washington Post, August 31, 2018. After Allison tells her story, we talk about how the story lost 1,500 words. This episode is also about working out your shit by writing every last detail then omitting all the details that don’t have a direct impact on what your story is about.

Student Aaron Curtis (www.facebook.com/skinnyaaroncurtis/) is going through a second divorce. In class, the prompt was Justice. Hear Aaron’s response and see how it doesn’t really matter what the prompt is. If there’s something on your mind, it usually comes out in writing class.

Thank you for listening to Writing Class Radio.

Writing Class Radio is a podcast where you’ll hear true personal stories and learn a little about how to write your own stories. Writing Class Radio is equal parts heart and art. By heart we mean the truth in a story. By art we mean the craft of writing. No matter what’s going on in our lives, writing class is where we tell the truth. It’s where we work out our shit, and figure out who we are. There’s no place in the world like writing class and we want to bring you in.

Writing Class Radio is produced by Virginia Lora, Allison Langer (www.allisonlanger.com) and Andrea Askowitz (www.andreaaskowitz.com).

If you have a business or a startup and need help telling your story, Andrea will come to your office and teach all your employees how to better articulate why they do what they do. Do it! Stories sell. Allison will come to your retreat and help guests write through their shit so they can live free and happier. Or, hire her to help your high schooler refine his/her college essay.

Visit our musicians page to learn about the talented and generous people who allowed us to use their songs.

There’s more writing class on our website(www.writingclassradio.com), Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/writingclassradio/) and Twitter (@wrtgclassradio). You can make writing a daily practice. We have a growing community of listeners who respond to our daily prompts and give feedback to each other. Join the party. Click on Daily Prompts on our website.

If you love the lessons you get on each episode, you can get them ALL in one place--our three-part video series. $20 for one part or $50 for the series. Click on Video Classes on our website.

Writing Class Radio is now open to submissions from our listeners. Go to the submissions page on our website for guidelines. We pay!

If you want to be a part of the movement that helps people better understand each other through storytelling, please go to writingclassradio.com and hit the DONATE button.

So you’ve written an essay. Or you’re almost finished. Now what? Where do you send your story for publication? How do you format a story? Do you need a cover letter? We have the answers in a FREE publishing guide. To get our guide, join our mailing list. Go to writingclassradio.com and hit the sign up button. Or send an email to info@writingclassradio.com.

For those who like a schedule, look for a new podcast episode on the first Wednesday of every month. There’s no better way to understand ourselves and each other than by writing and sharing our stories. Everyone has a story. What’s yours?

Writing Class Radio is sponsored by and recorded at The Launchpad at The University of Miami which aims to make the practice of entrepreneurship available to all students and alumni.

Writing about hard topics like money is awkward. No one wants to admit that they have money. And no one wants to admit that they don’t have money. Money is one of those topics that embarrasses people or divides people. This episode talks about MONEY.

In this episode, we are also asking our listeners to join the movement of people who believe in the power of storytelling. We’re asking YOU to donate to our podcast. If you like this podcast and find us valuable, hit the support us button on our website (www.writingclassradio.com). We spend the first five minutes of this episode explaining why we want your money. Then, you’ll hear a story by Kathryn Sullivan, a listener in Boston, who responded to the prompt Something You Don’t Understand. Kathryn wrote about the financial complications of her cross-cultural relationship. Andrea and Allison discuss the way the culture and age affect this narrator’s experience with money. Misha Mehrel also shares a glimpse into his current relationship...with money. Hear what we have to say about that.

Thank you for listening to Writing Class Radio.

Writing Class Radio is a podcast where you’ll hear true personal stories and learn a little about how to write your own stories. Writing Class Radio is equal parts heart and art. By heart we mean the truth in a story. By art we mean the craft of writing. No matter what’s going on in our lives, writing class is where we tell the truth. It’s where we work out our shit, and figure out who we are. There’s no place in the world like writing class and we want to bring you in.

Writing Class Radio is produced by Virginia Lora, Allison Langer (www.allisonlanger.com) and Andrea Askowitz (www.andreaaskowitz.com).

If you have a business or a startup and need help telling your story, Andrea will come to your office and teach all your employees how to better articulate why they do what they do. Do it! Stories sell. Allison will come to your retreat and help guests write through their shit so they can live free and happier. Or, hire her to help your high schooler refine his/her college essay.

Visit our musicians page to learn about the talented and generous people who allowed us to use their songs.

There’s more writing class on our website(www.writingclassradio.com), Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/writingclassradio/) and Twitter (@wrtgclassradio). You can make writing a daily practice. We have a growing community of listeners who respond to our daily prompts and give feedback to each other. Join the party. Click on Daily Prompts on our website.

If you love the lessons you get on each episode, you can get them ALL in one place--our three-part video series. $20 for one part or $50 for the series. Click on Video Classes on our website.

Writing Class Radio is now open to submissions from our listeners. Go to the submissions page on our website for guidelines. We pay!

If you want to be a part of the movement that helps people better understand each other through storytelling, please go to writingclassradio.com and hit the DONATE button.

So you’ve written an essay. Or you’re almost finished. Now what? Where do you send your story for publication? How do you format a story? Do you need a cover letter? We have the answers in a FREE publishing guide. To get our guide, join our mailing list. Go to writingclassradio.com and hit the sign up button. Or send an email to info@writingclassradio.com.

For those who like a schedule, look for a new podcast episode on the first Wednesday of every month. There’s no better way to understand ourselves and each other than by writing and sharing our stories. Everyone has a story. What’s yours?

Writing Class Radio is sponsored by and recorded at The Launchpad at The University of Miami which aims to make the practice of entrepreneurship available to all students and alumni.

Today on our show we’re talking about compassion, families, and the legacy they leave. We’re also talking about how to write about those people in our lives who have fucked us up. And who hasn’t been fucked up by a parent? However, nobody wants to hear a rant. We must get to know the characters from all sides, which means, all the good things and all the ugly things. Nobody is all good or all bad. Liz Marquardt is a student in our class who has told stories on the podcast before. She does a great job of characterizing her dad in the story we bring you today. You will hear a brief interview with Liz, so you can get to know her better. After her story, Andrea and Allison offer feedback and their reasons why this story was well-characterized and well-written.

Thank you for listening to Writing Class Radio.

Writing Class Radio is a podcast where you’ll hear true personal stories and learn a little about how to write your own stories. Writing Class Radio is equal parts heart and art. By heart we mean the truth in a story. By art we mean the craft of writing. No matter what’s going on in our lives, writing class is where we tell the truth. It’s where we work out our shit, and figure out who we are. There’s no place in the world like writing class and we want to bring you in.

Writing Class Radio is produced by Virginia Lora, Allison Langer (www.allisonlanger.com) and Andrea Askowitz (www.andreaaskowitz.com).

If you have a business or a startup and need help telling your story, Andrea will come to your office and teach all your employees how to better articulate why they do what they do. Do it! Stories sell. Allison will come to your retreat and help guests write through their shit so they can live free and happier. Or, hire her to help your high schooler refine his/her college essay.

Visit our musicians page to learn about the talented and generous people who allowed us to use their songs.

There’s more writing class on our website(www.writingclassradio.com), Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/writingclassradio/) and Twitter (@wrtgclassradio). You can make writing a daily practice. We have a growing community of listeners who respond to our daily prompts and give feedback to each other. Join the party. Click on Daily Prompts on our website.

If you love the lessons you get on each episode, you can get them ALL in one place--our three-part video series. $20 for one part or $50 for the series. Click on Video Classes on our website.

Writing Class Radio is now open to submissions from our listeners. Go to the submissions page on our website for guidelines. We pay!

If you want to be a part of the movement that helps people better understand each other through storytelling, please go to writingclassradio.com and hit the DONATE button.

So you’ve written an essay. Or you’re almost finished. Now what? Where do you send your story for publication? How do you format a story? Do you need a cover letter? We have the answers in a FREE publishing guide. To get our guide, join our mailing list. Go to writingclassradio.com and hit the sign up button. Or send an email to info@writingclassradio.com.

For those who like a schedule, look for a new podcast episode on the first Wednesday of every month. There’s no better way to understand ourselves and each other than by writing and sharing our stories. Everyone has a story. What’s yours?

Writing Class Radio is sponsored by and recorded at The Launchpad at The University of Miami which aims to make the practice of entrepreneurship available to all students and alumni.

In this episode, we examine the popular writing tenet, show DON’T tell. We believe just showing is not only impossible, but detrimental to your story. Telling gives insight into what the narrator is thinking and feeling. To test this theory, we asked our students to just SHOW. We gave the prompt: A Fight and instructed them to go directly to scene without explaining. After ten minutes, the students were asked to continue where they left off but to move from the scene into exposition, to just TELL. They were instructed to explain what was going on in the story, give background, and tell what the narrator was thinking and feeling. What we found: It’s impossible to show without telling. We are show AND tell advocates.

You will hear short prompt responses from student Misha Mehrel, who has read many stories on this podcast, and student and co-host, Allison Langer. Finally, teacher and co-host, Andrea Askowitz, will read a longer piece called Spoiled Mom, which was developed out of this exercise and published in June 2018 in Mutha Magazine. (www.muthamagazine.com)

Thank you for listening to Writing Class Radio.

Writing Class Radio is a podcast where you’ll hear true personal stories and learn a little about how to write your own stories. Writing Class Radio is equal parts heart and art. By heart we mean the truth in a story. By art we mean the craft of writing. No matter what’s going on in our lives, writing class is where we tell the truth. It’s where we work out our shit, and figure out who we are. There’s no place in the world like writing class and we want to bring you in.

Writing Class Radio is produced by Virginia Lora, Allison Langer (www.allisonlanger.com) and Andrea Askowitz (www.andreaaskowitz.com).

If you have a business or a startup and need help telling your story, Andrea will come to your office and teach all your employees how to better articulate why they do what they do. Do it! Stories sell. Allison will come to your retreat and help guests write through their shit so they can live free and happier. Or, hire her to help your high schooler refine his/her college essay.

Visit our musicians page to learn about the talented and generous people who allowed us to use their songs.

There’s more writing class on our website(www.writingclassradio.com), Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/writingclassradio/) and Twitter (@wrtgclassradio). You can make writing a daily practice. We have a growing community of listeners who respond to our daily prompts and give feedback to each other. Join the party. Click on Daily Prompts on our website.

If you love the lessons you get on each episode, you can get them ALL in one place--our three-part video series. $20 for one part or $50 for the series. Click on Video Classes on our website.

Writing Class Radio is now open to submissions from our listeners. Go to the submissions page on our website for guidelines. We pay!

If you want to be a part of the movement that helps people better understand each other through storytelling, please go to writingclassradio.com and hit the DONATE button.

So you’ve written an essay. Or you’re almost finished. Now what? Where do you send your story for publication? How do you format a story? Do you need a cover letter? We have the answers in a FREE publishing guide. To get our guide, join our mailing list. Go to writingclassradio.com and hit the sign up button. Or send an email to info@writingclassradio.com.

For those who like a schedule, look for a new podcast episode on the first Wednesday of every month. There’s no better way to understand ourselves and each other than by writing and sharing our stories. Everyone has a story. What’s yours?

Today on our show, we're talking about objects. Things like a pen, trash cans, reading glasses, and a scale. We can build stories around these things because these objects affect our lives. They can stand in for an emotion. The phrase for this is object correlative. T.S. Eliot used this phrase to describe “a set of objects, a situation, a chain of events which shall be the formula of that particular emotion.”

We asked students in our class to write about an object. You will hear prompt responses from three students. Allison Langer writes about dependence on reading glasses. The glasses represent age and loss. Liz Marquardt writes about garbage bins, which become symbolic of the frustrations of a long-term marriage. Maya Kieffer gave the same prompt to her poetry students in a class she facilitates through Exchange for Change at the Dade Correctional Institution, and we learn how an object can reveal so much about perspective. In a longer, edited story, Margery Berger, takes us into her world through her life-long relationship with her scale. Each student takes an ordinary object and shows the object’s impact in their world. And because of that process, we feel the emotion each object represents for the narrator.

Thank you for listening to Writing Class Radio.

Writing Class Radio is a podcast where you’ll hear true personal stories and learn a little about how to write your own stories. Writing Class Radio is equal parts heart and art. By heart we mean the truth in a story. By art we mean the craft of writing. No matter what’s going on in our lives, writing class is where we tell the truth. It’s where we work out our shit, and figure out who we are. There’s no place in the world like writing class and we want to bring you in.

Writing Class Radio is produced by Virginia Lora, Allison Langer (www.allisonlanger.com) and Andrea Askowitz (www.andreaaskowitz.com).

If you have a business or a startup and need help telling your story, Andrea will come to your office and teach all your employees how to better articulate why they do what they do. Do it! Stories sell. Allison will come to your retreat and help guests write through their shit so they can live free and happier. Or, hire her to help your high schooler refine his/her college essay.

Visit our musicians page to learn about the talented and generous people who allowed us to use their songs.

There’s more writing class on our website(www.writingclassradio.com), Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/writingclassradio/) and Twitter (@wrtgclassradio). You can make writing a daily practice. We have a growing community of listeners who respond to our daily prompts and give feedback to each other. Join the party. Click on Daily Prompts on our website.

If you love the lessons you get on each episode, you can get them ALL in one place--our three-part video series. $20 for one part or $50 for the series. Click on Video Classes on our website.

Writing Class Radio is now open to submissions from our listeners. Go to the submissions page on our website for guidelines. We pay!

If you want to be a part of the movement that helps people better understand each other through storytelling, please go to writingclassradio.com and hit the DONATE button.

So you’ve written an essay. Or you’re almost finished. Now what? Where do you send your story for publication? How do you format a story? Do you need a cover letter? We have the answers in a FREE publishing guide. To get our guide, join our mailing list. Go to writingclassradio.com and hit the sign up button. Or send an email to info@writingclassradio.com.

For those who like a schedule, look for a new podcast episode on the first Wednesday of every month. There’s no better way to understand ourselves and each other than by writing and sharing our stories. Everyone has a story. What’s yours?

Happy Valentine’s Day. Today on our show, we bring you a story that was originally performed on stage at the Flagstaff Festival of Science in October 2023. This was a Collaboration with The Center for Ecosystem Science and Society (ECOSS) at Northern Arizona University (NAU) and Story Collider, a podcast that airs true science stories.

We worked with our narrator of today’s story Dr. Bruce Hungate and Dr. Jane Marks, a conservation ecologist and professor at NAU, who happens to be married to Bruce. They have been taking classes with us for about three years. Last year, they were like, Hey, we gotta get our students to personalize their science stories and hired us to work with their students. We did that online and in person and all of it culminated in a live show, which got a standing ovation. Jane and Bruce know that connecting on a personal level will help scientists convey their messages to a broader public and hopefully save the world. 

Bruce Hungate’s story is a love story. It’s about his love for his wife, Jane, as well as his love for science and nature. His story is a great lesson on how to sneak science into a story.

Bruce Hungate is a professor and director of ECOSS at Northern Arizona University. Bruce conducts research on ecosystems and how they respond to and shape environmental change. He trains future scientists and communicates the relevance of science to people around the world.

Writing Class Radio is hosted by Allison Langer and Andrea Askowitz. Audio production by Matt Cundill, Evan Surminski, Chloe Emond-Lane, and Aiden Glassey at the Sound Off Media Company. Theme music is by Justina Shandler.

There’s more writing class on our website including stories we study, editing resources, video classes, writing retreats, and live online classes. Join our writing community by following us on Patreon. 

If you want to write with us every week, you can join our First Draft weekly writers groups. You have the option to join Allison on Tuesdays 12-1 ET and/or Mondays with Eduardo Winck 8-9 pm ET. You’ll write to a prompt and share what you wrote. If you’re a business owner, community activist, group that needs healing, entrepreneur, or scientist and you want to help your team write better, check out all the classes we offer on our website, writingclassradio.com.

Join the community that comes together for instruction, an excuse to write, and the support from other writers. To learn more, go to www.Patreon.com/writingclassradio. Or sign up HERE for First Draft for a FREE Zoom link.

Today we are talking about identity; how sometimes what we show on the outside is not what we feel on the inside. As a storyteller, you have to know who you are. Or try to figure out who you are through the writing.

Three of our students address identity. First Aaron Curtis, who is a blogger and bookseller writes about being mistaken for a Republican. Second, Tobi Ash, who is a philanthropist and grant writer writes about hiding beneath a veneer. And last, Yaddyra Peralta, who is a poet, teacher, and the organizer of the Palm Beach Poetry Festival, questions her racial identity despite her father’s denial.

Thank you for listening to Writing Class Radio.

Writing Class Radio is a podcast where you’ll hear true personal stories and learn a little about how to write your own stories. Writing Class Radio is equal parts heart and art. By heart we mean the truth in a story. By art we mean the craft of writing. No matter what’s going on in our lives, writing class is where we tell the truth. It’s where we work out our shit, and figure out who we are. There’s no place in the world like writing class and we want to bring you in.

Writing Class Radio is produced by Virginia Lora, Allison Langer (www.allisonlanger.com) and Andrea Askowitz (www.andreaaskowitz.com).

If you have a business or a startup and need help telling your story, Andrea will come to your office and teach all your employees how to better articulate why they do what they do. Do it! Stories sell. Allison will come to your retreat and help guests write through their shit so they can live free and happier. Or, hire her to help your high schooler refine his/her college essay.

Visit our musicians page to learn about the talented and generous people who allowed us to use their songs.

There’s more writing class on our website(www.writingclassradio.com), Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/writingclassradio/) and Twitter (@wrtgclassradio). You can make writing a daily practice. We have a growing community of listeners who respond to our daily prompts and give feedback to each other. Join the party. Click on Daily Prompts on our website.

If you love the lessons you get on each episode, you can get them ALL in one place--our three-part video series. $20 for one part or $50 for the series. Click on Video Classes on our website.

Writing Class Radio is now open to submissions from our listeners. Go to the submissions page on our website for guidelines. We pay!

If you want to be a part of the movement that helps people better understand each other through storytelling, please go to writingclassradio.com and hit the DONATE button.

So you’ve written an essay. Or you’re almost finished. Now what? Where do you send your story for publication? How do you format a story? Do you need a cover letter? We have the answers in a FREE publishing guide. To get our guide, join our mailing list. Go to writingclassradio.com and hit the sign up button. Or send an email to info@writingclassradio.com.

For those who like a schedule, look for a new podcast episode on the first Wednesday of every month. There’s no better way to understand ourselves and each other than by writing and sharing our stories. Everyone has a story. What’s yours?

The way a story is told out loud adds another layer to a story.

On this episode, we’re talking about how our physical voices can carry a story with inflection, pace, volume, tone, and pitch. Voice can even make us love a story we might otherwise not like, or understand.

Meet Asia Sampson renown poet and founder of The Asia Project (spoken word, poetry and storytelling)as he performs his new poem Desks Are Not Bulletproof and takes you through his creative process. If you love the way Asia describes how to use your voice and how to train as a performer, and you get as inspired by Asia as we do, South Florida people can join us June 23, 2018 for a full-day class with Asia. Details on our website (www.writingclassradio.com). All levels welcome. Limited space. We also have a two-part memoir writing workshop opened to the public, May 19 and 26, 2018.

Thank you for listening to Writing Class Radio.

Writing Class Radio is a podcast where you’ll hear true personal stories and learn a little about how to write your own stories. Writing Class Radio is equal parts heart and art. By heart we mean the truth in a story. By art we mean the craft of writing. No matter what’s going on in our lives, writing class is where we tell the truth. It’s where we work out our shit, and figure out who we are. There’s no place in the world like writing class and we want to bring you in.

Writing Class Radio is produced by Virginia Lora, Allison Langer (www.allisonlanger.com) and Andrea Askowitz (www.andreaaskowitz.com).

If you have a business or a startup and need help telling your story, Andrea will come to your office and teach all your employees how to better articulate why they do what they do. Do it! Stories sell. Allison will come to your retreat and help guests write through their shit so they can live free and happier. Or, hire her to help your high schooler refine his/her college essay.

Visit our musicians page to learn about the talented and generous people who allowed us to use their songs.

There’s more writing class on our website(www.writingclassradio.com), Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/writingclassradio/) and Twitter (@wrtgclassradio). You can make writing a daily practice. We have a growing community of listeners who respond to our daily prompts and give feedback to each other. Join the party. Click on Daily Prompts on our website.

If you love the lessons you get on each episode, you can get them ALL in one place--our three-part video series. $20 for one part or $50 for the series. Click on Video Classes on our website.

Writing Class Radio is now open to submissions from our listeners. Go to the submissions page on our website for guidelines. We pay!

If you want to be a part of the movement that helps people better understand each other through storytelling, please go to writingclassradio.com and hit the DONATE button.

Writing is a gift of yourself. It should give the reader or listener a glimpse inside. It should be something true and new and vulnerable. In a story, we reveal ourselves through voice. What we mean by voice in a story is the tone, the mood, and the personality of the narrator. Voice can be created by word choice, sentence structure, and even punctuation. The way someone tells a story out loud plays a big role in how we receive the story, but in today’s episode, we are talking about voice as it appears on the page.

We’re also talking about what happens in life when you lose your voice. Finding your voice is the most important element in storytelling. You should write like you speak because that’s what makes your story yours, and it helps the listener or reader connect with you. If you don’t use your true voice then your story doesn’t sound true. To avoid sounding fake, think of one person who knows you well. and write to that person.

You’ll hear stories from Allison Langer, Lia Seirotti and Missy Hernandez. Their word choices, and their familiar tones reveal so much about each narrator. Missy’s story also shows what happens when you lose your voice, and not because of laryngitis. Someone got into her brain and she lost her sense of self.

Thank you for listening to Writing Class Radio.

Writing Class Radio is a podcast where you’ll hear true personal stories and learn a little about how to write your own stories. Writing Class Radio is equal parts heart and art. By heart we mean the truth in a story. By art we mean the craft of writing. No matter what’s going on in our lives, writing class is where we tell the truth. It’s where we work out our shit, and figure out who we are. There’s no place in the world like writing class and we want to bring you in.

Writing Class Radio is produced by Virginia Lora, Allison Langer (www.allisonlanger.com) and Andrea Askowitz (www.andreaaskowitz.com).

If you have a business or a startup and need help telling your story, Andrea will come to your office and teach all your employees how to better articulate why they do what they do. Do it! Stories sell. Allison will come to your retreat and help guests write through their shit so they can live free and happier. Or, hire her to help your high schooler refine his/her college essay.

Visit our musicians page to learn about the talented and generous people who allowed us to use their songs.

There’s more writing class on our website(www.writingclassradio.com), Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/writingclassradio/) and Twitter (@wrtgclassradio). You can make writing a daily practice. We have a growing community of listeners who respond to our daily prompts and give feedback to each other. Join the party. Click on Daily Prompts on our website.

If you love the lessons you get on each episode, you can get them ALL in one place--our three-part video series. $20 for one part or $50 for the series. Click on Video Classes on our website.

Writing Class Radio is now open to submissions from our listeners. Go to the submissions page on our website for guidelines. We pay!

If you want to be a part of the movement that helps people better understand each other through storytelling, please go to writingclassradio.com and hit the DONATE button.