The Truer Version of Your Story

Course Description

In Abandon Me, Melissa Febos writes, "We all craft a story... the one that makes ourselves easier to live with. This is not the one worth writing. To write your story, you must face a truer version of it. You must look at the parts that hurt, that do not flatter or comfort you." ​ In these six classes, we'll develop a community based on trust so that we can look at those parts separately, and together. We will read Melissa Febos, Cathy Park Hong, Kiese Laymon, Donika Kelly, and others who take truth in memoir to a new, deeper level both in terms of craft and content. We will use exercises from David Mura to examine identity and reclaim who we truly are. We'll discuss what it means to meet our own gaze and see who and what are really looking back. We'll talk about what it means to be a reliable narrator and why it's worth facing that truer version of yourself. During writing sessions in class and on our own, we will build a private Identity Journal that we will not share and additionally we'll write to prompts for sharing. Each student will workshop twice in the style of Craft in the Real World and the Anti-Racist Writing Workshop. As we build trust, we will learn to give and accept loving feedback as well as edit / revise, so that we leave with a deeper sense of who we want to be on the page, and also why, and how. Payment is by Zelle, PayPal, or Venmo. Please text or email me (thewriteaimee@gmail.com) for the info if you don't know it. I accept payment plans if needed; a deposit of $150 to save your spot. Black, disabled, LGBTQ+, adopted? Financial aid is available if you need it.

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