Blog
Meet the Teaching Artist: Ben Tanzer on the Power of Hope
by Writing Workshops Staff
4 hours ago
Wishing is not a strategy. When Emmy-award winning writer and coach Ben Tanzer heard those words at a professional institute session about the science of hope, they hit him, as he puts it, "like a thunderbolt."
That moment of clarity became the foundation for Introducing the Power of Hope to Our Writing Process, a dynamic seminar designed to help writers break free from the paralysis that can derail even the most committed creative practice.
Tanzer brings nearly three decades of experience helping writers, authors, and creative professionals become their best selves through story. His own prolific output, including the Chicago Writers Association Book of the Year finalist The Missing, the Kirkus-praised After Hours: Scorsese, Grief and the Grammar of Cinema, and the forthcoming short story collection, Human Noise, stands as a testament to the power of consistent, hope-driven practice. As a teacher at Lake Forest College and Roosevelt University, and host of the long-running podcast This Podcast Will Change Your Life, he has honed an approach that is equal parts rigorous and joyful.
In Ben's seminar, participants will learn the three pillars of hope—goal setting, pathways, and willpower—and leave with a personalized action plan to reignite their writing practice.
If you've ever felt stuck, uncertain, or disconnected from your creative momentum, Tanzer's energetic, interactive teaching style can help you get moving again.
Here is our Meet the Teaching Artist interview with Ben:
Writing Workshops: Hi, Ben. Please introduce yourself to our audience.
Ben Tanzer: Hello! My name is Ben Tanzer, and I'm an Emmy-award-winning coach, creative strategist, podcaster, writer, teacher, and social worker who has been helping nonprofits, publishers, authors, small business owners, career changers, and students be their best selves through story for nearly 30 years. My previous books include the short story collection UPSTATE, the science fiction novel Orphans, and the essay collections Lost in Space and Be Cool. My more recent and upcoming work are the books The Missing was released in March 2024 by 7.13 Books and was a Chicago Writers Association Book of the Year finalist in the category of Traditional Fiction, After Hours: Scorsese, Grief and the Grammar of Cinema, which Kirkus Reviews called "A heartfelt if overstuffed tribute to the author’s father and the ameliorative power of art," which was released by Ig Publishing in May 2025, and my short story collection Human Noise which will be released by Thirty West Publishing in Spring 2027. I'm also the host of the long-running long-form interview podcast This Podcast Will Change Your Life, and I live in Chicago with my family, where I teach at Lake Forest College and Roosevelt University.
Writing Workshops: What made you want to teach this specific class? Is it something you are focusing on in your own writing practice? Have you noticed a need to focus on this element of craft?
Ben Tanzer: Throughout my work and writing life I've always been fascinated by how we become stuck in pursuit of our goals or our writing process and how one might disentangle that. Last year, I was invited to pitch a workshop to a writer's conference here in Chicago and I suggested something focused on getting unstuck. It was accepted, which was great, and then I had to actually create a workshop. Shortly thereafter, I attended a session at a professional institute a client of mine was hosting about the science of hope with Dr. Chan Hellman, and as he spoke about how "wishing is not a strategy" and hope can be a practice, his words hit me like a thunderbolt, it was just so interesting and felt so profound to me, and I knew I'd stumbled into a framework I wanted to work with and build on for this workshop.
Writing Workshops: Give us a breakdown of how the course is going to go. What can the students expect? What is your favorite part about this class you've dreamed up?
Ben Tanzer: We're going to explore the science of hope, things that have gone well for the participants and why, we'll look at the three pillars of hope, what it feels like to lose hope, and deal with adversity, though also how to craft an action plan, which we'll work on and discuss in the workshop, driven by hope to help the participants pursue their writing goals.
Writing Workshops: Who was your first literary crush?
Ben Tanzer: I'm sure it was Judy Blume or S.E. Hinton, possibly Stephen King, though my long-time and forever crush is and always will be Jim Carroll, the author of The Basketball Diaries, which I write unabashedly and with a nod to Hanif Abdurraqib, who I'd argue is consistently producing some of the best and most interesting contemporary American writing.
Writing Workshops: What are you currently reading?
Ben Tanzer: I'm currently reading Synergy and Sparks by G. Riley Mills, who is a Chicago friend and a master communicator and storyteller.
Writing Workshops: How do you choose what you're working on? When do you know it is the next thing you want to write all the way to THE END?
Ben Tanzer: I constantly move between writing projects and unless someone has requested or commissioned a manuscript, which happens, I'm not sure anyone cares what I'm working on, and so I work on whatever moves me and I believe my agent might be able to someday sell.
Writing Workshops: Where do you find inspiration?
Ben Tanzer: Everywhere, which is to say, everything feels like material to me, and so when I find myself in a certain mode, say wanting to write short stories or essays that speak to being middle-aged for example, the inspiration trickles in throughout the day in every interaction, everything I see or read, or say. It all seems like an option, I jot it all down, and I allow all of it to ferment as I contemplate what's connected to what and what I might want to write next and when.
Writing Workshops: What is the best piece of writing wisdom you've received that you can pass along to our readers? How did it impact your work? Why has this advice stuck with you?
Ben Tanzer: I'm highly paraphrasing here, and this piece of wisdom has impacted my work more than anything I've ever heard: don't edit until you get to the last sentence. I've taken that to mean that there is no work to work on, enhance, edit, or submit until whatever you're working on feels done and feels complete, even if sloppy and poorly written. So, I always make myself get to the last sentence of whatever I'm working on before I look back. My bonus advice is not to linger on rejections, you have no control over rejections, you have no idea if someone found your work on a bad day, or they already had work on a similar subject, and so assume whoever rejected you made a mistake, and move on to the next pitch.
Writing Workshops: What is the worst piece of writing advice you've received, read, or heard? Why is this something you push against in your own writing practice?
Ben Tanzer: Wait for inspiration to strike you. Fuck that. No waiting around for muses or creative spirits. No being precious. Just do the work. I don't want to be ableist. Not everyone can write on a daily basis even if they want to. I also want to check my privilege. I have been blessed to be mostly and consistently gainfully employed in a fashion that allows me to make time for writing. I also have adult children. And I believe I need to sit down and write everyday, regardless of inspiration, that my productivity is related to being regimented. I don't necessarily write any more than 30 minutes per day, my long-time and arbitrary rule, and I do write nearly everyday, year round, year after year, for 25 plus years now. I also don't sweat word count. The goal is to sit down and do the work, and so I sit down and do the work.
Writing Workshops: What is your favorite book to recommend on the craft of writing? Why this book?
Ben Tanzer: My long-time go-to is On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King; it's just fun, though lately I'm also suggesting Truth is the Arrow, Mercy is the Bow by Steve Almond, which is also fun. That's a lot of Steve, and it's purely coincidental.
Writing Workshops: Bonus question—What's your teaching vibe?
Ben Tanzer: I'm super on, we're going to do the work, we're going to push, we're going to talk and kibbitz, we're going to have fun, and it's going to be on. Always. Period. And thank you!
Ready to transform your relationship with your writing practice? Ben Tanzer's high-energy, science-backed approach to cultivating hope offers more than inspiration—it offers a concrete framework for forward momentum. Whether you're battling writer's block, recovering from rejection, or simply seeking renewed purpose, this seminar will equip you with the tools to pursue your creative goals with clarity and intention. Register now for Introducing the Power of Hope to Our Writing Process and discover how hope can become your most powerful writing practice.
