by Writing Workshops Staff
3 hours ago
Ask Anne Stuart what qualifies someone to write, and she will gently dismantle the premise. You do not need to be the world's leading expert on a subject to have something worth publishing about it. What you need is a clear point of view, reliable facts to stand behind it, and the craft to make every word count. That conviction runs through both of the nonfiction workshops Anne is teaching this season at WritingWorkshops.com, the official education partner of Electric Literature.
In Having Your Say, a two-session seminar, you will learn to distinguish persuasive opinion writing from simple ranting, build an argument that anticipates and answers its critics, and leave with a finished op-ed or guest essay you can actually submit. In Home-Court Advantage, a four-week intensive, you will turn the place you know better than any visiting journalist into pitchable features for city magazines, regional titles, and travel sections, and walk away with vetted story ideas and a pitch letter aimed at a real market.
Anne brings decades of reporting to both. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, The Boston Globe, Boston Magazine, and Fodor's Travel Guides, and her stories have been featured on the Moth Radio Hour. Here is a writer who has done the work, and who teaches like a smart friend who wants to see you in print.
Here is our Meet the Teaching Artist Interview with Anne:
Writing Workshops: Hi, Anne. Please introduce yourself to our audience.
Anne Stuart: Hi. I'm Anne Stuart, a journalist and freelance writer, and I teach noncredit workshops on a variety of nonfiction topics: opinion-writing, feature- and profile-writing, "flash" essays, narrative techniques, revisions, and more. I also teach graduate communication and writing classes at Regis College near Boston.
Writing Workshops: What's the thing you wish someone had taught you earlier in your writing life, and how do these classes address that?
Anne Stuart: On her opinion-writing seminar: I wish I'd realized earlier that I don't need to be the world's leading expert on a topic to have a credible opinion about it. Of course, I still need to be as well-informed as possible, backing up that opinion with evidence from reputable sources -- and this class will cover how to do that.
On her hometown-writing intensive: As a young journalist whose career started in the post-Watergate era, I wanted to cover BIG stories of national or at least statewide importance. So while I started out doing hometown news, I eventually moved into publications with statewide, national, and even international reach. But over time, I realized that writing about local residents, places, and news is equally important, and often a lot more fun. So now I've come full circle. I'm writing about people, businesses, and issues in my own community and others nearby, and I'll share advice on how others can do the same.
Writing Workshops: If a student walks away from these classes with one skill or shift in their writing they didn't have before, what is it?
Anne Stuart: On her opinion-writing seminar: Most published opinions are short (less than 700 words -- often much less). Writers need to introduce the issue, state their opinion about it, support their position with solid facts, address potential opposing arguments, and, where possible, suggest solutions or a call to action. That's a lot to cover in a limited space, so it's important to make every word count. Again, we'll explore ways to do that in class.
On her hometown-writing intensive: The biggest challenge in writing about where you live, especially when writing for local outlets, is finding new material. Many people and places have already been covered dozens of times, so if you want to write about them, you've got to find a fresh angle or approach. We'll discuss how to do that as well as where to look for new story ideas close to home.
"I don't need to be the world's leading expert on a topic to have a credible opinion about it."
Writing Workshops: What's the last sentence you read that made you stop and reread it? Type it out for us.
Anne Stuart: This is from "The Correspondent," a novel by Virginia Evans, whose letter-writing protagonist Sybil describes life as "a long road we walk in one direction." Sybil continues reflecting on that metaphor with this observation: "And sometimes there is someone to come along and walk with you for a stretch, and sometimes (this is what I'm getting to) sometimes you see in the distance some lights and it heartens you, the lone house or maybe a village and you come into the warmth of that stopover and go inside."
Writing Workshops: Describe a moment in a workshop, one you were teaching or one you took as a student, where something clicked for someone. What happened?
Anne Stuart: In a recent workshop, one participant kept trying to cram too much into a single essay. He thought the result felt "a mile wide and an inch deep" -- and, while discussing it in class, his classmates and I respectfully agreed. So I encouraged him to identify one main point and use that as his North Star for rewriting. I also advised him to save whatever he didn't use this time for future writing projects. He brightened up like a kid at his own birthday party and said, "Oh, yeah, I can do more than one! Hadn't thought of it that way." He ultimately got three essays out of the same material -- all sharper, tighter, and more engaging than the original.
That is what one of Anne's workshops feels like: honest feedback that turns scattered material into work you can actually send out. She is teaching two this season, so pick the one that fits.
Enroll in Having Your Say → Enroll in Home-Court Advantage →Writing Workshops: What's a craft move you're slightly obsessed with right now? Not a big concept, a small, specific technique.
Anne Stuart: I've been experimenting with intentionally using incomplete sentences, overcoming the deeply ingrained lesson that every sentence must have a subject, verb, and an object. Not easy. Feels wrong. Trying anyway.
Writing Workshops: What's a book you press into people's hands that has nothing to do with writing craft?
Anne Stuart: "Frog and Other Essays," by Anne Fadiman (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2026). This delightful collection is perfect for dipping into at the end of a long day. The essay titles alone -- from the titular amphibian to "South Pole Times" and "Yes to Everything" -- tell you this is going to be engaging, funny, and insightful. Do yourself a favor and buy or borrow it right now.
Writing Workshops: What's the worst writing advice that sounds smart?
Anne Stuart: "Write what you know." Certainly, that advice applies in some cases (for instance, when writing about your local community or your area of expertise). But if we all wrote ONLY what we know, it seems like we'd lose a lot of genres, such as science fiction, fantasy, and historical romance. So I'd offer that advice as a possible place to start -- but not necessarily the place to stop.
"I've been experimenting with intentionally using incomplete sentences, overcoming the deeply ingrained lesson that every sentence must have a subject, verb, and an object. Not easy. Feels wrong. Trying anyway."
Writing Workshops: Finish this sentence: "Most writing classes won't tell you this, but..."
Anne Stuart: If you're going to submit your work for publication -- as opposed to self-publishing, posting on your own website, etc. -- you're going to get a lot of rejections. That's simply a fact. At one writers' conference recently, an editor estimated that her publication accepts, at most -- 20 percent of what writers submit (and I was surprised it was that high). So rejection is part of the process. Try not to take it personally. One of the smartest writers I know says a rejection merely reflects "the opinion of one editor at one place at one point in time." So accept it and move on to the next one.
Easier said than done? Consider this: Author Caro Claire Burke's debut novel "Yesteryear" was rejected 20 times before it was published in April 2026. Since then, it's topped the bestseller lists and been optioned for a film starring Anne Hathaway. The following writers all had their initial work rejected multiple times: Stephen King, George Orwell, J.K. Rowling, and even Dr. Seuss. So when you get rejected, you're in good company. Just keep going.
Writing Workshops: Who was your first literary crush?
Anne Stuart: "Little Women," by Louisa May Alcott. My mother gave me a copy to read when I was 11 or 12. I devoured the whole book while on a family vacation, skipping some beach outings to keep reading. After finishing it, I immediately reread it. At the time, I just loved the story and the characters, especially Jo (the writer) and Amy (the artist). Today, I appreciate Alcott's ability to write a book about four 19th-century girls growing up in New England that resonated so deeply with a girl growing up in the Midwest more than a century later. I still read the book again every few years, and while I know it well enough to recite the first page by heart, every once in awhile, something new surprises me.
Writing Workshops: What's your teaching vibe, in one sentence, not a paragraph?
Anne Stuart: I'll remind you that the first draft of anything is rarely the final draft (so it's imperfect by definition, which is fine), and I promise my feedback will be honest, kind, and focused on the piece, not on the person who wrote it.
Writing Workshops: What would your students be surprised to learn about you?
Anne Stuart: I dabble in collage and mixed-media artwork and teach workshops on those topics as well. I'm also a standup storyteller who's been featured (just once so far, alas) on NPR's Moth Radio Hour.
A collage artist and Moth storyteller, Anne knows how to take raw material and shape it into something an audience leans toward, and that instinct is exactly what she brings to her teaching. Whether you have an argument you cannot stop turning over or a hometown you know in your bones, she will help you find the angle, marshal the facts, and write something worth a reader's time. Both of her upcoming workshops are small, practical, and built around one goal: getting your work out into the world. Pick the one that fits, and let's get you published.
Choose the workshop that fits the writing you want to publish, and join Anne this season.
Save Your Seat in Having Your Say → Save Your Seat in Home-Court Advantage →WritingWorkshops.com is an independent, artist-run creative writing school and the official education partner of Electric Literature. Since 2016, we've helped writers strengthen their voice, develop a greater understanding of craft, and forge a path to publication.
