Begins Saturday, June 20, 2026

This 8-week generative online writing workshop is delivered asynchronously via Wet Ink.

Zoom Note: At the midpoint of our work together, we will meet for one hour of silent cowriting via Zoom. The last thirty minutes will be time for a casual chat to check in and see how the writing is going. This meeting is optional but encouraged. It helps forge connections and confirm that we are, indeed, real people behind our profile pics. Our lone Zoom Meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, July 22, 9:30–11:00 AM Pacific.

Any questions about this class? Use the Chat Button to talk with us.

Instructor Bio

Instructor Sarah McColl is the author of the debut memoir and Belletrist Book Club Selection JOY ENOUGH (Liveright/W.W. Norton & Company, 2019). For five years, she published LOST ART, Substack bestseller about the creative work of (mostly) dead women and a 2023 finalist for the Andy Warhol Arts Writers Grant. In 2026, she launched PAPER CHOIR, a quarterly mail art and zine publishing experiment with artist LK James. Her essays have appeared in McSweeney's, the Paris Review, and StoryQuarterly. The recipient of fellowship awards from MacDowell, Millay Arts, Ucross, and Vermont Studio Center, McColl holds an MFA from Sarah Lawrence College and lives in Northern California with her family.

Meet the Teaching Artist: 

Summer Camp for Adult Writers: an Interview with Sarah McColl on the Pleasures of Unstructured Creative Play

Who is this class for?

Summer Camp for Writers is for anyone looking at a summer calendar of travel and disrupted routines and wondering how on earth they will find time to write. This 8-week generative writing workshop provides scaffolding to nurture your writing life during the loosey-goosey summer months. Open to all levels and all genres—fiction, nonfiction, and poetry writers are welcome. Expect creative experiments, inspiring readings, lots of prompts for generative writing, and a supportive community of fellow writers.

What to expect:

Part of summer's beauty is its undoneness. Our schedules fall apart (ideally replaced by shady hammocks and sandy sandwiches). In this lovely looseness, our artistic practice can suffer. Don't lose your art this summer! Come to Summer Camp for Writers!

Summer Camp for Writers is time to practice—an invitation to mess around, generate new material, and talk about writing in a low-stakes environment with other folks who want to keep the flame of their creativity lit through a season that tends to throw routines by the wayside. Less grinding it out, more delighting in the creative act. No victors or finish lines, just staying close to your work and voice. Through weekly invitations to creative experiments, generative writing prompts, and asynchronous togetherness via our online writing class on Wet Ink, writers in Summer Camp collaboratively invent and imagine ways to nurture their creative lives that don't require logging hours at a laptop. Because the sun's out, the mountains call, the ice cream is melting.

This creative writing workshop grows from the steadfast belief that creating the conditions for pleasure—for awe and play, connection and feeling good—positively impacts our writing life. If you feel good about your writing life, you will want to return there. Our goals are two-fold: to bring lightness and liveliness to our creative lives during a season when they might otherwise get short shrift and to gather with a writing community who shares that desire. The instructor will comment on each piece of work writers post to Wet Ink. This feedback is intended to be supportive and encourage further generativity through questions and suggested opportunities present in the work. Writers are also encouraged to comment on each other's work to contribute to a community of mutual encouragement.

What are the writing goals?

In this course, students will bring lightness and liveliness to their creative lives during a season when they might otherwise get short shrift and gather with a writing community who shares that desire. Writers who actively participate will generate at least eight pieces based on prompts. The instructor will provide supportive written feedback on each piece posted to Wet Ink, encouraging further generativity through questions and suggested opportunities present in the work.

Readings

Readings may include excerpts, essays, stories, and poems by Kate Chopin, Chris Dennis, Elaine Dundy, Betty Smith, Emily Dickinson, Kim Addonizio, Gretel Ehrlich, Heather Christle, Sybille Bedford, Eula Biss, Susan Sontag, Rebecca Solnit, E.B. White, and others.

COURSE OUTLINE

Week 1: Welcome to Summer Camp

Week 2: Time

Week 3: Sand, Splinters, and Other Irritants

Week 4: The Seriousness of Frivolity

Week 5: Ripe to Bursting

Week 6: Salt

Week 7: Field Trip

Week 8: The Talent Show

COURSE TAKEAWAYS:

• Connect with a community of like-minded writers through ongoing discussions and shared learnings
• Receive 8 Summer Camp newsletters full of writing prompts, reframes, readings, and radical ideas to encourage a sustainable (and joyful!) writing practice
• Reframe your writing practice as a source of play, delight, and fun
• Discover new ideas and experiment with creative approaches
• Generate a mass of wild, fresh, urgent writing nourished by sun and salt air
• Preserve time for your vital, inner relationship with self, art, and creativity

TESTIMONIALS:

"Sarah McColl's workshop was an experience I will neither regret nor forget. Her remote workshop sessions guided us gently through intense and important journeys, and her genuine interest in each and every one of us was clear in both her approach and style. In addition to remote workshop classes, thought-provoking newsletters which included themed writing prompts encouraged me to push past my comfort zone into a territory I'd not explored in many years, and the Group Diary we all shared helped me realize that both my successes and my shortcomings were not unfounded nor uncommon. It was the perfect mix of cherishable challenges. I would recommend Sarah McColl's workshops to anyone and everyone who wants to not only improve their writing and/or write more often, but to learn more about themselves and their part in the process of furthering their art. This experience was the indisputable highlight of my summer. Highly recommended." — Marnie M.

"The prompts really pushed me creatively, and the instructor's feedback and enthusiasm were much appreciated. I loved just having time to experiment in the class and hear others' responses. Sarah was great." — Former Student

"This generative writing camp with Sarah was exactly what I was looking for at exactly the right time. Sarah did a great job facilitating this class, and I really appreciated the time she took with the feedback I received from her." — Former Student

"I wanted a space where I could experiment without too much pressure. I liked that we didn't analyze the experience of the writing exercise too much, we just kept moving along. It made it all feel less important somehow, which made it less stressful, which made it more fun, which made for better writing. At least, for me. I also commend you, Sarah, for setting the tone of the workshop as a collaborative and supportive and curious space." — Former Student

"From the readings to the generative prompts and lively discussions, I came away feeling refreshed and invigorated not only to write and read, but to make writing an important part of my daily routine. I'm grateful to you for helping me to feel alive and curious again." — Former Student

"I felt like I was in really compassionate orchestrating hands. The experience, wisdom and energy provided at such a high level makes it really easy to just let go and go for the ride and see what you can mine from yourself. Okay....I don't want to get weird and whip out a pan flute but it's a really special blend of pragmatism, craft, inspiration, and magic. There's a feeling of it being spiritual if you want it to be without it having to be group therapy. I felt lucky to be there and definitely don't really know how to explain it's more than a writing workshop to people." — Former Student

ONLINE COURSE STRUCTURE:

This is an 8-week online class and Sarah has designed a weekly email newsletter that includes prompts, readings, and ideas. Wet Ink will be used for online discussion.

This class is entirely asynchronous which means you complete the weekly assignments on your own schedule. There are no set meeting times in order to allow for greater participation; your cohort will consist of writers from across different time zones, which allows for a wonderful diversity of voices.

Along with your weekly deadlines there is plenty of interaction with Sarah and your peers within Wet Ink, our dedicated online classroom. Craft materials, lectures, reading assignments, and writing prompts are all available through the online classroom. 

You can get the work done as you see fit week-to-week, so it is perfect for any schedule. There are discussion questions each week inspired by the assigned readings and topics in the lecture notes. Students are encouraged to take these wherever is most compelling and/or useful for them. Sarah engages with these discussions throughout the week and you will receive feedback from all assigned writing activities.

HOW DOES WET INK WORK?

Wet Ink was built and designed specifically for online writing classes. Wet Ink is private, easy to use, and very interactive. You can learn more about the Wet Ink platform by Watching a Class Demo.

PAYMENT OPTIONS:

Tuition is $545 USD. You can pay for the course in full or use Shop Pay or Affirm to pay over time with equal Monthly Payments. Both options are available at checkout.

ONLINE COURSE STRUCTURE:

• Instructor: Sarah McColl
• Begins Saturday, June 20, 2026
• This 8-week generative writing workshop is delivered asynchronously via Wet Ink, with one optional Zoom cowriting session on Wednesday, July 22, 9:30–11:00 AM Pacific
• Tuition is $545 USD.