Begins Thursday, July 9, 2026
Class will meet weekly via Zoom on Thursdays, 6:30 PM – 8:30 PM ET
(Off weeks: July 30 and August 27)

Note: If you can't attend live, this class will be recorded. 

🌍 Class Times by Time Zone: Los Angeles (PDT): 3:30 PM – 5:30 PM / Chicago (CDT): 5:30 PM – 7:30 PM / New York (EDT): 6:30 PM – 8:30 PM

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

Instructor Sammi LaBue is a New York-based writer and educator obsessed with the feeling of having an idea and writing it down, and firm in the belief that the bravery to write the cringey, the crazy, and the crummy is always rewarded. She's written about familial shame, complicated feelings about her deceased dad during these political times, and even detailed the intimate details of her medical chart for places like The Sun, Slate, Glamour, Literary Hub, Buzzfeed, HuffPost Personal, Short Reads, and The Offing. She is the author of the creative writer's guided journal, Words in Progress (Penguin Random House, 2020), and has just finished a memoir, Bad Apples, written in collaboration with her mom. As the founder of Fledgling Writing Workshops, Sammi has worked with over 2,500 students since 2016 and was named one of the best writing workshops in NYC by TimeOut NY (2017–2019). She has taught at Vermont College of Fine Arts, Colorado College, Hunter College, Girls Write Now, Paragraph, and Gotham Writers Workshop.

Who is this class for?

Taking you from idea to publication, Writing for the Moment is for writers and thinkers across disciplines who want to translate their knowledge and experiences into publishable work that can enact change. This online writing workshop is designed for introductory and intermediate writers ready to bring their authentic voices to the page and share their stories with the world.

What to expect:

Do you feel helpless thinking about issues pertaining to your community—food insecurity, reproductive rights, immigration, trans rights, to name a few? Do you believe your personal story could help someone else heal or see life from a worthwhile vantage point?

More and more major publications—The New York Times, The Guardian, The Atlantic, Slate, and others—are seeking writing rooted in lived experience: snapshots of a writer's life that speak to a larger issue. Writing for the Moment is a craft and career-focused writing workshop designed to help writers transform personal experience into timely, publishable work that supports building an authentic platform and audience. Through generative writing sprints, group workshops, and a hands-on pitching intensive, this online writing class will take you through every stage of the process—from mining your memories for story-worthy material to sending your finished work out into the world.

Students will end this nonfiction writing workshop ready for submission season with finished work, practical tools, and a clearer sense of who they are writing for. Writing for the Moment is an invitation to bring your authentic self to the page, trust that it matters, and share it with the audience already waiting for it.

What are the writing goals?

In this course, students will generate and complete a body of publishable work born from memoir material created together in class. By the end of the workshop, each student will have completed one flash essay, one personal essay (up to 2,000 words), two reported or timely pitches, an updated author bio, and a cover letter. Students will receive instructor feedback on their flash essay, their longer essay, and a pitch. In the final session, the group will submit work to their first target publication together.

Readings may include excerpts from:

• I Remember by Joe Brainard (excerpt)
• "The Greeter" (essay from Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless Girls) by T Kira Madden
• "All Things Being Equal," No Contact Magazine, by Bailey Gaylin Moore
• "What Does it Mean to Have a Serious Drinking Problem?" The New York Times Opinion, by Nancy Wartik
• "In Bed" by Joan Didion

COURSE OUTLINE

Phase One: Mining Your Memories (Weeks 1–3)

Week 1 (July 9): Through prompt-guided generative sprints, students will mine personal experience for story-worthy material and learn how to identify what belongs on the page. Prompts build on one another, leading to the drafting of one flash essay and the foundation of a longer personal essay.

Week 2 (July 16): Continued generative work with a focus on voice, stakes, and presenting personal experiences so that they resonate on a universal level.

Week 3 (July 23): Completing the generative foundation—students will have a flash essay draft and the building blocks for their longer personal essay.

Drafting Break (July 30 – No Class): Students will use this week to bring together what they've worked on in class, read each other's essays, and develop their longer essay (2,000 words). Since the first three sessions are full of drafting time and guided outlining, students should only need about an hour to bring their longer essay to life.

Phase Two: Workshop & Revision (Weeks 4–5)

Week 4 (August 6): Along with receiving written instructor feedback, each participant's longer essay will be the focus of a mini-workshop (20–30 minutes, depending on class size).

Week 5 (August 13): Continued workshops and revision, with each student receiving dedicated feedback time.

Phase Three: Submission & Pitching Intensive (Weeks 6–8)

Week 6 (August 20): This three-week crash course covers the practical realities of getting work into the world. Drawing on over a decade of personal publishing experience across print, digital media, literary journals, and anthologies, Sammi will teach the how-tos of pitching essays and creating an action plan. Students will learn the ins and outs of submission calls, submitting to literary journals versus pitching larger outlets, and finding the right publications for your voice.

Revision Break (August 27 – No Class): Time to revise and prepare materials for the final submission push.

Week 7 (September 3): Continued work on navigating submissions managers, selling yourself, and why sharing our personal stories matters. Through in-class writing time, students will create a Submittable profile, write a cover letter, an author's bio, a pitch, and a submission plan.

Week 8 (September 10): In the final session, the group will send their work off into the world, together.

COURSE TAKEAWAYS:

• Learn how to make a universal point through a personal story, transforming lived experience into essays that resonate with a wide readership
• Identify the right outlets for your work—from literary journals to major publications—and understand the difference between submitting and pitching
• Build a small portfolio of publishable work including a flash essay, a personal essay, pitches, an author bio, and a cover letter
• Develop a realistic, personalized submission plan to share your work with the world
• Gain hands-on experience with the submission process, including creating a Submittable profile and sending work to your first target publication as a group
• Receive instructor feedback on your flash essay, personal essay, and pitch

TESTIMONIALS

"This is a great class for a fledgling writer and a great way to experiment and grow confidence in writing!" -former student

"I was apprehensive about writing and sharing in front of strangers. I found Sammi's class to be a wonderful environment and format to build confidence, explore my abilities, and improve my skills. The people in the class were great to work with, and Sammi is an excellent facilitator." -former student

"This was a perfect way to dip my toe back into writing after a long time away. Sammi creates a wonderfully supportive environment where it feels safe to experiment and see where your writing takes you, but then gives you the tools and advice to turn those experiments into full pieces. The unique and creative prompts helped me find my voice again, and the structure of the class made me excited to use it." -former student