by Writing Workshops Staff
4 weeks ago
"Some of the best writing is embodied writing," says Minda Honey, "and you don't get much more embodied than a sex scene." The memoirist and essayist, whose debut THE HEARTBREAK YEARS chronicles her twenties through the lens of dating and desire, knows intimately what happens when writers shy away from the spicier side of their narratives. That familiar "fade to black" just when the action heats up.
In her new course, How to Write Sex: a 4-Week Nonfiction Workshop, Honey invites writers to push past that instinct and discover what sex writing can reveal about character, connection, and craft.
Through guided readings of acclaimed authors including Audre Lorde, Melissa Febos, and Hanif Abdurraquib, students will explore the full spectrum of sex writing—from humor to the sacred, from pleasure to trauma—while developing their own authentic voice in this intimate genre.
Whether you're writing memoir, personal essay, or literary journalism, this workshop offers the tools to write about embodied experience with honesty, meaning, and appropriate boundaries.
Here is our Meet the Teaching Artist Interview with Minda Honey:
Writing Workshops: Hi, Minda! Please introduce yourself to our audience.
Minda Honey: I'm Minda! I'm originally from Louisville, Kentucky. I spent my 20s out West and recently moved to Philly where I revel daily in the joy of living in a walkable city. My first book was a memoir about dating in my 20s, but now in my 40s, I'm working on an essay collection about mid-life and venerating Black women writers like Zora Neale Hurston. I believe in being publicly obsessed with your friends, being in bed by 10:30 and flossing — flossing nightly will save you so much trouble in life.
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?
Minda Honey: I think people tend to shy away from the spicier side of writing. The "fade to black" just when the action gets going is soooo common. Some of the best writing is embodied writing and you don't get much more embodied than a sex scene. Sex writing can show much about where you are as a character — how you connect to your body, your emotions, other people. There is craft inherent in that, I wanted to give people who are intrigued by the idea of writing about sex the tools they need to do it well.
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?
Minda Honey: There's not really anything radical about this course structure — there doesn't need to be! Sex is exciting enough! So we'll begin with reading a craft essay by Melissa Febos about sex writing and put that in conversation with Audre Lorde's essay about the erotic. These two pieces point toward what will be our ultimate aim as writers in this course: to tap into our power to write something honest. The remaining classes, we'll tackle a different aspect of sex writing each week and I'll share essays that demonstrate those aspects well. Then, I'll provide a writing prompt so can put the lesson to pen immediately. If people are comfortable sharing what they've written, they can.
Writing Workshops: Who was your first literary crush?
Minda Honey: Does the library count? Behind the house I grew up, was a big hill and down that hill was a passive parking lot and across that parking lot was tiny library sandwiched between a Jazzercise and a bingo hall. And I was allowed to walk down that hill and across that parking lot to that library by myself. I can still remember the day the librarian told me I could check out TWENTY books at a time. I used bring home a massive stack of Babysitter's Club or Sweet Valley High or random sci-fi fantasy books (I was an off-trend nerd who never got into any fandoms). It didn't matter to me that the walls were the same color as old milk or the carpet drab, I was crushing on that library HARD.
Writing Workshops: What are you currently reading?
Minda Honey: I'm about to fire up the audiobook of Moral Ambition: Stop Wasting Your Talent and Start Making a Difference, I'm midway through my friend Jodi-Ann Burey's Authentic: The Myth of Bringing Your Full Self to Work, and I just finished up an advanced read of Deesha Philyaw's debut novel coming out late 2026, The True Confessions of First Lady Freeman, which was both heartwarming and HAWT, if you're looking for something with that spice factor.
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?
Minda Honey: I used to be part of Orange Theory. I stubbornly insisted on spending my treadmill time speed walking. But what I learned is that as I got stronger, I began walking faster and faster, and at some point a fast walk breaks into a run. That's how I am with an essay or book idea. The ideas will be bouncing around in my head. Then I covertly slip the ideas into conversations with others to test them out. I'll bookmark and collect other essays and books and podcasts and memes that are conversation with my idea. And at some point I'll just have amassed enough momentum that's it's impossible not to break out into a run, impossible not to get started.
Writing Workshops: Where do you find inspiration?
Minda Honey: I'm memoir writer. Living is inspiration. I'm never pressed for ideas for WHAT to write about. My struggle is HOW to write about it and finding the motivation to do so.
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?
Minda Honey: The chorus of writing professors and instructors who've preached revision. It feels really obvious now, but yeah all the reading and craft you're studying is basically so you can learn how to fix what isn't working in your piece. It doesn't necessarily mean you're making progress toward the unachievable feat of writing a stellar first draft. And the magic is, you don't have to! But people are really resistant to revision. Young writers want to dash something off and immediately submit for a literary prize. Older writers might fiddle around with a sentence but are really reluctant to get in and mess something up with the aim of putting it back together better. I tell my writers don't go in with a butter knife when you really need a machete.
Writing Workshops: What is your favorite book to recommend on the craft of writing? Why this book?
Minda Honey: I don't know about favorite, but Several Short Sentences About Writing by Verlyn Klinkenborg is one you can recommend to people and feel confident they'll actually read it. It's tangible and gets after the nuts and bolts of writing without being dry. And it's a breeze to read because the sentences are indeed short.
Writing Workshops: Bonus question: What's your teaching vibe?
Minda Honey: A writer once told me I make spaces where people feel like they can be brave.
That brave space is exactly what Honey creates in her workshops—a place where writers can tap into the honest power of embodied writing without fear. Over four weeks, students in How to Write Sex: a 4-Week Nonfiction Workshop will study exemplary models, practice through guided prompts, and discover their own voice in this vital genre. The class begins Tuesday, February 10th, 2026, meeting weekly via Zoom. All levels welcome.
