Begins Monday, November 2, 2026

Class meets weekly via Zoom on Mondays, 6:00–8:00 PM ET (November 2, 9, 16, and 30 — no class Thanksgiving week)

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

Instructor Bio

Instructor Anna Clarke Fiddler is an editor and writer, with an MFA in Creative Nonfiction from Sarah Lawrence College, where she studied with Pulitzer Prize–winning poet and critic Vijay Seshadri. She also trained at the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies — long regarded as a proving ground for NPR journalists — where she deepened her commitment to reported storytelling and narrative rigor. In 2025, she was a writer-in-residence at Hedgebrook, an internationally renowned literary retreat for women writers. Her work has been recognized by the Flatmancrooked Prize, judged by Mary Karr, and published in the Portland Review, Lumina, and Mother Mag.

Who is this class for?

This introductory creative nonfiction workshop is for anyone who has always wanted to write but keeps getting stopped before the page — by perfectionism, self-doubt, or the creeping sense that what comes out won't be good enough. You'll leave with a real, completed draft and the visceral understanding that giving yourself permission to write freely is the fastest way to find your best work. No experience required — all you need is the willingness to show up and write.

What to expect:

Every writer knows the advice: just get something down. What nobody tells you is how to actually do it — how to outrun the voice that says it isn't good enough, isn't interesting enough, isn't ready yet.

This course is built on the belief that the uncensored, unpolished draft isn't the obstacle to good writing. It's the source of it. Together, we'll practice the specific skill of getting out of our own way — using generative prompts, timed writing exercises, and constraint-based techniques designed to quiet the inner critic and access the raw material that lives underneath it. Because that's where the real stuff is: in the unguarded sentence, the unexpected image, the thought you almost didn't write down.

Over the course of our time together, students will produce a complete Draft Zero of a personal essay, memoir excerpt, or short creative nonfiction piece — and leave knowing the next steps to take to shape and polish it. We won't be workshopping or critiquing in the traditional sense. This is a production class. The goal is output, momentum, and the experience of finishing something real. But finishing is only half of it. As a developmental editor who has spent years helping writers — from debut authors to New York Times bestsellers — find the shape inside their early drafts, I'll also teach you to look at your own rough, unwieldy first version the way an editor does: not as a failure to fix, but as a draft already telling you what it wants to become.

For writers who have never completed a draft, this online writing class offers something more valuable than technique: proof that you can do it, and a clear sense of where to go next. For writers who keep stopping themselves before they start, it offers a different relationship to the blank page — one grounded in freedom, curiosity, and the understanding that first drafts are supposed to be loose and unruly. That's the whole point.

You don't need experience. You don't need a fully formed idea. You just need to show up and write — and by the end, you'll have both a finished draft and a clear path for what comes next.

What are the writing goals?

In this course, students will produce:

• 1 complete Draft Zero of a creative nonfiction piece of their choosing (personal essay, memoir excerpt, lyric essay, or similar form), ranging from 1,000–2,000 words
• 3–5 generative writing prompts produced during in-class exercises, any of which could be developed into future drafts
• A personalized "permission statement" — a short, written articulation of your own creative blocks and the specific conditions under which you write most freely, to use as a touchstone in future writing sessions

This is primarily a generative course, not a workshop, so the focus is on output and momentum rather than critique. Students will receive light, encouraging written feedback on their Draft Zero from the instructor — notes designed to illuminate what's alive in the draft and point toward what wants to grow — delivered within one week of the final session. There is no peer workshop component.

Readings

Readings may include excerpts from:

• Anne Lamott, "Shitty First Drafts" — excerpt from Bird by Bird (1994)
• Natalia Ginzburg, "My Vocation" — full essay
• Carmen Maria Machado, In the Dream House — opening excerpt (approx. 3 pages)
• Terry Tempest Williams, When Women Were Birds — excerpt (approx. 3–4 pages)
• One short published personal essay (800–1,000 words), instructor-selected and distributed to students prior to Week 2

COURSE OUTLINE

Week 1 — Monday, November 2: The Inner Critic Has Left the Building
Craft focus: Understanding the difference between the generative brain and the editorial brain — and why mixing them kills first drafts.
Reading: Short excerpt from Anne Lamott's "Shitty First Drafts" (from Bird by Bird); excerpt from Natalia Ginzburg's "My Vocation."

Activity: Timed free-write (15 min, no stopping, no deleting) from a personal prompt, followed by a group debrief on the experience of writing without stopping.
You'll leave with: 1 raw free-write (300–500 words) and a written list of your top three inner critic voices.

Week 2 — Monday, November 9: Finding Your Material
Craft focus: How to locate the story only you can tell — the specific image, memory, or obsession that has enough heat to carry a full draft.
Reading: Excerpt from Carmen Maria Machado's In the Dream House (opening); one short published personal essay (instructor-selected, under 1,000 words).

Activity: Three rapid-fire generative prompts (5 minutes each) designed to surface surprising, specific material. Students identify which one pulls hardest and write toward it for 20 minutes.

You'll leave with: 2–3 raw prompt responses and one identified subject for your Draft Zero.

Week 3 — Monday, November 16: Draft Zero Day
Craft focus: Momentum, mess, and the freedom of the unfinished — how to keep moving when you want to stop and fix.
Reading: None assigned — this is a writing week.

Activity: Full-class generative writing session. Students write their Draft Zero from start to finish in class, using a loose structural scaffold provided by the instructor (opening move, middle turn, closing image). The instructor writes alongside you.

You'll leave with: A complete Draft Zero of 1,000–2,000 words.

(No class the week of Thanksgiving.)

Week 4 — Monday, November 30: What Did You Actually Write?
Craft focus: How to read your own raw material with curiosity instead of judgment — finding the live wire in the draft without switching into revision mode.
Reading: Excerpt from Terry Tempest Williams's When Women Were Birds on the relationship between silence, voice, and the page.

Activity: Students read their Draft Zero and respond to three guided reflection questions (instructor-provided) designed to illuminate what's working, what's surprising, and what wants to grow. Optional: brief, low-stakes sharing with the group — one sentence that surprised you.

You'll leave with: An annotated Draft Zero and a written "next draft" note — one thing you want to chase in revision.

COURSE TAKEAWAYS:

• A complete Draft Zero (1,000–2,000 words) of a personal essay, memoir excerpt, or short creative nonfiction piece
• A set of 3–5 generative prompts you can develop into future work
• A personalized "permission statement" to return to whenever the blank page feels daunting
• Practical strategies for quieting the inner critic and separating the generative brain from the editorial brain
• An editor's-eye approach to reading your own rough draft — seeing what it's trying to become instead of only what needs fixing
• Encouraging, forward-looking written feedback on your draft from the instructor

PAYMENT OPTIONS:

Tuition is $330 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: Anna Clarke Fiddler
• Begins Monday, November 2, 2026
• Class meets weekly via Zoom on Mondays, 6:00–8:00 PM ET (November 2, 9, 16, and 30 — no class the week of Thanksgiving)
• Tuition is $330 USD.