Pivotal Moments: A Personal Essay Writing Workshop

We are excited to offer a four-part intensive course in personal essay writing with author Jane Ganahl. Please note the sessions will take place from 4.00pm to 6.00pm on four consecutive Wednesdays: July 29, August 5, August 12 and August 19. The total cost for the four week session is $400, and is limited to 9 people.

About the Workshop

Every day there are moments that could inspire a personal essay: finding your late mother’s favorite shoes, being asked by your curious grandchild when you’re going to die, walking past a restaurant and smelling the pungent aroma of a birthplace you have not seen in decades. These are moments that cause you to pause, reflect and learn: the basis of a solid personal essay. In this three-part introductory class, you’ll learn how to identify these pivotal moments, find the lessons therein, and write about them in a way that resonates with readers. Because the best personal essays don’t just relate something that happened to you: they draw the reader in with deep sharing and offer a new perspective. The goal of this course is to write an essay—or at least get a solid first draft done—in three weeks!

Students will learn:

- How to choose a topic (and topics to avoid)

- The five elements of a good essay

- How to structure your essay with an outline

- The importance of perspective

About the Instructor

Jane Ganahl is a writer, teacher, and co-founder of the Litquake festival. As a Hearst newspaper journalist for many years, she wrote the “Single Minded” column for the Chronicle, which led to her memoir, Naked on the Page: The Misadventures of My Unmarried Midlife. She was also the editor of the anthology Single Woman of a Certain Age. Her essays have appeared in five different anthologies and in the magazines Spirituality & Health, , , Huffington Post, Bazaar, and Salon, among other places. She is also a crazy cat lady, with a small nonprofit that tends feral colonies on the San Mateo County coast. Read more at janeganahl.com.

The workshop will take place in a second-floor office at 1047 El Camino Real which is directly across the road from Kepler’s Books. Please note that there is no elevator in the building.

ACCESSIBILITY: We never want cost to be a barrier to admission for our community. Please email events [at] keplers [dot] org if you would like to attend this event but cannot afford a ticket. To request an accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) for this event, please email events [at] keplers [dot] org at least one week prior to the event.
REFUND POLICY: We are not able to offer a full refund up to 30 days before the event.
We want Kepler’s to be a welcoming and comfortable space for everyone. If you are feeling unwell, especially with respiratory symptoms, please stay home. Thank you for helping us create a safe and considerate environment for our community.

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