You’ve got a story to tell, a point to make, a trend to analyze, a cultural moment to comment on: Can you do it 800 words? 1200 words? Of course you can, and if you do, you’ll be in the sweetest spot for today’s active and attention-challenged readers. In this four-week class we’ll read a few examples of published essays both short and long, and, each week, spend time drafting one of our own with prompts designed to keep you progressing from start to finish. We’ll cheer each other on and offer insights to keep our ideas growing and cohering. Come with an idea-seed to grow into ~1000 words or a draft you’d like to finish.
Use code EARLYBIRD at checkout for 10% off through May 6! (Porch members, check your email for your special earlybird discount code.)
Susannah Felts, co-founder of The Porch, is a fiction writer, freelance writer, teacher, editor, and native Nashvillian. In 2009, after many years away from her hometown, she returned to put down roots with her family in East Nashville. Previously, Susannah taught creative writing at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Watkins College of Art, Design & Film, and in several other youth and community settings. Her first novel, This Will Go Down on Your Permanent Record, was published in 2008 by Featherproof Books.
Susannah was the recipient of the Tennessee Arts Commission’s Individual Artist Fellowship in Fiction for 2013. She has been awarded the Tennessee Williams Scholarship to the Sewanee Writers’ Conference, as well as residencies at the Ragdale Foundation, the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, and the Hambidge Center for Creative Arts and Sciences. Her work has appeared in publications such as The Oxford American, Literary Hub, Longreads, StorySouth, The Sun, Quarterly West, Hobart, Five Chapters, Wigleaf, Quick Fiction, and others. She earned her BA with Highest Honors in Creative Writing from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and holds an MFA in Writing from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
Susannah is also a contributing writer for Chapter 16, Humanities Tennessee’s site devoted to literary culture.
"Susannah is fantastic! Encouraging, authentic, and insightful. I came away with so many useful ideas for improving and deepening my writing practice. I'm already putting them to use! Her prompts for re-visioning previous drafts were especially helpful."
"Susannah was great at loosening up the group and encouraging us to volunteer our work and our feedback for others' work. She set the tone for the class's constructive spirit and guilt-free approach to engaging new techniques for creativity and trying out new writing and revision methods. It was great!"
"Susannah really personified empathy. From the first class, I felt challenged and accepted."
