Eight-Week Personal Essay and Memoir Workshop on Zoom
FALL 2022 DATES COMING SOON
Details at daummasterclass.com
Meghan is not currently offering private coaching.
Why A Private Workshop:
Whether it’s a short personal essay or a book-length memoir, writing about yourself is a tricky thing, Get it wrong and you can be branded a solipsist, a whiner, a shameless exploiter of yourself and others, or, gasp . . . confessional. On the other hand, get it right and you can touch readers in ways you didn’t think possible.
I've been lucky enough to forge a career around personal writing. It’s by no means the only kind of work I do, but it’s what readers tend to remember the most. Part of my success was due to timing. When I started out, I had the luxury of taking as long as I needed to get something right and of working with topnotch editors that could make my writing even better. Readers, too, read more carefully and with greater generosity of spirit. There were no comment boards, no social media, no bloggers ready to rip my work apart before they’d even read it. Thanks to all of this, I took risks in my writing. Without constantly looking over my shoulder in anticipation of criticism or a Twitter smackdown, I was able to wrestle with sensitive topics and express complicated and often controversial ideas. I was able to write from a place of vulnerability but also control.
In the years since, I've had the privilege of helping hundreds of students find their own voices, excavate their most original and daring ideas and tell their stories with the kind of energy, honesty and craft that will help take them to the next artistic and professional levels.
In early 2018 I began offering that guidance in a private, weekend-long workshop in my home.
What You’ll Get Out Of It:
Think of this as a workshop combined with an extensive, free-ranging and highly interactive craft talk lead by me (plus maybe a special guest or two). It is not “generative.” That is to say that other than a few short exercises you will not be generating any new writing on the premises. The goal is to come out of the weekend with new ideas, a roadmap for making your pages as good as they can be and maybe even a new and different sense of yourself as a writer.
Your pages will receive a solid hour of discussion in the workshop format. As fruitful as that discussion should be, it’s my experience in courses like these that inspiration is just as likely to happen during spontaneous conversations as during workshop discussions. So think of it as one hour of focused critique of your pages and 15 more hours of fascinating and equally fruitful conversations with fellow writers (sense of humor is a must, by the way).
The class runs Saturday and Sunday from 10am to 4pm each day and includes light breakfast and catered lunches. Coffee, tea, soft drinks and snacks are available at all times.
Each weekend features visits from writers and industry professionals. Guests have included authors Kate Bolick, Nina Burleigh, Susan Dominus, Steve Friedman, Cathi Hanauer, Heather Havrilesky, Julie Klam, Tim Kreider, Jillian Lauren, and Dinah Lenney. We've also had visits from Brettne Bloom, literary agent at The Book Group, Simon & Schuster editor Emily Graff, and Sari Botton, essays editor of Longreads. More amazing speakers always around the corner!
Who It’s For:
Intermediate to advanced writers. These distinctions are difficult to quantify, but it would be great if you’ve spent at least a few years thinking seriously about your writing and doing as much of it as you can.
Maybe you’re working on a book length memoir. Maybe you have a draft of a personal essay you’re looking to polish. Maybe you have detailed notes for a project and need guidance on how to shape those notes or what form the project should take. In any of these cases, you could benefit from the workshop.
You need not have published, but a desire to be published in the future and a familiarity with the workshop format is a plus. (You’ll be expected to have read your classmates’ submissions and come prepared with constructive, thorough feedback.)
Space is limited space and the class is admissions based. Please send no more than 20 pages of personal writing along with a note explaining your creative and professional goals.
“I’m not being hyperbolic when I say that Meghan Daum’s workshop changed my life. After years of traditional writing workshops where I was taught all the conventional wisdom about writing, Meghan helped me see my work from an entirely different angle - one that has me more excited about my writing than I’ve been in a long time. And it was obvious how much she cared about making sure that, by the end of the workshop, we were all truly that much closer to launching our careers. Any writer of personal nonfiction would have to be an idiot not to jump at an opportunity like this.”
“I can barely express how amazing this weekend was for me. I feel so inspired and have a renewed desire to put something out there in the world . . . I’ve been knocking at this door for many, many years. I will most definitely be coming back.” ”
“Meghan’s workshop was an incredible experience for me. The group feedback on what I’d written would’ve been useful on its own, but collectively editing the essays of my peers—restructuring or refocusing them, helping each writer discover the piece she needed to write—was equally instructive. Further, the insight from Meghan and two special guests, both of whom have thrived in publishing, gave all of us a deeper understanding of the mechanics of publishing a book, as well as some essential tips to find our own version of success. I’ve already sung Meghan’s praises to various friends in media; if you’re in need of some focused time and attention on the essay or book or reflection that’s bursting out of you, I can’t recommend this workshop highly enough.”
“I can honestly say that Meghan’s workshop was unlike any I have experienced - both more meaningful and more practical than other writing workshops. Meghan created a safe, intimate environment that invited us to search our souls and uncover what we might not have found otherwise. But at the same time, she and her guest speakers instilled in us the practical realities of living as a writer out in the world. This will be the kind of experience that will continue to reverberate in my psyche for months and years to come. ”
“Meghan Daum is the teacher/mentor every writer hopes to work with. She has a gift for understanding the essence of each writer’s work and for helping writers shape their narratives. Her weekend workshop was filled with talented and supportive writers who immediately connected with each other. I am so fortunate to have worked with Meghan. My writing benefitted enormously from the direction she gave me and I emerged from the weekend with bonds to a wonderful group of fellow writers.”
“It was a wonderful experience to be part of such a collaborative, intimate workshop. In addition to really digging in to projects that we were working on and the technical craft of memoir and essay writing, it also covered the more practical elements of publishing: how to query, what agents and publishers are looking for, and the current market for personal essays. I found all of it incredibly valuable. ”
“I’ve been a long time reader of Meghan’s work and jumped at the opportunity to take a workshop with her. The experience was invaluable to me as a professional writer and I walked away feeling more confident and inspired. I’d highly recommend this workshop for writers of all levels who want to learn more about the industry and receive specific feedback on personal essays. ”
“The workshop was everything I hoped it would be and more. I have to admit I was intimidated by the fact that I seemed to be the only unpublished “non-writer” in the room, but Meghan gathered such a wonderfully talented group of women, each in her own phase of work, that I was fully distracted away from my own inadequacies and instead learned a tremendous amount from everyone. Even if it is never published, Meghan and the others gave me exactly what I needed to make my essay something that I will always be proud of. ”
“The workshop was such a magical experience. The apartment is beautiful, the food was great, and the other writers were terrific. Meghan’s insights and suggestions so clarifying, and Phoebe was the perfect touch. ”