Your Story Matters: Join Our LGBTQ+ Memoir Class & Supportive Writing Group
A nourishing, inclusive space to grow your writing practice
In this video, I share what it feels like to be in my inclusive, supportive, encouraging memoir class and discussion group!
In 6 minutes, I get into why inclusivity is important, my feedback philosophy, and I even manage to relate my teaching style to aikido practice!
If you prefer to read rather than watch, the full transcript is below.
Video Transcript:
You have an amazing true story to tell. Yes, you.
As a queer, trans, non-binary writer myself, I am passionate about supporting and uplifting our LGBTQ+ community and more broadly our community of marginalized writers.
I'm teaching a online writing class and leading a discussion group coming up this fall that I'm really excited about.
The class will have four weeks of video tutorials with written transcripts, suggested readings to inspire you, writing prompts to bring out your creativity, and my personal supportive encouraging feedback on your work so that you can continue to grow and thrive on your journey as a writer.
Our weekly discussion group is really special because it brings together writers from across our different communities to encourage each other in our work. This was a really great part of the class last time I offered it.
We got deep into how do you express your feelings, especially in the past if you don't necessarily remember everything. How can you express these embodied experiences in a way that really resonates with your audience?
We can also talk about publishing. I've been published in PopSugar, Catapult, and other publications, and I'm happy to recommend places where your work might find an audience.
I also send out weekly relatable true stories in my newsletter, Amplify Respect.
I'm happy to coach you in how you too can build a Substack audience.
In the class we'll cover brainstorming ideas, getting over writer's block, turning your story into an exciting narrative arc, writing about feelings and emotions, and connecting your story to a broader context to make it relevant to a wider audience.
The class is limited to a relatively small size, a maximum of 15 participants, and you'll get my personalized feedback on your work every week.
I've been told I give good feedback.
I try really hard to be supportive.
I understand that it can be really vulnerable sharing your story with someone else for the first time, and I honor and respect that.
I will give you suggestions for, maybe you can talk more about this, or I would love to hear more about this.
You'll have some ideas for moving forward and deepening your piece of writing, but I would never criticize or tear you down.
I know there's some classes and teachers, unfortunately, who are less supportive, and I completely disagree with that style of feedback.
I think that great feedback helps you be excited to write more.
In previous sessions of the class, we've had people who had never written their personal story down before, and we've had published writers who have had many published essays.
How can the material be relevant to all of these different people?
That's a really good question.
A lot of my teaching experience comes from the martial art of Aikido, which I practice regularly and have been practicing for over 10 years.
In Aikido, all levels practice together and practice the same techniques. What a beginner will learn from that practice is completely different than what a black belt would learn from that practice, but everyone still gets something from working together on the same exercises.
And that's the spirit in which I've created this class.
The exercises, readings, and feedback is all accessible to beginners.
It's not difficult, but advanced students will still get something out of this material, digging deeper into their own writing practice.
Even I get something out of this every time I review and update the class materials.
The topics that I've selected to cover in this class are the same things that I look at when I'm evaluating an essay.
I'm a reader for the Rumpus literary magazine, which means that I review eight to ten essays per week and recommend some to be published.
So to write a great essay, first you need an idea.
We'll cover that.
We'll figure out what's important to write about for you.
Then you need a narrative arc.
Your life is not automatically divided into nice little movie arcs, but we can brainstorm ways that your story can be compelling and have stakes for your character, so the reader wants to know what happens next.
Then in addition to describing all of the actions of the story, we want to move internally.
How does your body feel in that moment, and how do you share these vulnerable parts of yourself with an audience while protecting yourself.
Finally, we want to make sure your story is relevant to your audience.
I'm proud to say that I've seen work workshopped in this class where I've given feedback, go out in publication, whether it's on Substack or some other.
It's really exciting and inspiring for me to see the growth over the course of these four
weeks.
Not every class is designed to be inclusive and accessible, but this one is.
The materials are designed to uplift the voices of Black, Indigenous, people of color, LGBTQ+, neurodivergent writers.
Similarly, the group discussions and the feedback are really inclusive of a wide variety of experiences.
I'm intentionally creating a community of people that can support each other and especially are passionate about uplifting marginalized voices.
I'd love for you to find inspiration and community and deepen your writing practice in a supportive nourishing small container of writers who also want to get their story out into the world.
There are a limited number of slots and people are already starting to sign up.
So if you're interested, please go ahead and sign up. I would love to have you in the class.
I support you and your writing and would love to hear your story.
It is so important to get these stories out there, both to get them out there to educate an audience, but also for ourselves, so that we can feel fulfilled and feel like our stories are worth hearing, which they absolutely are.
For more information, please check out the link below.
There's more testimonials, information about the dates and times, and all the logistics that you need to decide whether this class is right for you.
I really hope you'll join us. I would love to read your story.
Ready to Join Us?
Don’t miss out on this opportunity to elevate your writing skills. Sign up today and continue your journey towards becoming a more confident and accomplished writer.
Memoir Class and Writer's Group:
Cost: $129
Four weeks starting September 12
Each weekly module includes: Video lessons (with full transcripts available), reading materials, and my encouraging, supportive feedback on your writing assignments
You are invited to join our weekly discussion group which is included!
Scholarship cost: $40 (honor system need-based, limited to 3 spots, please contact me directly to arrange a scholarship, rey at reykatz dot com)
Writer's Group:
Cost: $59
Ten weeks: September 19 - November 21
Weekly 1-hour online discussion on Google Meet, Thursday 2pm Eastern / 1pm Central / noon Mountain / 11am Pacific / 6pm GMT
Scholarship cost: $25 (honor system need-based, please contact me directly to arrange a scholarship, rey at reykatz dot com)
How to register:
Spots are limited to 15 participants. Please send the class payment to enroll, with your email address as the payment note. I will be in touch within 1-2 days with your receipt and further information.
Venmo: @reykatz (last 4 digits of phone: 9662)
If you have any questions or need more information, feel free to reach out. I’m here to help!
Looking forward to seeing you in class.
Take care,
Rey