WRITING WORKSHOP
WRITING WORKSHOP
Join me online for 90 minutes each Sunday, for 4 weeks, to discuss excerpts of powerful writing, learn about techniques and approaches we can use in our own work, generate new writing, and connect with like-minded writers of all stages.
What makes us human is our connection with others, the ways we try to love ourselves and each other and fail. It’s our feelings, frustrations, desires, yearning, self-expression, hobbies—how we fill our time and our lives with meaning.
I’m watching AI change the job landscape and zap my brain power and creative spark. You too? Let’s nurture our creativity, together. Let’s discuss writers and books that tackle the hard subjects with honesty, head-on, to better understand how their courage on the page can embolden our own work (and lives). Together, through conversations, reading material, optional writing prompts, and feedback from me, let’s get back to trusting our voices, in all their flawed and very human imperfection.
Whether you’re a published writer, secret writer, or just a fan of reading, I hope you’ll join me.
The Prose Poem: Little Square, Lots of Depth
August 17 – September 7
Week 1: Historical context
What is the prose poem? Who did it first? Where did it originate? (Guess what: France!) Who are the famous American prose poets? We’ll discuss the history and context of prose poetry and, as with each meeting, you’ll leave with a prompt to work on over the week.
Week 2: Contemporary examples
What’s going on in the prose poetry scene today? What book-length prose poems or prose poetry collections might you enjoy? Which indie presses and literary journals publish prose poetry? What do we like or feel drawn to in contemporary prose poetry that we could implement in our own writing?
Week 3: Women’s Prose Poetry
Drawing on Holly Iglesias’s Boxing Inside the Box: Women’s Prose Poetry and Cassandra Atherton and Paul Hetherington’s Prose Poetry: An Introduction, we’ll look at why the prose poem is a particularly feminist genre.
Week 4: GENRE-Bending
Prose poem or flash fiction: what’s the difference? We’ll look at excerpts from international books that are comprised of, yes, prose poems, but are also memoirs, essays, or even bordering on fiction.
ALL THE details
August 17th, August 24th, 31st, and September 7th
Every Sunday, on Zoom
90 minutes
10 am PT / 12 pm noon CT / 1 pm ET / 7pm CEST (Central European Summer Time)
Meetings will be recorded and stored in the shared Google Drive, so if you can’t make it, you can watch the recording if you’d like, or just join us for the next class.
Putting your writing into the shared Google Drive is a way to hold yourself accountable if your goal is to generate new work; the writing can be read by everyone, of course, and I’ll provide light personalized feedback to you on your piece. If there’s time in class for folks to share their work aloud, we can, but it won’t be workshopped in the traditional sense (i.e. no major group critiques, more my personalized feedback).
After our last class meeting, I’ll provide final feedback on whatever you’ve put in the Google Drive.
The meetings will be very interactive and flexible—for example, if you want to share a writer or poem or idea, please do! It’s not a lecture, more of a conversation.
INVESTMENT
Sliding scale, from $100 to $250, payable via Venmo, Stripe, or PayPal.
If the higher end is possible for you, I’m quite grateful! For freelancers or students for whom the lower end isn’t feasible, email me and we can discuss options.
What you’ll get
An introduction to writers and books you’ll like
New friends from the workshop
Lively conversation with people from all walks of life and ages
Warm, supportive feedback from me on a few pieces (one per week)
A general feeling of optimism and encouragement about the importance of writing and self-expression
What You’re Not
Allowed to Say:
Sex, Shame, and the Page
September 14 – October 5
Week 1: Writers who risked it all
An introduction to writers who have written boldly about sex and sexuality, tracing a line through history to today. Though we’ll look at some of the male writers who kicked things off, the focus will be on women and LGBQT writers who were seen as groundbreaking in their day, who risked their reputation to say something true about very human experiences.
Week 2: Kink, PORN, and technology
How has porn and the internet changed the way we think about sexuality? When did kink enter the literary sphere? How do writers explore these topics without veering into erotica or smut? Do we want our work to be timeless, or what happens when we include technology in our writing—a poem mentions Hinge, for example?
Week 3: Trouble in paradise
Which writers have explored the anxieties and difficulties inherent in sex, (non)monogamy, and desire? How did they approach that? What techniques can we borrow and use in our own writing to accurately capture the complexity of being in a couple?
Week 4: The eroticism of fantasy and taboo
We’ll read some excerpts from writers who have written about more taboo topics, and see how we can draw courage and even comfort from their courageous explorations of the human psyche. What does it mean to refuse shame?
ALL THE details
September 14th, September 21th, September 28th, October 5th
Every Sunday, on Zoom
90 minutes
10 am PT / 12 pm noon CT / 1 pm ET / 7pm CEST (Central European Summer Time)
Meetings will be recorded and stored in the shared Google Drive, so if you can’t make it, you can watch the recording if you’d like, or just join us for the next class.
Putting your writing into the shared Google Drive is a way to hold yourself accountable if your goal is to generate new work; the writing can be read by everyone, of course, and I’ll provide light personalized feedback to you on your piece. If there’s time in class for folks to share their work aloud, we can, but it won’t be workshopped in the traditional sense (i.e. no major group critiques, more my personalized feedback).
After our last class meeting, I’ll provide final feedback on whatever you’ve put in the Google Drive.
The meetings will be very interactive and flexible—for example, if you want to share a writer or book or idea, please do! It’s not a lecture, more of a conversation.
INVESTMENT
Sliding scale, from $100 to $250, payable via Venmo, Stripe, or PayPal.
If the higher end is possible for you, I’m quite grateful! For freelancers or students for whom the lower end isn’t feasible, email me and we can discuss options.
What you’ll get
An introduction to writers and books you’ll like
New friends from the workshop
Lively conversation with people from all walks of life and ages
Warm, supportive feedback from me on a few pieces (one per week)
A general feeling of optimism and encouragement about the importance of writing and self-expression
About ME
Hi! I’m Kristin. Twenty years of teaching and writing about sex and desire has made me your well-equipped guide for this journey.
I’m a freelance writer living in Paris. I earned my MFA in creative writing from Louisiana State University, and have published two chapbooks and one full-length hybrid book, Cuntry (Trembling Pillow Press, 2017), which was a finalist for the National Poetry Series. My most recent manuscript has been a finalist in the 2023 Colorado Prize for Poetry, a semifinalist for the University of Wisconsin Press' 2023 Brittingham and Felix Pollak Prize in Poetry, a semifinalist for YesYes Books' 2023 Pamet River Prize, and a finalist for the 2025 Omnidawn Poetry Open Book Prize.
Cuntry is about 90s country music and internet pornography. I’ve always felt comfortable writing—and talking—about sexuality, and have done so in my poetry, book reviews, and essays (like this one, published at Longreads). My goal is to help you feel comfortable with the full extent of your self-expression—the messiness, the fear, the excitement of going, well, all the way.
My prose poems have been published widely, and included in Prose Poetry: An Introduction (Princeton University Press, 2020), international prose poetry anthology, Alcatraz (Gazebo Books, 2022), and the anthology of ekphrastic poetry, Dancing About Architecture (MadHat Press, 2024).
Are You in?
Please fill out the form below, and I’ll email you an invoice and next steps.
Payment secures your place in the workshop — for a more intimate experience, the groups will be kept to a small number.