Rachel Kramer Bussel’s Events and Online Essay Writing Classes and Online Erotica Writing Classes
If you have questions about any of my classes, email me at mail at rachelkramerbussel.com with “Class” in the subject line.
For individual consulting on erotica writing and/or nonfiction projects, see my website Erotica Writing 101.
Watch my virtual Best Women’s Erotica of the Year, Volume 6 events: Love’s Sweet Arrow erotica panel and Feminist Erotica podcast panel.
SMALL GROUP ZOOM ESSAY WRITING CLASS
WRITING PERSONAL ESSAYS FOR PUBLICATION
Meets online 1-3 pm ET (Eastern Time) [1-4 pm ET on February 15] on Saturdays February 1,8, 15, and 22, 2024 with recordings sent to students afterward
In this four-week essay writing workshop, Rachel Kramer Bussel will lead you through writing excerises to help you craft marketable essays, with the goal of submitting an essay to a newspaper, magazine, website, or journal of your choosing. Through analyzing recently published essays and Rachel’s successful essay submissions on some of life’s most intimate subjects, including love, sexuality, family, body image, and hoarding, to publications including Salon, SELF, and the Washington Post, we will explore what makes an essay powerful and memorable, how to move beyond narrating your memories to dig deeper, how to incorporate research and the broader zeitgeist for reported essays, and how to hook readers from the first to last sentence.
This class will have a maximum of 12 students to ensure everyone gets to share their work and receive feedback from Rachel and their fellow students and receive feedback. No prior writing experience required. Open to students from anywhere in the world.
Each week, we will be reading essays from popular publications and working on crafting our own, with the aim of submitting a completed essay to your desired publication.
Students will receive:
Weekly essay reading
In-class essay writing prompts designed to appeal to editors
Personal feedback on in-class essay ideas
Guidance in selecting an essay topic targeted to a specific publication
2 rounds of edits for an essay of up to 2,000 words and suggestions of how to tailor the essay to fit your desired publication
Guidance on building your author brand, promoting your essays, and gaining media attention for your essays
Lifetime access to Rachel’s curated list of 50+ essay markets, editor contacts, and writing guidelines, plus essay writing resources
Option to submit an essay at any time to Rachel’s personal essay publication Open Secrets, which pays $50/essay
Invitation to private discussion channel for students
The cost of this class is $300/person (price will increase for future classes). Register here.
Registration will close once the class is full.
NO REFUNDS OR TRANSFERS WILL BE GRANTED, BUT ALL REGISTERED STUDENTS WILL RECEIVE HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENTS AND VIDEO RECORDINGS FROM EACH CLASS.
Should one of the above dates need to be rescheduled due to a personal emergency, the final class will take place on Saturday, March 1, 2025.
Questions? Email mail at rachelkramerbussel.com with “Zoom essay class” in the subject line
About Rachel Kramer Bussel: Rachel has written dozens of personal essays, columns, and opinion pieces about the most intimate aspects of her life have been published widely in BuzzFeed, CNN, Gloria, The Goods, HuffPost Personal, The Girlfriend, The Independent (UK), Insider, The New York Times’ Tiny Love Stories, Oldster, Philadelphia Inquirer, Redbook, Salon, Shondaland, SELF, Thought Catalog, The Toast, Washington Post, YouBeauty, YourTango, and elsewhere. Rachel is the editor and founder of Substack personal essay magazine Open Secrets and has spoken at NYU and The New School about essay writing. Rachel’s Refinery29 essay on sleeping in a separate bedroom from her boyfriend landed her an interview on CBS Sunday Morning. She has served as a columnist for DAME, Penthouse, The Village Voice, and Philadelphia City Paper and is the author of the book Sex & Cupcakes: A Juicy Collection of Essays.
What are students saying about my classes?
Praise for Small Group Essay Writing Class:
“Rachel gave so much of herself in her sessions and tailored her insights masterfully. I always learn from others in writing workshops and she attracted a wonderful group, each of us so different yet connected through our dedication to storytelling. The encouragement and editorial suggestions for my essay helped it sing in ways I couldn't have imagined. It's like a fully formed egg waiting to hatch into the world and there again, Rachel offered solid resources and ideas on where to pitch, including priceless templates. I'm very glad I joined.”
“I absolutely recommend Rachel’s four-week essay workshop for anyone who has something to say but needs some solid direction for getting to a finished product. Rachel’s writing expertise plus knowledge of publications guided our group, and we each had the opportunity to share and discuss. The class was a safe space as well as a working space. Thanks to the workshop, I completed and submitted my first essay—and then got right to work on the next!”
— Elaine Simon
“Rachel’s class did not disappoint. So much important information was packed into her classes, including a list of contacts for viable essay submissions. Rachel gave kind and thoughtful edits, allowing for insightful group discussions. She had ideas to make each of our essays more relevant and sellable. I would recommend her class to anyone wanting to learn how to write, and perhaps sell personal essays.”
“Rachel offered the motivation and resources I needed to find the perfect home for my essay. She's a professional at her craft!”
— Katie Hunter, Writer and Educator
Praise for Essay Writing 101:
“Rachel is an incredibly generous editor and teacher. She packs her workshops full of interesting, evocative prompts and shares so much of her knowledge and experience as a writer and editor with her students. I've taken both the essay writing 101 class and her erotica writing workshops and walked away from both feeling inspired, confident, and ready to write! — Meg Weber, author of memoir A Year of Mr. Lucky
“A writing class with Rachel is a gift. She is fantastic at creating a safe space to share all ideas and topics, providing empathy and suggesting different ‘takes’ on the subject that opened up new possibilities for multiple publishing opportunities. The icing on the cake is that she followed up the class with an email containing specific publications, guidance on how to submit, names of editors, and follow-up protocol.
In less than 3 hours and for a fraction of the cost, I walked away with more ideas and how-to knowledge than all of the other 12-15-hour courses I have taken. She is genuinely engaged in helping her students achieve success, giving the class the benefit of her experience and success!” — Susan Tager
“Rachel’s essay writing workshop was excellent! Her advice helped me identify subject matter for essays that I had never thought of. She shared a wealth of knowledge on the publishing industry, including where, how, and when to submit your work. She created a supportive environment in the workshop where we could talk easily talk about our ideas. Absolutely invaluable information, well beyond worth my time and money!” — RLW
“If you’re thinking about writing essays, Rachel Kramer Bussel’s essay class will give you the courage, the confidence and the know-how to start pitching. She brings a wealth of knowledge, resources and tips in a compact two-hour session, filled with prompts to start the writing process. Highly recommended.” — Suzanne Jefferies
“I have attended many creative nonfiction and essay writing workshops since 2020, and the one I took with Rachel Kramer Bussel is above and beyond the best I have been to. During the session, she offered personalized responses that carefully considered each of her students as serious writers and gave me the confidence to get even more stuff out into the world.
She balanced both the complexities of publishing with the intricacies of craft. The two-hour workshop helped us create new essays, edit ones in the works and send them to the world. Rachel is also a working writer who knows the ins and out of the industry, and her insight is unique, thoughtful, practical, and inspiring. So if you want to empower your words on the page, you better attend the next one.” — Gretchen Comcowich
“Here’s what I especially appreciated about the class: your coaching style that is listening for all the clues of what folks are saying and your uncanny ability to speak directly into anyone’s personal essay ideas. You had suggestions for publications, for other essays or pubs to read that were similarly themed, the suggestion of placement associated with holidays or dates.” — Teri McCormick Hinton
“Rachel shares terrific information and ideas with writers in her essay workshop. Her prompts lead in unexpected directions, and her thoughtful feedback provides new ways to structure and publish material. This workshop is highly recommended for both novice and experienced essayists.” — Stella Fosse, author of Aphrodite’s Pen: The Power of Writing Erotica after Midlife
“Rachel Kramer Bussel’s essay writing 101 is well worth the money. The class delivers both creatively and practically. I enjoyed that part of the class was independent writing in response to prompts. What I most valued though is that Rachel gives you real time feedback and brainstorms about what market and publications essays can go to.” — Jessica Harvey
“Rachel Kramer Bussel’s Essay Writing 101 packs a lot of valuable information into a relatively short class! Thanks to thought-provoking writing prompts, insightful feedback from Rachel, a wealth of resources, and an inspiring group dynamic, I left this workshop with several potential topics and angles for essays and ideas about where I could pitch them. I feel more confident than ever to start submitting!” — Angie Reiber
“I took Rachel's Essay Writing class to explore my creative side that had been long asleep. The class not only awoke my desire to write, but it opened up so many parts of my own personal story that I didn't know were hidden there! Rachel is so supportive in her guidance and so generous with tips, structure and prompts. I highly recommend working with Rachel!” — Ati Egas
“Generative, thought-provoking prompts. Straightforward, practical advice and real-time reactions to essay ideas and publication suggestions. Plus I can’t wait to read all the amazing essay ideas from the other writers in the class. Sunday well spent. Thank you so much Rachel for the invaluable information.” — Vanessa Aricco
"Both of Rachel's Erotic Writing and Essay Writing 101 classes were incredibly inspiring, informative, helpful and encouraging. The writing prompts given were very unique and fun, firing a creative writing process that has continued well after class. Rachel was incredibly supportive when students read aloud, giving excellent ideas, feedback and asked great questions to promote the process. After class, Rachel's emails have been full of incredibly useful information on publishing, insight and additional information that has been immensely helpful.” — Candice Leigh
Praise for Erotica Writing 101:
“Rachel is an excellent teacher. I found her online class to be stimulating as well as informative. I got a lot of excellent ideas for my future writing, as well as some terrific opportunities for me to explore additional ways to get my writing out there beyond my site.” — Christian Pan, independent writer of erotica