In this essay writing workshop, Rachel Kramer Bussel will lead you through writing exercises to help you craft marketable essays to submit to newspapers, magazines, websites, and journals. Through analyzing Rachel’s successful essay submissions on some of life’s most intimate subjects, including love, sexuality, body image, and hoarding, to publications including Salon, SELF, and the Washington Post, and popular published essays in prominent publications, we will explore what makes an essay powerful, how to move beyond narrating your memories to dig deeper and make your essay memorable, and how to hook readers from the first to last sentence.

Attendees will receive:

• Six in-class writing prompts for essays designed to appeal to editors; these can be completed and submitted for publication, if desired

• List of suggested reading and resources

• Submission tips from editors of personal essay publications

• Personalized feedback on work shared in class

• Lifetime access to Rachel’s curated list of 50+ essay markets and writing guidelines, which is periodically updated

• Invitation to private essay writing class alumni Slack channel

• Open submissions at any time to Rachel’s personal essay publication Open Secrets, which pays $100/essay

Rachel has written dozens of personal essays, columns, and opinion pieces (op-eds) inspired by personal experience for outlets including Business Insider, BuzzFeed, DAME, The Goods, HuffPost Personal, The Independent (UK), Oldster, Redbook, Refinery29, Salon, SELF, Shondaland, The Village Voice, Washington Post, and more. She is also the author of the book Sex & Cupcakes: A Juicy Collection of Essays.

NO REFUNDS.*

Registration is limited to 20 people. This site will be updated when sales are closed.

*In the unlikely event of an emergency on my part requiring me to cancel or reschedule, I will refund all payments.

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

“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