Our next writing workshop

Starting March 28, 2022

Let's write about friendship.

For writers of all levels

Here at HerStories we’ve long been obsessed with friendship and friendship stories. We’ve published two anthologies about female friendship, had our own friendship advice column with current podcaster Nina Badzin, and just published a personal essay series on our website on the topic.

In fact, it was a blog discussion back in 2012 about a memoir on friendship — Susanna Sonnenberg’s She Matters: A Life in Friendships — that brought Jessica and Stephanie together. (For more on our HerStories friendship origin story, listen to Jill Smokler’s podcast interview with us.)

Simply put, we love reading, writing, and discussing friendship.

What will happen during the workshop?

During the five weeks, you’ll read essays about friendship, respond to prompts, and write your own personal essay.

Here’s what will happen…

For the first three weeks, you'll receive a reading (an article or essay) and a writing prompt on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
Discuss the articles in our private community and respond to the prompts throughout the week. Respond to as many or as few as you wish.
The last two weeks of the workshop will be spent revising and workshopping an earlier piece of writing from the first three weeks.

Throughout all five weeks, you’ll get personalized feedback from us and from other writers in the workshop.

Here's what you can expect...

WRITING PROMPTS

Our writing prompts will ask you to dig deep into your experiences of friendship throughout your life. Post your writing in a private space just for workshop members.

Writing Models

Learn about the qualities of effective personal essay and article writing from the class readings. We'll discuss each reading's content and craft.

ZOOM MEETINGS

Participate in weekly Zoom meetings to chat about your writing and your friendships. You'll also be able to participate in livestreams and private message and chat in our private membership community.

WORKSHOP A FINAL PIECE

Revise and get feedback on your writing. By the end of the workshop, you'll have a final revised personal essay.

We are Jessica and Stephanie.

We are the co-founders of the HerStories Project.

Jessica Smock and Stephanie Sprenger are the co-founders and co-editors of the HerStories Project, a publishing and writing community for midlife women.

We met online as “blogging friends” and then founded the HerStories Project in 2013. We’ve published five essay collections, led dozens of writing groups, and have taught writing to hundreds of female writers over the past several years.

It’s been our joy to work with midlife writers just like you. Our lives of juggling family and jobs and writing are much like yours. We know what it’s like, as midlife women, to want to carve out space in our lives for just ourselves.

What else can you tell me?

You'll get three months of free access to the HerStories Writing Circle, a new private membership community.
Throughout the workshop, Jessica and Stephanie are available for email support and for help within our Writing Circle.
You'll be able to go "behind the scenes" with Jessica and Stephanie as they discuss the elements of a compelling friendship story.

a 5-week writing workshop

$189

Please let us know if you need financial help to enroll in the workshop. We are committed to making sure that our workshops are accessible to writers from all economic backgrounds.

Do you have questions?

Here are a few questions we often get:

When are the Zoom meetings?

We have writers from many different time zones. Our Zoom meetings are generally on weekdays at 1 p.m. (Eastern). But if these times do not work for writers, we are flexible and schedule additional meetings.

How much time should I expect to spend on the workshop?

A lot of this will of course depend on your own schedule, but a good estimate might be at least 2-3 hours total each week. You should expect to spend about 30 minutes responding to each of the three prompts each week, and then you can expect to spend more time giving feedback to other writers and reading the assigned readings.

What if I get behind?

It is impossible to “fall behind.” We are a community of midlife women. We completely understand that life gets in the way and that our writing sometimes takes a back seat to other priorities. If you miss a writing prompt (or two or three or many more), we understand.

What happens when I sign up?

When you sign up, you’ll get immediate access to our HerStories Writing Circle, our private membership platform. Introduce yourself inside the Circle and look around! The workshop will begin on March 28th in a private space inside the Writing Circle. You’ll get full instructions on March 28th.

Our next writing workshop

Starting March 28, 2022

Let's write about friendship.

For writers of all levels

What will happen during the workshop?

Here's what you can expect...

We are Jessica and Stephanie.

We are the co-founders of the HerStories Project.

What else can you tell me?

a 5-week writing workshop

$189

Please let us know if you need financial help to enroll in the workshop. We are committed to making sure that our workshops are accessible to writers from all economic backgrounds.

Do you have questions?

Here are a few questions we often get:

Choose the best plan for you...

Join us

$189