In Latin, the word 'essay' originally meant to 'test the quality of'. To write an essay is an act of attempt; of experimentation.

In Finding Your Truth Through Personal Essay, writers will attempt to explore and understand a happening, occurrence, or event (personal or public) with words and through different literary devices, namely extended metaphor, and perspective.

In each class, students will briefly discuss an excerpt from an essay that exemplifies the device being used, then complete a writing exercise to build upon the piece of writing they begin in the first class. By the end of the course, writers and the subject they are exploring will be both transformed and transformative by their own findings — and truth.

Open to beginner and intermediate writers.

All class meetings will be held via Zoom. The link to join your Zoom classroom will be provided on the morning of your class. Please check spam folders if you do not receive an email confirmation upon registration. For more information on how to download or use Zoom, please click here.

 Meet Your Instructor:
Mia Brabham

Mia Brabham is an author and staff writer at Shondaland.com. Her debut book, Note to Self, is a short collection of personal musings that is in the hands of readers all over the world. Her fiction and nonfiction work has been published in Cosmopolitan, Huffington Post, Thought Catalog, and in California’s Emerging Writers: An Anthology of Fiction and Gardy Loo Literary & Art Magazine. When she's not working, Mia is most likely gathering a group of friends for karaoke, planning her next day trip with her fiance, Dan, or writing essays for her newsletter and blog. You can find her on Instagram and Twitter, or at bymiabrabham.com.

Course Takeaways

• How to craft a personal essay
• Knowledge of the form and various writers of the craft
• A handful of helpful writing exercises
• Background in various writing devices, including detail, extended metaphor, and perspective
• A supportive community and opportunity to grow relationships, as well as your writing

Course Expectations

• There will be reading during class, some of which may be out loud by students.
• There will also be writing exercises that students can share at the end of class, or workshop a portion of their working essay at the end of the course
• All of these are optional; none are required.

Course Skeleton

• Week One: Purpose of Essay/Detail and Specificity
• Week Two: Metaphor/Audience and Tense
• Week Three: Workshop