WORKSHOPS
In January 2023, I teamed up with Brian Gresko and Amy Shearn to create the Writing Co-lab, an online teaching cooperative. Check out Writing Co-lab for my upcoming workshops and a wide variety of class offerings from other wonderful instructors!
WORKSHOPS 2022
ONE WEEKEND, ONE STORY: REVISION INTENSIVE
NEW! NEW! NEW! SATURDAY-SUNDAY NOVEMBER 19 TH & 20TH 2PM-4PM EST
SATURDAY-SUNDAY OCTOBER 15 & 16TH 12 PM-2PM EST. (SOLD OUT) Got a fresh, unpolished draft in the hopper? Or maybe you have a story already on submission that's not quite landing. You have a nagging sense something's missing but you're not sure what. What you could use are a select band of keen, honest readers. In this advanced peer-directed workshop, students will offer and receive thoughtful, sensitive, and extensive feedback on a story of up to 20 pages. This 2-day live intensive on zoom will energize, nourish, and provide fresh strategies and tools for revision, with an eye toward publication. Plus, you may end up with new beta readers 4 Lyfe. 6 people max.
6 WEEK ADVANCED FICTION INTENSIVE TUESDAYS MAY 3- JUNE 7 7:30-9:30 pm EST. This is a high level class for the dedicated fiction writer looking to polish work for publication in an intimate and supportive setting. This is a live class on zoom requiring active participation, with an accompanying slack for prompts, craft materials and additional community discussion. The focus of this course is revision. Each student will have the opportunity to receive thorough critique and feedback (on stories up to 20 pages) 3 times. 6 people max. SOLD-OUT.
4 WEEK FLASH INTENSIVE: WEDNESDAYS JULY 13-AUGUST 3 7-9 pm EST. This will be a flash intensive for the dedicated writer looking for extensive feedback, and a strong, nourishing community of high level writers in which to generate and polish short pieces for publication. This is a live class on zoom requiring active participation, with an accompanying slack for prompts, craft materials and additional discussion. Each student will be receive 2 critiques, of up to 2 flash pieces per critique. 6 people max. SOLD-OUT.
* Workshops will culminate in an (optional) public zoom reading of recent work.*
TESTIMONIALS
I haven't been a participant in a workshop in about 10 years, but I needed something or someone to push me out of my own dead space. We're all wide-eyed and eager early on but writing life is a whole thing and it can get you in bad ways. Every week, we brought our pages and every week, Sara brought the same level of enthusiasm and knowledge. She's your best cheerleader with a razor-sharp editorial eye. Your story hit an emotional wall? She has a craft talk for that. Your plot falls off a cliff? Here's a few recommended stories similar to yours that might help you. This workshop was the most high-caliber group I've been with in all my years of writing. My community has grown. I'll never get to lie in the grass outside my childhood home but this workshop felt pretty close. I'm re-energized. I feel lighter. I'm excited again.
— STEPHANIE AUSTIN
Working with Sara Lippmann has been an incredible experience. As my editor and teacher, her commentary on my writing has been generous, heartfelt and encouraging. Her command of language and extensive knowledge of literature is evident and contributes to her ability to express her thoughts with precision and clarity. She is thorough, detailed and responsive. I fully trust that my writing is in capable hands when in hers.
— SUSAN FARWELL, MFA CANDIDATE AT THE WRITER'S FOUNDRY
Sara Lippmann teaches with heart. She invests in her students and their stories like no writing teacher I've encountered before. Her feedback is honest, insightful, and delivered in a way that always builds up, never tears down. She creates the space for people to bring their full selves to the page, to create work that is raw, to take risks. Sara's workshop has made me a better writer.
— SHAYNE TERRY
I spent 2+ in Sara’s workshop and it was a joy and honor from beginning till end. Her warmth, her generosity, and most of all, her detailed, constructive, feedback on my work were invaluable in developing the tools to continue my writing journey.
— AHARON MESHCHANINOV, MFA CANDIDATE AT HUNTER COLLEGE
Signing up for Sara Lippmann’s Short Form Fiction class was one of the best things I ever did for my writing. The classes were so fun and welcoming, and I came away with several stories marked up with Sara’s thoughtful and incisive feedback. With this new confidence and support, I decided that maybe I’d see if I could get into an MFA program. With Sara’s advice and encouragement, I applied using two stories I’d workshopped in our class, and was offered a fully-funded spot at the University of Montana. In other words, the class literally changed my life. I can’t recommend highly enough!
— DAVID QUEEN
Sara Lippmann will grow your writing, period. She’s supportive when it’s needed, and she’s direct as an exacto knife when it’s needed. Her casual expertise creates a safe community where you’ll be taken on your own terms but also pushed. Sara has an encyclopedic knowledge of every story or novel ever written and she will prescribe stuff that meets you at your personal edge. Oh and she’s a hilarious genius brave writer to boot! Her class makes my life better.
— BRIAN ZIMBLER
Sara Lippmann is the best creative writing teacher/editor I’ve ever worked with and runs the most effective workshop I’ve ever taken part in. My work has moved farther in the seven months I’ve worked with her in many years prior. Her questions, comments are always spot on, and mostly free of dogma and pedagogy which I try very hard to avoid. I cannot recommend her strongly enough. I have recommended to Sara that she increase her rates. I have paid far more for less value.
— LISA J. TRIGG
Sara Lippmann made me love workshops again. Her generosity and expertise created a safe and stimulating environment, where we were challenged to read closer, listen better, and trust our own vision. Her readings, prompts, and craft discussions were wonderful, and I felt a renewed energy to write and revise. I am so grateful for her guidance and the community she fosters.
— MARCELLE HEATH, AUTHOR OF IS THAT ALL THERE IS?
Sara is the best writing teacher in the multiverse. I have never met a bigger-hearted, more intuitive reader, nor do I know anyone with such vast knowledge of novels, stories, and craft essays. Her comments are generous, her instincts spot-on, and she'll diagnose exactly what's holding your stories back without being prescriptive. Here is someone with a contagious passion for storytelling, so bring her your stories, and yours, and yours.
— JOSEPHINE TOLIN
Sara's Flash Fiction Intensive was the best thing I could have done to shake off the rust and get inspired to create short work again, after taking a break for several years to focus on long-form work. In addition to leading her workshop with honesty, trust, and encouragement, Sara packs her Slack channels full of bonus materials like recommended reading, craft essays and prompts. Add in the quality writers she attracts, and you end up with incredible value. Highly recommended!
— JOE KAPITAN, AUTHOR OF CAVES OF THE RUST BELT