Have you always wanted to write a personal essay but you don’t know where to start? Or have you dreamed of seeing one of your essays published in the New York Times or Salon? Then this five week live online personal essay writing class is for you. Using fun in-class exercises, we’ll help you transform your bad blind dates and visits from unruly parents into insightful, compelling revelations. Best American Essays alum Tammy Delatorre (Best American Essays, Good Housekeeping, LA Times, Vice) will show you how to make your essay relatable, targeted for the right publication, and tantalizing to readers.

You’ll learn about the essential elements of the personal essay: the hook, angle, tone, and epiphany, the structure of personal essays, and the different types of personal essays. Tammy will share her secrets for finding what newspapers, magazines and websites are looking for; what strikes them as cliché, and what they find different and interesting. We’ll workshop one of your essays until it’s perfect. By the end of class, you’ll have a kick-ass essay that is ready to be submitted for publication and a plan of where to submit it. Your goal will be to sell your essay within a couple of weeks after the class ends! You’ll be well on your way to joining the ranks of the 860 Writing Pad Alums (51 of whom got into the NY Times) who have sold essays and articles with Writing Pad’s help!

You can read some of the essays here: New York Times Modern Love #1,New York Times Modern Love #2, New York Times Modern Love #3,New York Times Modern Love #4, New York Times Modern Love #5, New York Times Modern Love #6, NY Times Well # 1, NY Times Well # 2,  New York Times Well #3, New York Times Well #4, New York Times Well #5, New York Times Well #6, New York Times Well #7, New York Times Well #8, New York Times Well #9, New York Times Well #10, New York Times Well #11, New York Times Well #12, New York Times Well #13, NY Times Style, Los Angeles Magazine, New York Magazine, Bon Appetit, Boston Globe, Brain, Child, Daily Beast, Cosmopolitan, DAME, Elle #1, Elle #2, Elle #3, 5280,Huffington Post #1,Huffington Post #2, Huffington Post #3,LA Times #1, LA Times #2, LA Times #3, LA Times #4, LA Times #5, LA Times #6, LA Times #7, LA Times #8,The Lily #1 (Washington Post), The Lily #2 (Washington Post), Marie Claire #1, Marie Claire #2, Men's Journal, Morning News #1, Morning News #2, Narratively, Nerve, Role Reboot, Salon #1, Salon #2, Salon #3, Salon #4, Salon #5, Salon #6, Salon #7, Salon #8, Salon #9, Salon #10, Salon #11, Salon #12, Salon #13, Salon #14, San Diego Union-Tribune, San Francisco Chronicle, Self #1, Self #2, Teen Vogue,  The Beauty Bean, Shine, The Date Report, The Smart Set, Vice, Vogue #1, Vogue #2, Vogue #3, Washington Post #1, Washington Post #2, Washington Post #3, Washington Post #4, Washington Post #5, Washington Post #6, Washington Post #7, Whole Life, Wired.        .