Erika Schickel

“She gave us useful writing assignments, suggested books, lead a dynamic and enjoyable class. Class was first rate!”

“Erika was incredibly SMART, thoughtful, insightful, compassionate, cool and funny. The structure of the class was great with a master class at top, then writing exercises, followed by our pages.”

“I have truly enjoyed Erika’s memoir class. I’ve been a writer for 23 years and I still learned something new every week!”

“Erika's class was exactly what I needed. I loved her clear directives on how to build a work that others may want to read and craft a narrative that is relevant, creative, and authentic. She is no-nonsense, inspirational and the kind of kick in the ass I personally needed to keep working on something that I've wanted to articulate for years. She's also wonderfully insightful and caring. I loved working with her so very much.”

“She really understands writing and expresses her knowledge very well. Erika did an excellent job covering the elements and structure of a memoir.”

“Her feedback is really great. She makes herself available for craft questions throughout and the lessons she gives are really informative and helpful. You really feel like she is pulling for you and giving you the tools to create the best project possible.”

“She gave us useful writing exercises, very thorough and kind critiques of our work, and suggested readings. Erika was great!”

“Erika's Resistance Smackdown is like a shot of B12 into your writing patterns. It's totally energizing and inspiring.”

“Erika is phenomenal! She clearly explained the reasons why we resist writing, gave us a lot of great ideas to combat them and shared her own personal experiences to drive home her powerful points. I enjoyed how interactive and engaging this class was. Erika is both compassionate and calls us out on our excuses/BS so we can become our best writer selves.”

“Erika has a wide breadth of useful information for writing memoir. She gives vivid and helpful examples from her own experience as a writer and her process with candor and honesty. She gave good notes for edits and strengthening my material.”

“Erika distilled the craft of memoir in a way that was so digestible, identifiable, and replicable for me. I've taken memoir classes before, and she helped me see and understand things in a way that I haven't before. This class was so practical, too - do your daily pages, let's check in about your writing life, etc. I would leave class and see the things she was saying/pointing out in things I was reading. I liked that she incorporated writing exercises. I needed someone to be like, "Here's a thing, go! See what happens!"”

“She listened, paced the class well, provided a good list of reference books, answered every question, had an engaging, clear and caring communication style. She was a fun and natural teaching approach.”

“Erika broke down the craft of memoir so clearly and in a way that felt useful. Her teaching of craft translated the abstract idea of writing a book into tangible methods for actually getting the work done. LOVED HER!!! Also, I appreciate the balance of craft lesson with workshopping, so that our critical thinking is informed by a lesson.”

“Erika's exercises and overall vibe were incredibly interesting. I took away so much that I can apply every day. She was outstanding!”

“Erika was very open and supportive. She encouraged sharing, questions, and created a very safe space. My class was fun, informative, and it made me want to check out other Writing Pad classes.”

“Erika is a good listener and gives great feedback. She's so respectful of each person's journey/situation and she's very encouraging. When she criticizes something, it's always constructive. She's so smart and has a lot of credibility. This term she faced a personal tragedy with the wildfires in LA, but she was on point during class - a consummate professional. She inspires me to keep pushing forward.”