(How to) Write About

Your Dog

Hone your writing voice using one

of your favorite topics: your dog

August 7, 14, & 21

4-6 pm PST

Come for just the first day, or stay for the full 3-week course.

Class includes reading list and worksheets for developing story, dialogue, and how to make strong edits.

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After several years of teaching both fiction and memoir classes, one theme kept emerging: the role that each writers’ dog played in their lives. Earlier this year, when my dog was in an accident that paralyzed him from the waist down, I realized just how important that little guy was to me — and so many students related to my story! People started including dogs in their stories more often, realizing how important it was to include their dog as a character in some capacity. The topic came up so much that I realized it was time to lean into it: a dog class, just in time for National Dog Day on August 26. 

I started this class so other writers could dive into the dog details we don’t spend much time on in other writing classes. Together, we’ll: 

  • Write the heartbreaks and the highlights

  • Describe mannerisms in a unique way

  • Uncover your most honest reasons for owning your dog 

  • Explore stories about how yours or someone else's dog changed your life

My classes offer a safe space to share excerpts from early drafts, to explore free writes that can’t fail and to ask any and all questions. As I always say: there are no stupid questions, only pretentious instructors. 

In this class we’ll examine the work of writers like 

  • John Steinbeck 

  • Shirley Jackson

  • Ann Patchett

  • Stephen King

  • Sigrid Nunez 

  • And others! 

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Start this class with an idea and end it with a completed story. Whether you’re writing about dogs for publication, for pleasure, or as a gift for a dog owner in your life, I’m excited to meet you and to get writing. 

Sign up!

I want everyone to be able to come! So, there are three tiers to this class: 

  • Day 1 only - $75

  • The basic level - $225

  • The support level: pay a little extra to help cover another writers’ spot - $300

dog reading a book about dogs