Meghan Sterling | Writers.com https://writers.com/instructor/meghan-sterling Your voice is a gift. Share it. Thu, 08 Jan 2026 11:25:12 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.8.3 The Only Submission Workshop You Will Ever Need https://writers.com/course/the-only-submission-workshop-you-will-ever-need-2 Fri, 28 Nov 2025 14:48:33 +0000 https://writers.com/?post_type=product&p=49427 Learn to navigate the literary world and have your poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction published—then read and celebrated.

The post The Only Submission Workshop You Will Ever Need appeared first on Writers.com.

]]>

You’ll Leave This Course With:

  • A clear understanding of how literary journals operate, and how to submit your writing to them.
  • A plan of action you can follow to put your poetry, fiction, or nonfiction out into the world.
  • A completed writer’s bio you can submit alongside your work to literary journals.
  • A tiered list of literary journals that are right for your writing, so you know your work is finding the right home.

Submitting your work and getting published can be daunting. You may wonder:

  • How do you begin?
  • Where should you send your work?
  • What pieces should you send?
  • How often should you send them?
  • How might you build on your successful submissions?
  • And of course: How do you deal with all the rejections that come with the territory?

Fear no more. This is the ultimate workshop in creating your unique submission plan to establish yourself as a serious writer. In this two-part course, we will break down the components of a literary submission, demystifying it and making it a part of your literary life.

You’ll create a roadmap for developing a robust submissions strategy that is appropriate for your publishing goals in the coming years. In addition, you’ll receive curated journal and publisher recommendations. Leave encouraged and ready to take on the submission process!

By the end of this course, you will write multiple tiers of your bio and a cover letter to accompany all submissions. You’ll come away ready to begin your submission process.

What’s Included:

When you join this course, you’ll get:

  • 2 90-minute video recordings of Meghan Sterling’s advice and strategies for publishing with literary journals.
  • Complete text transcripts of the video materials.
  • 2 detailed handouts that help you navigate the large world of literary journal publishing.
  • Lifetime course access.

100% MONEY-BACK GUARANTEE

If for any reason you are not satisfied with the course, you may request a full refund within 14 days, no questions asked.

 

 

 

The post The Only Submission Workshop You Will Ever Need appeared first on Writers.com.

]]> Hived Like Honey in Your Head: The Art and Craft of Writing Confessional Poetry https://writers.com/course/hived-like-honey-in-your-head-the-art-and-craft-of-writing-confessional-poetry Tue, 06 Aug 2024 08:36:13 +0000 https://writers.com/?post_type=product&p=22431 Discover the power and intimacy of confessional poetry, and unlock your authentic voice. 

The post Hived Like Honey in Your Head: The Art and Craft of Writing Confessional Poetry appeared first on Writers.com.

]]>

I am no more your mother
Than the cloud that distills a mirror to reflect its own slow
Effacement at the wind’s hand. 

—Sylvia Plath, Morning Song

Confessional poetry is both searing and intimate, a poetic style that is a direct expression of one’s thoughts and feelings. The “Confessional Poets” of the 1950’s through the 1970’s, who include Sylvia Plath, Anne Sexton, Robert Lowell, Sharon Olds and many others, were some of the first poets to mine “the hive” of the mind, to explore, often brutally, the truth of human existence. Today, confessional poetry is experiencing a comeback, with poets such as Diane Seuss, Kaveh Akbar, Rupi Kaur, and Nayyirah Waheed revitalizing its style of frankness and openness. Confessional poetry can be a form of poetry as personal catharsis, often moving the reader with its vulnerability.

Confessional poetry can be “confessional” in the traditional sense, with the poet exploring the complexities of their own experience, but it can also be abstract, exploring universal themes of intimacy and identity. Regardless, confessional poetry is always defined by its honesty and emotive qualities.

Through writing prompts, reading, and kind feedback, we will work together to generate poetry that explores our truths, and learn poetic techniques such as anaphora, epistrophe, persona poems, poetic juxtaposition, and a fresh approach to imagery for discovering our authentic voices.

Who this course is for:

Poets at any stage of their writing—beginner, intermediate or advanced—looking to deepen the scope of their writing practice and for a safe, inclusive community to explore the power of vulnerability in their poetry.

Learning and Writing Goals

Learning Goals

In this course, you will: 

  • Acquire a fresh set of prompts and ideas to inspire your craft.
  • Get comfortable trying new things while expressing yourself in poetry in a supportive and safe environment.
  • Establish a regular writing schedule to keep generating and exploring new work.
  • Expand tried and true methods and branch out into exploring new ways to tell your truths.
  • Develop a fresh practice to look deeper into the self for inspiration.
  • Receive advice as to journals to send your work out into the world.

Writing Goals

In this course, you will: 

  • Write 5-15 new poems (1-3 per week)

Zoom Schedule

We will meet on Zoom on Wednesdays from 7-9 PM Eastern. 

Weekly Syllabus

Week One: Confessing

Readings: Sharon Olds’ “I Go Back to May 1937”  and Anne Sexton’s “For Eleanor Boylan Talking with God”

Freewriting: What would you like to confess if you could with impunity?

Assignment: Write a poem where you confess—it could be to a thought, to a wish, to a dream, etc. Start with the line—”It’s time I told you”….where the you can be yourself, the reader, a loved one, etc.

Homework: Finish poem for next week’s class

Week Two: Self-Portraits

We will look at exploring our relationship to ourselves, focusing on imagery, learning new ways to look at ourselves within and without.

Readings: Chen Chen’s poem, ”Self Portrait as So Much Potential”, “Self-Portrait as Anne Sexton’s Typewriter” by Hilary King.

Freewriting: Who am I—use 5 senses—what images define you?

Share and give feedback on homework poems.

Assignment: What is an object in your current life or past you identify with? Write a poem projecting yourself as that object. Title it, “Self-Portrait as ….”

Homework: What is something you have struggled to love about yourself? Write a poem celebrating it as a Self Portrait Poem, 14-25 lines in length and reading student work.

Week Three: Persona Poems

We will explore anaphora and epistrophe as a way to create structure in our poems.

Readings: Maggie Smith’s “Good Bones.”  Margaret Atwood, “Pigsong”, Patricia Smith, “Katrina”

Freewriting: Consider people in your life who have loomed large—begin with—I thought you were…—this does not need to be shared

Share and give feedback on homework poems.

Craft Lesson: Anaphora and Epistrophe

Assignment: Choose a character from history—a former president, a famous actor, a queen, an inventor—write a poem making their confessions. Use the line—I have something to tell you.

Homework: Write a poem using someone you have known as the persona—use anaphora and epistrophe 3-5 times.

Week Four: Autobiography

We will be focusing on elements of our own autobiography and how to weave them into poems. Readings: Diane Seuss, “A Sonnet” and Kaveh Akhbar’s, “Forfeiting My Mystique”

Freewriting: Remember a day in your life as a child. Try to write down as many details as you can—use all your senses, the mundane and the memorable.

Share and give feedback on homework poems.

Assignment: First—make two lists—one of mundane elements of your life, one of things that have shaped you. Weave them together. Use the following as anaphora 3-5 times : Once I…..but now…..

Homework: Finish the poem from class—or rework– 20-30 line poem. Student work reading.

Week Five: List Poems

We will be looking at our childhood memories and new ways of telling them, trying out a list poem.

Reading: Danez Smith’s, “Alternate Names for Black Boys”.

Freewriting: Childhood. Grandmother. Dinner time. School bus. Winter. Summer. What are some memories/images/songs/ that come up?

Share and give feedback on homework poems.

Assignment: Write a poem that begins with a color and zooms in on one particular memory—all the senses. Use anaphora to give it shape.

Homework: Write a 14 line list poem based on a memory of family—how can where you end each line create tension/drama/convey the emotions you felt during the experience?

Week Six: Celebration and Grief

We will be looking at ways to celebrate and grieve experiences in our lives (sickness, loss, growth, milestones) through our poetry.

Readings: “Morning Song” by Sylvia Plath and “The Wild iris” by Louise Gluck.

Freewriting: What do we learn from joy? What do we learn from grief? What more do you want to learn?

Share and give feedback on homework poems.

Assignment: Write a 14 line poem about the last time you saw something stunningly beautiful. Then write a 14 line poem about the last time you saw something terribly sad. Can you weave these poems together?

Why Take a Confessional Poetry Course with Writers.com?

  • We welcome writers of all backgrounds and experience levels, and we are here for one reason: to support you on your writing journey.
  • Small groups keep our online writing courses lively and intimate.
  • Work through your weekly lectures, course materials, and writing assignments at your own pace.
  • Share and discuss your work with fellow writers in a supportive course environment.
  • Award-winning instructor Meghan Sterling will offer you direct, personal feedback and suggestions on every assignment you submit.

Hived Like Honey in Your Head: The Art and Craft of Writing Confessional Poetry
Notify me when this course is scheduled

The post Hived Like Honey in Your Head: The Art and Craft of Writing Confessional Poetry appeared first on Writers.com.

]]> The Deep Dive: Poem As Self-Discovery https://writers.com/course/the-deep-dive-poem-as-self-discovery Mon, 12 Jun 2023 13:50:20 +0000 https://writers.com/?post_type=product&p=17482 Through poetry, we can access our deepest truths. Use the poem as a roadmap to self-discovery in this poetic deep-dive.

The post The Deep Dive: Poem As Self-Discovery appeared first on Writers.com.

]]>

I came to explore the wreck.
The words are purposes.
The words are maps.
I came to see the damage that was done
and the treasures that prevail.

—Adrienne Rich, Diving into the Wreck

There are truths that exist only below the surface, ones we discover when we unearth things that we have experienced, that have changed us. There is power in capturing these truths, and in owning our stories. In this 8 week workshop, we will be writing poetry about things that exist below the surface—memory, desire, family, love, secrets, dreams, wishes, disappointments, heartaches. Often, it is through writing that we discover, as Adrienne Rich writes, the treasures that prevail.

Through writing prompts, reading, and kind, loving feedback, we will be working together to generate fresh poetry that explores the depths of what it is to be human feeling grief and joy, hope and powerlessness, how to take back our power over painful events through writing poetry, and learning poetic techniques such as anaphora, epistrophe, poetic juxtaposition, and a fresh approach to imagery for mining the riches of our lives.

Who This Course is For:

This workshop is for poets at any stage of their writing—beginner, intermediate or advanced—looking to deepen the scope of their writing practice and for a safe, inclusive community to explore the power of vulnerability in their poetry. 

Learning Goals

In this course, you will:

  • Gain new skills to employ in your writing practice.
  • Acquire a fresh set of prompts and ideas to inspire your craft.
  • Get comfortable trying new things while expressing yourself in poetry in a supportive and safe environment.
  • Establish a regular writing schedule to keep generating and exploring new work.
  • Expand tried and true craft methods and branch out into exploring new ways to tell your truths.
  • Receive advice on which journals to submit to and send your work out into the world!

Writing Goals

In this course, you will:

  • Develop a fresh practice to look deeper into the self for inspiration. 
  • Write at 8-24 new poems, at least 1-3 per week.

Weekly Zoom Schedule

We’ll meet on Zoom once a week, from 7 PM to 9 PM Eastern on Wednesdays.

Class Syllabus

Week 1: Self-Portraits

We will be looking at exploring our relationship to ourselves, focusing on imagery, learning new ways to look at ourselves within and without, inspired by Chen Chen’s poem, “Self Portrait as So Much Potential,” and Meghan Sterling’s “Self-Portrait with Quilt and Synesthesia,” we will be writing our own Self-Portrait Poems.

Assignment: Self Portrait Poem 14-25 lines in length and reading fellow student work before the first class.

Week 2: Sleep and Dreams

We will be focusing on structuring our poems around our sleep and our dreams. We will use anaphora and epistrophe to help us do so. We will be looking at examples by Edward Hirsch and Sharon Olds. We will write, “In the dream…” poems.

Assignment: Write a poem about sleeping and/or dreaming that employs both anaphora and epistrophe 3 times each—14-25 lines in length. Student work reading.

Week 3: Prayer

We will be focusing on poetry as prayer, hope, wish, praise, looking at “Prayer for My Unborn Niece” by Ross Gay and “God’s Grandeur” by Gerard Manley Hopkins.

Assignment: Write a 20-30 line poem that begins with the line, “Every poem is a prayer.” Student work reading.

Week 4: Memory

We will be looking at our childhood memories and new ways of telling them, trying out a list poem by looking at Danez Smith’s “alternate names for black boys” and lyric poems by looking at “The Dead” by Susan Mitchell.

Assignment: Write a list poem about childhood joys/sorrows and a 14-line poem about your memory of going to bed as a child. Student work reading.

Week 5: Rewriting Definitions

We will discuss one of the great powers of poetry, which is the ability to rewrite the past, and redefine/reframe experiences into new ones. One way we will be discussing that is by talking about redefining phrases and words we have known that we want to reclaim.

Assignment: Write a poem about new beginnings/beginning again. Student work reading.

Week 6: Space

We will discuss the magic of utilizing white space when writing poetry. We’ll cover he way we can employ white space to signify pauses, breaks in time, and new meanings. We’ll also be discussing and practicing making new line breaks in our work to discover effective ways to tell our stories.

Assignment: Part 1: Write a 14 line poem based on a memory of family—how can where you end each line create tension/drama/convey the emotions you felt during the experience? Part 2: Take a poem you have already written and change the line breaks—end early, end later—mess it up. See what happens. Student work reading.

Week 7: Celebration and Grief

We will be looking at ways to celebrate and grieve experiences in our lives (sickness, loss, growth, milestones) through our poetry. Looking at “Untitled” by Jason Schinder and “The Wild iris” by Louise Gluck.

Assignment: Write a 14-line poem about the last time you saw something stunningly beautiful. Then write a 14 line poem about the last time you saw something terribly sad. Can you weave these poems together? Student work reading.

Week 8: Snapshot/Still Life Poems

We will be writing Snapshot poems, or “Still Life” poems—a poem that holds an image in its center. We will look at examples by Diane Seuss, Susan Rich, and Meghan Sterling. We will write the poem together and share as a class. We will also discuss journals to send work to.

Why Take a Poetry Writing Course with Writers.com?

  • We welcome writers of all backgrounds and experience levels, and we are here for one reason: to support you on your writing journey.
  • Small groups keep our online writing courses lively and intimate.
  • Work through your weekly lectures, course materials, and writing assignments at your own pace.
  • Share and discuss your work with fellow writers in a supportive course environment.
  • Award-winning instructor Meghan Sterling will offer you direct, personal feedback and suggestions on every assignment you submit.

Click the Enroll Now button below, enter your details on the Checkout page,
and reserve your spot in the course.

Original price was: $545.00.Current price is: $465.00.Enroll Now

The post The Deep Dive: Poem As Self-Discovery appeared first on Writers.com.

]]> The Only Submission Workshop You Will Ever Need https://writers.com/course/the-only-submission-workshop-you-will-ever-need Wed, 25 Jan 2023 15:31:41 +0000 https://writers.com/?post_type=product&p=16002 How do you get your poems in literary journals? This two part webinar shows you the ropes for getting your work published, read, and celebrated.

The post The Only Submission Workshop You Will Ever Need appeared first on Writers.com.

]]> Ever.

Submitting your work and getting published can be daunting. How do you begin? Where should you send your work? What pieces should you send? How often should you send them? How might you build on your successful submissions? And of course, how do you deal with all of the rejections that come with the territory?

Fear no more. This is the ultimate workshop in creating your unique submission plan to establish yourself as a serious writer. In this two-part course, we will break down the components of a literary submission, demystifying it and making it a part of your literary life.

Participants will create a roadmap for developing a robust submissions strategy that is appropriate for their publishing goals in the coming years. In addition, participants will receive personal journal and publisher recommendations. Leave encouraged and ready to take on the submission process!

Note: We will be recording this session of The Only Submission Workshop You Will Ever Need to share with future students as a recorded course. In this recording, only Meghan’s name and video will be visible. We may include Q&A exchanges in the recording if they seem to support student learning. In this case, your voice would appear on the recording (and Meghan may refer to you by your first name), but not your full name or your video. We will not include any student writing shared in the recording. 

Zoom Schedule

This course will meet on Mondays October 6th and 13th, from 7-8:30 P.M. U.S. Eastern Time.

Course Syllabus

Class 1: The Basics
  • Understanding how submissions works.
  • How publishing leads to more publishing.
  • Choosing your submission manager (QueryTracker or another option).
  • How to “follow the bio.”
  • Determining criteria for submission.
  • How to research and choose journals to submit to.

Homework: Select 3-5 pieces to create a packet in class (for poetry). Select 1 piece for submission (for fiction and nonfiction).

Class 2: Organizing your submission process
  • Selecting what to submit.
  • How to hone pieces for submission and create packets.
  • Writing your Bio/Cover Letter. Looking at your pieces like an editor. How to deal with rejection–why it isn’t about you or your work.

In this class, you will write multiple tiers of your bio and a cover letter to accompany all submissions. You’ll come away ready to begin your submission process.

Why Take a Submission Course with Writers.com?

  • We welcome writers of all backgrounds and experience levels, and we are here for one reason: to support you on your writing journey.
  • Small groups keep our online writing courses lively and intimate.
  • Work through your weekly lectures, course materials, and writing assignments at your own pace.
  • Share and discuss your work with fellow writers in a supportive course environment.
  • Award-winning instructor Meghan Sterling will offer you direct, personal feedback and suggestions.

 

The Only Submission Workshop You Will Ever Need
Notify me when this course is scheduled

The post The Only Submission Workshop You Will Ever Need appeared first on Writers.com.

]]>