Writing Co-Lab

You want to get your butt in that chair and write like a motherfucker, but it’s hard. Writing is solitary, and it can be all too easy to feel dismayed or even despondent about giving yourself time and permission to let what is inside of you come out on the page. Hold my beer – I’m here to help. I’ve been at it for seventeen years now! And while it’s a tough road, it’s a rewarding one too, especially if you have the right support and company along the way.

As part of this accountability class, you’ll start each weekday with a few hundred words of inspiration, encouragement, and commiseration – as well as the occasional prompt – delivered to your inbox. In addition, I’ll host an hour long zoom every Saturday from noon to 1pm Eastern time, during which we’ll discuss our progress, I’ll answer your questions about the writing and publishing process, and we’ll possibly share some of our work aloud. These sessions will be warm and encouraging in tone, and they’ll be an opportunity for you to talk honestly with other writers about this strange and wonderful work we do.

The writing itself? That’s up to you to do based on your schedule. Or, you can join our daily West Coast Ungodly Writing Club weekdays from 8:30 to 9:30 AM Eastern / 5:30 to 6:30 AM Pacific, where we will write together. The Ungodly Writing Club is pay what you wish, with all proceeds going to our Writing Co-Lab scholarship fund, which provides tuition for writers in financial need.

About the Instructor

Brian Gresko (he/they) is a writer based in Brooklyn, where they co-run Pete’s Reading Series, the borough's longest running literary venue. Their work has appeared in Poets & Writers Magazine, Slate, The Atlantic, Longreads, The Rumpus, and many other publications. Also a stay-at-home parent, they edited the anthology When I First Held You: 22 Critically Acclaimed Writers Talk about the Triumphs, Challenges, and Transformative Experience of Fatherhood. They received their MFA in fiction from The New School, and was the first in their family to attend college, at Oberlin.

Student Testimonials

Brian is such a thoughtful, enthusiastic, experienced instructor. He facilitated each session with consistency and fluidity to meet the needs of the team. Brian modeled feedback for us very well and did a great job of demystifying the writing world from his seat. I’m glad I took this course. – former Creative Nonfiction Foundations student

Brian is a caring, kind, and intuitive teacher. In addition to being genuinely excited about writing and teaching it as a craft, he's responsive to questions and generous with his time. I learned a lot in the nonfiction class I took with Brian, and left with a deeper understanding of how to create emotional connections with a reader, follow the arc of a narrative, and choose details that move the story forward. – Luna Adler

I came in wanting to produce at least two chapters from my next haiku book, but instead I got the tools I needed to write an entire next book—one that is going to be challenging, but that I'm going to be really proud of. In Brian's class, I felt like I “leveled up,” learning creative strategies to organize and make my work more readable and interesting. I gained an excitement and enthusiasm for writing that I didn't have before - an energy that I plan to keep flowing now that the class is done! – Kristen Lem, author of Haiku to Fall in Love To

I took Brian's workshop in non-fiction and worked on two pieces with the class, while also reading and giving feedback on students' work. That experience reignited my writing process in a serious way. I continued to work on the second piece from the class with Brian one-on-one, and he encouraged me to submit it for publication. He helped me understand the submission process, and tracked down contacts at the publications on my short list. That piece kinda blew up on the Internet and the next thing I know I have a literary agent and am working on a full-length book project. Will you get an agent by taking Brian's class? Unclear. But you will gain an honest understanding of both your strengths and tics as a writer, and hopefully a kick in the motivation pants while you're at it. – Christina Wallace