Writing Workshops
Personal Essay Workshop – Saturday, October 2, 2021
I’m doing a workshop on October 2 at 7 pm EST on how to write a personal essay. The workshop will be held on Zoom. Mastery of this format is handy — not just for high school English class but also for personal statements for university admissions and scholarships or pitching your writing to publications or even simply blogging online. I’ll talk about how to develop your voice and interesting ways to start your essay. I’ll share with you some of my most successful pieces, including the essay that got me into law school. You can also bring some of the essays you’re working on for my comment and feedback from other participants. If you are unable to make it on October 2, you can still register and a recording will be sent out to you.
CA$50.00
My favourite thing to do in the whole wide world is to read and write. If left to my own devices, the world would never see me. Thank goodness I am seldom left to my own devices. 😉
Online
Most of my writing can be found on my personal blog and on Medium, where my writing has been curated and included in publications like The Startup. I also do food writing on my food blog at simonethecurvycook.com.
Off-Line
My essay, “The Unpopularity of Being Black and Fat and in Pop Culture: A Case Study on Gabourey Sidibe” will be published in Bodies In and Out and With and Through Fat, edited by Drs. Jill Andrew and May Friedman, to be released December 2020.
“It is a collection of narratives about what it’s like to survive in a weight-hating world. It resists the ways that marginalized bodies are being written and researched and put into other people’s ideas about our existence… The stories in this book are celebratory and are painful. They look at intersections of race and queerness; they destabilize womanhood by presenting a range of possible female embodiments. They explore issues of disability and madness. The full range of possibilities that are collected here give a picture of what it means to live in a society with strong and powerful messages about size, about normalcy, about what a moral and healthy life and body look like.”
I’ve also written for:
- The New York Times – “Alone”
- Collegiate Quarterly
- Jamaican Gleaner (North American Edition)
- Insight Magazine
I was also a contributing writer at the www.theRichest.com in the Business/Jobs and Salaries section, with a focus on legal careers. Additionally, I was a ghostwriter of blog articles on issues in personal injury law for a prominent law firm in Toronto, and I used to be the editor of my church’s monthly newsletter.
All that said, I am available for and actively seeking freelance writing work.
Recognition
I try to write with wit, humour, and an authentic voice. It should be noted that my writing has not only touched my peers and colleagues — it has touched celebrities as well.
Jeannie Mai, a host on the Emmy award-winning daytime TV talk show “The Real,” made reference to a blog post I wrote about her in 2018:
The blog post to which Jeannie Mai makes reference can be found here. I subsequently wrote another post thanking Jeannie Mai and that post went viral (over 1000 shares on Facebook).
Another blog post that I wrote about Caster Semenya was picked up by the CBC. The CBC wrote about it and interviewed me for Alan Neal’s “All in a Day” radio show.
I’d love to put my creativity to work for your publication or project. Let’s talk.