Andrea A. Firth
Writer, Editor, Educator
Co-Founder, Diablo Writers' Workshop
Editor at the Brevity Blog
Contact: andrea@andreaafirth.com
Join me for the
Wednesday Co-Write
9:15-11:35 am PST
FREE on Zoom
New Class: Quiet Writing
A Forever Workshop
Details Below
Submit-it-Now
back in 2025
Bio
Andrea A. Firth is a writer, editor, and educator based in the San Francisco Bay Area. She is cofounder of Diablo Writers’ Workshop where she teaches creative writing, provides editorial consulting, and supports a vibrant writing community. She is also an Editor for the Brevity Blog. Andrea received her MFA in Creative Nonfiction Writing from Saint Mary’s College of California where she also teaches. Her writing focus is personal essay, and in 2021 she was a finalist for the Missouri Review's Perkoff Prize. She was a longtime contributor to Oakland Magazine and has published hundreds of articles in news outlets and magazines. Andrea is currently working on a collection of essays, Examples of her recently published work are listed with links below.
Quiet Writing--A Forever Workshop
4 Weeks, Self-paced, On Substack
First Lesson Free, Lots of Engagement
There are significant moments in everyone’s day that can make literature.
That’s what you ought to write about. –Raymond Carver
Quiet writing is story or narrative that reads quiet but still has the requisite tension and conflict that drives good storytelling. Some people/characters live wild lives, face huge upheavals, or tackle death-defying adventures, and these stories do attract readers. But many writers have stories to share that are driven less by stormy and flamboyant events and plot twists and more by the subtle, simple happenings and struggles of the everyday, which can be powerful reads that draw us in as well. (Consider novelist Marilynne Robinson, short-story writer Raymond Carver, and essayist Abigail Thomas as examples.) In this self-paced, 4-week class, we will read and analyze several examples of quiet writing (nonfiction and fiction), explore the craft and technique used, and work on our own quiet writing through prompts and exercises too.
Ideal for those who write personal essay, flash, memoir, or fiction. The course will be posted on Substack in May. Weekly lessons will be delivered to your inbox. You will have ample opportunity to pose questions and comments and will receive timely responses from me. The first class is free Registration will open soon. Check back for details.
Here's how it works:
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Over eight lessons, I take you on a deep dive into what makes a personal essay work. We cover ideas, memory, structure, dialogue, point of view, meaning making, craft, revision and more.
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You will also work through a six-step prompt that will guide you to get all of the key parts of your essay on the page in a single sitting.
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With your essay well underway, we'll look for the heartbeat–what it’s about and how it connects—and learn how to finetune the storytelling with good writing craft.
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Self-paced. Take on the lessons when it works for you. And at a very affordable price.
FREE Meet Ups on Zoom
Spend a couple hours writing in community. Starts at 9:15 am PST. After a brief check in, we'll each set an intention and get down to writing (audio muted, camera on or off) by 9:30 am. Generate new work or revise a work-in- progress. This is dedicated time and space is for you, and me, to write, read, research--whatever you need to support your writing life. We'll check back in at 11:30 to see how it went and then head off onto the rest of the day. No need to register in advance.
Wednesday Co-Writing
Motivation. Accountability. Community
9:15 am - 11:35 am PST
FREE. On Zoom
Co-Write is on a brief holiday break. Back on January 22, 2025
Over the past couple of years, I've had a great time gathering with other writers to work on submitting to lit mags. After a brief check-in, I introduce a tool or resource to make the submission process easier. Then we get to work submitting, and I'm available for questions. At the close we check in and see how the hour went and celebrate hitting SUBMIT. No advance registration needed. I'm talking a brief hiatus from Submit It Now! but I plan to relaunch this in 2025. Stay tuned.
Submit It Now!
Time and support to help you get your work out to lit mags
FREE. On Zoom
On Hiatus til 2025
Selected Essays and Journalism
Secret Words
Dorothy Parker's Ashes, January 2024
Broken Glass
Dorothy Parker's Ashes, January 2023
Unpacking Mom
Allium, A Journal of Poetry & Prose, Fall 2022
Fear of Infinity
Please See Me, April 22, 2022
Capturing the Final Moments of Pregnancy in a Picture
Motherwell, August, 2021
A Coyote in the Midst
The Coachella Review, Winter 2020
Old John
eMerge Magazine, Summer 2020
The Pandemic's Quiet Victim: Our Planet
The Bold Italic, July 2020
Is Video Gaming A New Addiction?
Oakland Magazine, October 2018
Craft and the Writing Life
Chasing Narrative Arc--One Writer's Path to Totality
Brevity Blog, April 24, 2024
What Columbo Taught Me About Writing Essays
Brevity Blog, March 27, 2024
The Future of CNF Writing, Editing and Publishing
in a World with AI, Interview w/Sil Hamilton
Brevity Blog, Part 1, August 21, 2023
Brevity Blog, Part 2, August 24, 2023
Crónica: The Platypus of Prose
An Interview w/Javier Sinay
Brevity Blog, September 11, 2023
The Hard as F--- List and Breakfast Sandwich
The Sub Club Newsletter, June 24, 2023
Watch Out for the Unexpected
Brevity Blog, October 14, 2022
Exploring the Possibilities of Artificial
Intelligence in Creative Nonfiction Writing
Brevity Blog, February 1, 2023
Winning at Battleship and Lit Mags--It's a Process
Write or Die Magazine, March 23, 2023
Flash: The Art and Craft of Writing Short
A Q&A with Grant Faulkner
Brevity Blog, February 15, 2023
How the Literary Journal Landscape Is
and Isn't Changing
Jane Friedman's Blog, April 26, 2022
You Always Remember Your First
Brevity Blog, April, 2022
Seven Drafts, an Interview with Allison K Williams
Catapult, December 1, 2021
What Do I Call This? How to Title a Personal Essay
Brevity Blog, September, 2021
Tomato Ready: Publishing, Patience and Pleasant Surprises
Brevity Blog, June, 2021