Today on our show, we’re talking to Lilly Dancyger, an editor at Catapult, among many things. She’s also a freelance editor at Narratively and Barrelhouse Books, a memoir writing teacher, writer, curator of Memoir Monday, and the editor of the just-released anthology called Burn It Down. We talked to her about what she’s looking for in an essay, and how to successfully pitch to Narratively and Catapult. Read this before you submit to Lilly or anywhere. 

Ariel Henley reads her essay called There’s a Mathematical Equation that Proves I’m Ugly--Or So I Learned in My Seventh Grade Art Class, which was published in Narratively. Lilly tells us why she chose Ariel’s essay.

And because Ariel’s essay spawned a book deal, we got Ariel on the phone to talk about how she went from idea, to essay, to publication, to agent, to published book. 

This episode is an inspiration to anyone looking to write their stories. 

Writing Class Radio is a podcast where you’ll hear true personal stories and learn a little about how to write your own stories. Writing Class Radio is equal parts heart and art. By heart we mean the truth in a story. By art we mean the craft of writing. No matter what’s going on in our lives, writing class is where we tell the truth. It’s where we work out our shit, and figure out who we are. 

There’s no place in the world like writing class and we want to bring you in.

Writing Class Radio is co-hosted by Allison Langer (www.allisonlanger.com) and Andrea Askowitz (www.andreaaskowitz.com). Writing Class Radio is produced by Virginia Lora, Andrea Askowitz and Allison Langer and sponsored by The Launchpad at The University of Miami, which aims to make the practice of entrepreneurship available to all students and alumni. 

Theme music is by Christine Corey. Additional music is by Justina Shandler, Ari Herstand, Andi G. Cohen, and Podington Bear.

There’s more writing class on our website (www.writingclassradio.com), Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/writingclassradio/), Instagram and Twitter (@wrtgclassradio).

If you love the lessons you get on each episode, you can get them ALL in one place--our three-part video series. You get three videos for $50. Click on Video Classes on our website.

Writing Class Radio is now open to submissions from our listeners. Go to the submissions page on our website for guidelines. We pay!

If you want to be a part of the movement that helps people better understand each other through storytelling, we’ve made it easy for you to get involved. We are now on Patreon. For $10/month you can join Andrea’s submissions conversation. We’ll support each other as we try to get our stories published. For $25/month you can join Allison’s weekly writers lunch, where you can write and share your work. Go to www.Patreon.com/writingclassradio or click here to support us.

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