Today on our show, we bring you a story by Dana Shavin, who submitted her essay to the podcast. When it came in, we were blown away. The writing is so smart and well-crafted. In this episode, we talk about the difference between situation and story and we also discuss why callbacks are effective.

Dana Shavin is an award-winning humor columnist for the Chattanooga Times Free Press, and the author of a memoir, The Body Tourist and the collection of essays, Finding the World: Thoughts on Life, Love, Home and Dogs.

Dana’s essays and articles have appeared in The Sun, Oxford American, Garden and Gun, Travel + Leisure, Alaska Quarterly Review, Fourth Genre, Today.com, Appalachian Review, Psychology Today, Bark, The Writer, and others. You can find more at Danashavin.com, and follow her on Facebook at Dana Shavin Writes. 

A Transcript of this episode can be found on our network page.

If you're looking for a writing coach to help your student with college application essays, contact Allison Langer.

Writing Class Radio is hosted by Allison Langer and Andrea Askowitz. Audio production by Matt Cundill, Evan Surminski, and Aiden Glassey at the Sound Off Media Company. Theme music is by Justina Shandler.

There’s more writing class on our website including stories we study, editing resources, video classes, writing retreats, and live online classes. Join our writing community by following us on Patreon. 

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Join the community that comes together for instruction, an excuse to write, and the support from other writers. To learn more, go to www.Patreon.com/writingclassradio. Or sign up HERE for First Draft for a FREE Zoom link.

A new episode will drop every other WEDNESDAY. 

There’s no better way to understand ourselves and each other, than by writing and sharing our stories. Everyone has a story. What’s yours?