This episode is about how to write a near perfect essay. The story was written by Banning Lyon who writes about a harrowing childhood experience in a psychiatric ward. His essay was previously published in The Washington Post. After we discuss Banning’s story, you’ll hear an interview with the author on what his process was like, the difficult emotions writing the memoir brought up, and the cold call he made to find his agent.

Banning Lyon is the author of The Chair and The Valley, which will be available June 2024. His writing has been featured in The New York Times and The Washington Post. He currently lives in the San Francisco Bay Area and works as a backpacking guide in Yosemite National Park.

Writing Class Radio is hosted by Allison Langer and Andrea Askowitz. Audio production by Matt Cundill, Evan Surminski, Chloe Emond-Lane, 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. 

A Transcription can be found here.

If you want to write with us every week, you can join our First Draft weekly writers groups. You can join Tuesdays 12-1 ET. You’ll write to a prompt and share what you wrote. You can also sign up for Second Draft. This group is for writers looking for feedback on a more polished draft for publication. If you’re a business owner, community activist, group that needs healing, entrepreneur and you want to help your team write better, check out all the classes we offer on our website.

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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?