
Andrea A. Firth
Writer, Editor, Educator
Co-Founder, Diablo Writers' Workshop
Editor at the Brevity Blog
Contact: andrea@andreaafirth.com
Join Me for
Submit It Now!
Thursday
March 23
Details Below
New Classes Enrolling Now
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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. Inspired by a handful of old family photos, Andrea is working on a collection of essays, Examples of her recently published work are listed with links below.
My Classes--Enrolling Now
On the Spot
Writing, Sharing & Feedback
4 Tuesdays, April 4-25/$225
9:30-11:30 am PST--FULL
Each week you will respond to inspiring prompts and share your work. Fiction and nonfiction welcome. By the end of week two you will have more than one piece in progress and support on your "starts" to keep you going. We'll add a workshop on weeks 3 and 4 with craft-based feedback and a written critique. Talk about revision too.
The World of Lit Mags: How to Get Published and More
Thursday, April 20
3:00 - 5:00 pm PST
Learn the steps to follow and the tools and resources to use to submit and be accepted in literary magazines. Gain the motivation and encouragement to get started and unstuck. Create a clear and manageable plan to follow and be introduced to range of potential literary outlets for your writing. There will be ample opportunity to ask questions too.
Writing Short: Flash
Fiction and Nonfiction
Thursdays, May 4 thru 25
3:00 - 5:00 pm PST/ 6:00 - 8:00 pm EST
Flash— short prose less than 1,000 words—is hot! We will read a range of shorts to see how to engage readers in a small space. We’ll explore how voice, language, POV and structure contribute, as well the fun twist often found in flash. Freewrites and two workshops. Learn how to tell your stories in a different way. We’ll look at places where you can submit your shorts too.
Free Meet Ups on Zoom
Wednesday Co-Writing
Inspiration. Motivation. Community
9:00 am - 10:15 am PST
FREE. On Zoom
Spend an hour writing in community. I alternate co-hosting with my colleague Janine Noel. After a brief check in, you'll get down to writing (audio muted, camera on or off). Generate new work or revise a work-in- progress. We will provide a prompt each week for those looking for a start, but this time and space is for you to write what you choose. No need to register in advance.
Submit It Now!
Time and support to help you get your work out to lit mags
Every 4thThursday,
Next session: March 23rd
3:00 - 4:15 pm PST
FREE. On Zoom
Gather with other writers and dedicate an hour to submitting your writing to lit mags. After a brief check-in, I will introduce you to a great tool or resource to make the submission process easier and more fun. From there you will get to work and I will be available for questions. At the close we’ll see how the hour went and celebrate hitting SUBMIT. No advance registration needed.
Selected Essays and Journalism
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
Flash: The Art and Craft of Writing Short
A Q&A with Grant Faulkner
Brevity Blog, February 15, 2023
Exploring the Possibilities of Artificial
Intelligence in Creative Nonfiction Writing
Brevity Blog, February 1, 2023
Watch Out for the Unexpected
Brevity Blog, October 14, 2022
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