Before the pandemic, I rarely took a writing class/workshop. My anxiety was such that I was afraid to be around new people. (I still am.) I had taken a few classes online, but they were asynchronous, meaning you logged in when you were able after the instructor posted a new assignment, and then turned in the homework by the due date.

Once Covid hit, many of the same writing studios/workshops held classes online via Zoom. These were known as live classes. You and your classmates and teacher met at the same time every week, “live.” Despite my anxiety, I was able to attend live classes. I was still afraid of new people, but the security of being on the Internet tempered that fear. I even kept my camera on. And unlike an in-person class, students can be from all over the world.

That doesn’t mean I was without anxiety, like about speaking up in class or worse, being called on. I usually felt like I had nothing important to say. One class I took was live, but instead of being held on Zoom, it was via a chat box where people typed in their comments during an allotted time. I couldn’t get a word in edgewise, so I didn’t like the format.

Here is a list of writing studios/workshops from which I have taken classes and liked (in no particular order). There are definitely more out there.

• Story Studio Chicago (live)
• Iowa Summer Writers Festival (live)
• Writers Digest University (asynchronous)
• Hedgebrook Online Writing Series (asynchronous)
• University of Wisconsin (asynchronous)

Have you taken an online writing class? What was it like? Please let me know in the comments.