Write the personal essays only you can write — even if you’re busy, doubtful, or stuck.
Learn how to layer meaning onto lived experience so your writing rises above anecdote and becomes a personal narrative with depth, resonance, and emotional transcendence.
Your lived experiences hold essays worth writing — and this session shows you how to finally shape them into narratives with depth and meaning.
- • Discover why personal essays fail—and what adds lift, depth, and resonance
- • Use a simple process to turn moments, memories, and reflections into narrative meaning
- •• Leave with real pages and a clear path for continuing your essay with confidence
- •The live session will be held on February 18 at 7pm CST.The recorded, at‑your‑own‑pace version will be available by February 18.
Writer Clubhouse Studio Session 2: The Personal Essay
For those who have never published a personal essay
**WriterClubHouse Studio Session: The Personal Essay**
A focused, craft‑driven session designed for writers who have never published a personal essay but want to learn how to create one with depth, clarity, and meaning.
In this studio, you’ll discover how personal essays differ from anecdotes, diary entries, or life stories—and what gives an essay its lift, resonance, and sense of discovery.
Through guided exercises, you’ll learn how to shape lived experience into narrative meaning rather than summary, commentary, or moralizing.
This session gives you:
• a clear understanding of what makes a personal essay work
• a simple process for uncovering material that surprises you
• tools for layering reflection onto experience
• a structure you can reuse for future essays
• real pages drafted during the session
If you’ve ever thought, “I’m not sure where to begin,” this session gives you your beginning—and the momentum to keep going.
The Secret Sauce: The IN and OUT Method
Award-winning writer Amy Lou Jenkins MFA has developed a revolutionary approach specifically for writers with life wisdom and complex responsibilities. The IN and OUT Method works by:
Going IN to identify what makes you uniquely you—your passions, life experiences, and strengths as a writer
Finding the motivation, inspiration, and specific craft building and learning that is OUT in the world and bringing it into your writing life. Both the IN and OUT are needed to keep fueling growth and finished projects.
The IN and OUT Method isn't about writing like someone else or following rigid rules. It's about discovering how YOU write best, what YOU truly want to say, and creating a sustainable practice that works with YOUR life.
This isn't just another writing technique—it's a transformation in how you approach your creative life.
I've been writing for years in notebooks and kept wondering my writing seemed less than than the essays I saw in print. Then I wrote what Amy Lou Jenkins calls a "fractured essay." This easy-to-understand structure helped me to stop writing anecdotes and sermons and instead write an essay with room for the reader to have an experience. And I published my first essay!
- Lee W -48
A Real Path Toward Publication
Some of our writers choose to complete the essays they begin in this session and submit to our Voices Anthology series.
Because you’ll be learning directly from the editor who shapes that series, you’ll gain a clear sense of our editorial personality — what we look for, what we value, and how essays rise above anecdote into deeper meaning.
While participation does not guarantee publication, writers who study with us often find they have a noticeable edge when preparing work for submission. You’ll leave with a deeper understanding of how editors read, what makes an essay compelling, and how to revise with intention.
The Secret Sauce: The IN and OUT Method
Award-winning writer Amy Lou Jenkins MFA has developed a revolutionary approach specifically for writers with life wisdom and complex responsibilities. The IN and OUT Method works by:
Going IN to identify what makes you uniquely you—your passions, life experiences, and strengths as a writer
Finding the motivation, inspiration, and specific craft building and learning that is OUT in the world and bringing it into your writing life. Both the IN and OUT are needed to keep fueling growth and finished projects.
How We Work: The IN & OUT Method
Every WriterClubHouse Studio Session uses the IN and OUT Method, a simple teaching framework that helps you build strong writing from both your experience and essential craft tools.
You’ll go IN to explore moments, memories, details, and questions from your own life — the raw material of personal essays.
You’ll pull craft OUT from outside sourses by using structures, techniques, and reading‑based insights that help shape that raw material into narrative meaning.
In the Personal Essay session, you will learn how to:
***Draw insight from your experience
***Select and shape moments with intention
***Layer meaning onto the pageuse structure to create resonance and lift
It’s a practical, repeatable way to keep your writing moving forward, and it’s the foundation of every studio session we teach.
It’s a practical, repeatable way to keep your writing moving forward, and it’s the foundation of every studio session we teach.
This isn't just another writing technique—it's a transformation in how you approach your creative life.
"I’d been writing in notebooks for years and couldn’t understand why my pieces felt flat. Then I wrote what Amy Lou Jenkins calls a ‘fractured essay.’ This structure helped me move beyond anecdotes and sermons and create a real essay — and I published my first one!"
— Lee W., 48
"I’ve now published three personal essays in national publications."
— DM, 67
What You'll Receive
The Live Session Access and/or Recorded Session
We offer 12 live sessions a year. Join one or join all or engage your writing life with our at-your-own- pace sessions.
The Writers Studio Session
Complete with writing exercises, craft teaching, and your opportunity to start your writing engine.
Recording Access for 90 Days
Revisit the session as many times as you need during the 90-day access period to deepen your understanding and implementation.
Our "Genuine Value" Guarantee
We want you to have a genuine opportunity to experience the value we've promised. If, within 7 days of the live session or your purchase (whichever is later), you find we did not deliver the session we described, simply:
- Email us at AL@JackWalkerPress.com
- Let us know how it did not meet the value we outlined
- We will process your refund promptly
This refund policy applies only to Studio Session 1-3: Alignment; and the two sessons on the personal essay. Subsequent sessions are non-refundable.
We're confident in the transformation this session will create, but we want you to feel completely secure in your decision to join us. Offering these sessions as refundable allows you to try out the sessions.
P.S. The stories inside you matter. The wisdom you've accumulated through decades of living deserves to be preserved. But time is passing, and without a clear path forward, those insights might remain locked inside you. If you havent taken that sesson, consider taking it.
Studio Session 1:
Alignment offers that path—a way to finally bring your unique voice to the page in a sustainable practice that works for YOUR life. For just $9.99, you can take the first step toward the writing life you've always wanted. Don't let another year slip by with your most important words unwritten.
Frequently Asked Questions
How will this studio session help me when other writing approaches have failed?
Unlike generic writing advice, Studio Session 1: Alignment addresses the root cause of why midlife writers struggle—misalignment between who you are and how you approach writing. The IN and OUT Method is specifically designed for writers with life wisdom and complex responsibilities. It works by identifying your authentic voice and natural strengths, then creating a sustainable practice aligned with your actual life circumstances. This fundamental alignment is what makes everything else work.
How much time will I need to commit to make this effective?
The live studio session is 90 minutes, and we recommend setting aside an additional 30 minutes afterward for immediate implementation. Beyond that, the beauty of the alignment approach is that it works with YOUR life and schedule—not against it. Many participants find they need just 15-30 minutes 3-4 times weekly to maintain momentum once they're properly aligned. Others with bigger projects and shorter timelines work in ninety minute sessions, never missing more than a day at a time. Remember: consistent small steps in alignment are far more effective than sporadic marathon sessions that leave you exhausted.
Will this work for me if I'm not a "real writer" or haven't written seriously before?
Absolutely. In fact, those who haven't been formally trained often benefit most from the learning to layer meaning . Your life experience and wisdom are far more valuable assets than technical writing skills, which can be learned. The In/Out process helps you leverage your unique perspective—something that can't be taught. Many of our most successful participants started exactly where you are now.
What if I can't attend the live session in Febrary
While we'd love to have you join us live for the interactive elements, we understand life is complicated. Your registration includes 90-day access to the full session recording, which you can work through at your own pace. Many participants actually report deeper insights when they can pause, reflect, and repeat sections of the recording. All bonuses are still included with your purchase regardless of whether you attend live.
I have so many ideas but struggle to finish anything. Will this really help me complete a project?
If you can jot down a scene from a memory that has meaning for you and you have some thoughts on that scene, you can learn to write an essay with a focus on giving your reader an experience.
What Science Tells Us About Midlife Creativity
Research from the University of Chicago's Center on Aging reveals a fascinating paradox: while cognitive processing speed may decrease with age, creative problem-solving and meaningful insight actually increase in midlife and beyond.
This phenomenon, termed "crystallized intelligence," explains why many renowned writers produced their most significant works after 40:
- •Toni Morrison published her first novel at 39 and won the Nobel Prize for works written in her 50s and 60s
- •Frank McCourt published "Angela's Ashes" at 66
- •Laura Ingalls Wilder published her first book at 65
- •Raymond Chandler published his first novel at 51
According to Dr. Gene Cohen, former director of the Center on Aging, the combination of life experience and reduced concern about others' judgment creates "a perfect storm for creative expression" in midlife.
This research confirms what we've observed in hundreds of writers: our age isn't a liability—it's your greatest creative asset.
The Time for Your Words Is Now
You've lived a rich, complex life.
You've gathered wisdom that can only come from experience.
You have stories that deserve to be told.
But time is passing, and without a clear path forward, those insights might remain locked inside you forever.
Studio Session 2 Writing the publishable personal essay offers a way to finally bring your unique voice to the page through spefic frameworks.
For just $15, you can take the first step toward the writing life you've always wanted.
Don't let another year slip by with your most important words unwritten.