The Distinguished Visiting Writer's Workshop is an amazing opportunity offered as a one-credit course every semester at Ithaca College. One writing faculty member functions as a director of the course and contacts three accomplished writers (one fiction writer, one nonfiction writer and one poet) to participate in the program. Each of the 15 students in the class attends two lectures and one reading led by each of the writers, and then chooses one writer to work with one-on-one. With this writer, the student will have lunch and a 25-minute workshop on a short manuscript of the student's that corresponds to the author's genre. Students are expected to produce reflections for each writer's visit and a revised version of the workshopped manuscript.

This course has been a great way for me to network with writers, get professional and in depth feedback on work, and witness incredible readings. Because of its value, I will take this course three times during my time here at Ithaca College, working one-on-one with essayist Wayne Koestenbaum, and poets C.S. Giscombe and Elizabeth Willis.