The Forever Workshop

Endless education for writers.

Maurice Carlos Ruffin won a 2026 Guggenheim. Since 2021, he's run Substack's Sitting in Silence, a beloved guide for creators and writers. He wrote National Bestseller The American Daughters, The Ones Who Don't Say They Love You and We Cast a Shadow.

Author of Muscle Memory (Autofocus Books, forthcoming), First Love (The Dial Press, 2024) and Negative Space (SFWP, 2021)

I report on the publishing industry as part of a paid newsletter that's not on Substack because it launched years before Substack emerged (see janefriedman.com). More personal quandaries are written about here.

I write about the creative process and technology through an esoteric pop culture lens & help writers and artists develop their unique voice.

I'm a writer, editor, and educator based in the SF Bay Area--and I love everything about essays--reading, writing, editing and teaching them. I'm an Editor at Brevity Blog and CoFounder of Diablo Writers' Workshop. Learn more at www.andreaafirth.com

Justine Payton is an MFA candidate at the University of North Carolina-Wilmington and a published writer. An avid hiker and ecofeminist, she explores the themes of resilience and discovering wonder in the small things.

Kelly Grace Thomas, poet, writer, & coach, provides the mentorship of an MFA without the price tag. She’s the author of two poetry collections: Future Tense & Boat Burned. Her poems have appeared in The Sun, Adroit, the Los Angeles Review, and more.

Karin Gillespie is the author of nine novels (Simon and Schuster, Henry Press and self-published) and has an MFA in Creative Writing from Converse College.

Writes fiction and non-fiction, teaches, mentors, blogs @ This Itch of Writing. New novel The Bruegel Boy due November 2025

SVP/Literary Agent Folio Literary Management. MA Creative Writing, PhD in Publishing, wife, mom, book nerd. Member aalitagents She/Her \ud83c\uddec\ud83c\udde7\ud83c\udde7\ud83c\uddf8\ud83c\uddf3\ud83c\uddff\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8 linktr.ee/erinniumata

On Substack: @Writer-ish and @Drafts, Deals & Detours. Also: Bestselling novelist, published in 11 languages. And: Micro prose author, essayist, editor, teacher. Super proud of: Poetry Society of America fellowship. Writes from: Island of Hawaiʻi.

The Grief Notebook. Grief writer and reader, reluctant expert. Language obsessed, especially when there are "no words for this." Writing into the hard thing. Memoir forthcoming 2028.

fiction editor at Okay Donkey, co-person at Lit Match Collective, Fellow at various classy institutions

Shome Dasgupta is the author of The Seagull And The Urn (HarperCollins India), and most recently, Cajun South Brown Folk (Belle Point Press). He lives in Lafayette, LA, and he is represented by Teffanie Thompson of Falkin Literary.

Rachel Dillon's poetry appears in The Slowdown, the Academy of American Poets' Poem-a-Day, Pleiades, Poet Lore, and elsewhere. A former high school English teacher in NYC public schools, she is Managing Editor of Ploughshares. (rachelmdillon.com)

Derek Askey is a senior editor at The Sun.