It sounded straightforward enough: from January to June, for 24 weeks, three hours a week and two full Saturdays; through numerous readings, six formal assignments, and several in-class exercises we would learn the craft of non-fiction writing. Meeting as strangers, our first exercise was to describe the moment when each of us first knew we wanted to be a writer. The responses, when shared, were revealing. We shared the same desire, but it sprang from very different places and expressed itself in different voices.

That first night, a bond began to be forged that would strengthen week after week as we wrote, revised, critiqued, and read aloud the stories that mattered to us, trying to find the right words to make them matter to a future reader. Under our instructor’s guidance, we experimented with beginnings and endings, worked hard to find the “nut” of each essay, and squeezed each piece of writing down to its essentials. Strangers became friends. Students became writers.

June came too soon. We didn’t want to stop writing or stop meeting. Although the class was ending, we were just beginning. Straightforward? No. Worthwhile? Absolutely. The stories within this anthology are but a handful of those that came to life every Thursday evening in a small classroom on the University of Washington campus. We hope you enjoy them.