And We're Off!

Ellen Santasiero | October 2025

Photo by Oliver Sjöström: https://www.pexels.com/photo/man-holding-black-backpack-1223649/

"The thrill of our first class was revealing myself and beginning to see myself as a writer before such supportive, talented people.” –2025 Forge student

In my twenties, I sailed off the coast of Maine as a student on an intensive Outward Bound course. On the first day, I felt so nervous as we hauled life jackets and oars and kitted out the boats because I didn’t know what to expect of the program. Could I do everything required of me? Would I make it? Or would I have to bail?

During the Forge’s first class last Saturday, I was reminded of that day in Maine because I imagined our new cohort of creative writing students may have been feeling nervous, too. After all, every intensive course is designed to coax people out of their comfort zone so they can achieve a higher level of mastery.

We started with an easy ice breaker for introductions, just like we did at Outward Bound, except in the Forge class we learned about grammar pet peeves, GI Joes, swimming with jellyfish, and that some people, apparently, hold strong positions on the matter of top sheets.

Because we believe that the best writers possess skills in critical analysis, we asked students to start building these skills by reacting to short readings we’d sent them in advance. To calm any existing jitters, we invited them to sit in small Zoom breakout rooms so they could test out their responses with one or two others before sharing in the larger group.

Back in the main Zoom room, we were pleased to hear their comments on point of view and word pairings, and questions about titling and structure. We heard several students point out how a poet played with language and syntax, another student admire the conciseness of a two-sentence short story, and another say how listening in the breakout room helped them understand the readings in new ways.

The best part, always, of any Forge class, is when students read their writing out loud. For this first meeting, we asked them to read a 500-word piece they are especially proud of. For some, this is a big, scary step, but we can flex to meet students where they are (much like my Outward Bound instructor, who, when I announced that I would only be doing the lower portion of the ropes course, just looked at me said, “OK”). Our rationale them to read on day one? They begin to build confidence in performing their own work, and we all get to hear each writer’s voice.

Throughout, there were appearances, planned and unplanned, by pets, including one student’s magical, disappearing dog. I held my terrier up to the camera and presented all sides of him for no apparent reason, not even to me.

As for that ropes course, once I got done with the lower portion and it was time to climb to the higher level, I saw that it would be awkward for me to come down, and that the next platform up didn’t look so high anymore. I was still nervous, but I climbed up. I climbed up and up until I finished the ropes course. I felt pretty good about myself then.

I could say more about the Outward Bound analogy, but I won’t, except for the fact that by the end of that program, I had got over my nerves, and achieved way more than I thought I could.

I’m confident that our Forge students will, too.