Thank you, Eli Sanders, for your class visit

Eli Sanders, winner of the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing, joined us to talk about magazine writing.

His article, “The Bravest Woman in Seattle,” covers a sensitive subject and touches on very personal issues. Eli talked to us about how he handled the interviews and how he decided to frame the story. A very talented reporter and writer, Eli was generous with his time and advice.

Here are some of the class comments about Eli:

Write your stories like Jiro dreams of sushi – be patient; use humility; learn from the best. Do it over and over until (almost) perfect.

Blog writing, says Eli Sander, means being new and different and being prepared to move fast, fail fast, move on and not be remembered. 

Remember to do the most basic thing over and over again 

Find your voice and let it sing. 

And maybe by age 85 you will have your masterpiece. 

Eli generously shared what it takes to be a writer as well as what its like to write about a difficult topic with immediacy and humanity.

Pulitzer prize winner Eli Sanders tells burgeoning journalists to master basic forms like Inverted Pyramid before trying nontraditional forms.