Scholarship Short Story Cohort

WRITING, COACHING, CRITIQUE, and COMMUNITY

Join Mary Robinette Kowal for a transformative six-month writing experience, designed to help you learn the craft of short stories while also generating new work. You will join a cohort of six writers through an audition process and journey with them, gaining accountability, support, and camaraderie. Each month, you and your peers will have a critique session with MRK as you work to write three short stories and polish them for submission to markets.

This workshop is specifically designed for folks with disabilities and goes at a slower pace to allow time to address pain points and accommodate individual needs. Besides that, it is identical in content to the usual short story cohort.

This program is a small group experience, and admission is granted through an application process.

For 2025 Mary Robinette is offering a scholarship cohort for people with disabilities that runs from July through January

(head over here for the regular cohort details and application link)

Upcoming Cohort Dates*

January 29th 2025 – April 30th 2025: Wednesdays from 12pm to 2pm Mountain time

June 2025 – August 2025: Wednesdays from 3pm to 5pm Mountain time (Applications Open)

July 2025 – December 2025: Scholarship Cohort – on Tuesdays from 3pm to 5pm Mountain time (Applications Open)

October 2025 – December 2025: Dates & Times not yet determined

*applications currently open for the June -August 2025 cohort

Next Cohort: What to Expect

On July 14th and 15th: you will meet the rest of your cohort and take Mary Robinette’s Short Stories Explained. This is a two-day class with a mix of live lecture and go-at-your-own pace content, which is focused on how short stories work.

Each month, on Sundays from 9:00am – 11:00am Mountain: Make Me Write. During these sessions, you’ll be given a prompt and ninety-minutes to write the first draft of a short story. Some weeks, you will focus on practicing specific skills like dialogue or setting. Mary Robinette will be writing a story from the same prompt and will share her process after the session with you.

Every month you have one to two meetings of your cohort. These two hour sessions will either be a Critique, Revision, Unlocking, or Social time. The Critique sessions are the only mandatory requirements, but the others are highly recommended if you want to get the full experience of the cohort. We understand that on occasion you may have other urgent life things that will make it difficult to attend every session so each will be recorded.

You will pick three of the stories you write to develop into stories between 2000-4000 words long and bring to the critique group. Please be aware that you are committing to read and critique six stories every other month.

Based on feedback, you’ll polish the short story and can ask Mary Robinette follow-up questions about it. The goal by the end of the six months is for you to have three stories ready for submission.

Mary Robinette's desk on which we see her computer screen that has a sample of one of the worksheets from class. It is titled "Mary Robinette Kowal's Finding a Plot Part 2"

What’s Included?

MRK’s Short Stories Explained, which is a two day class designed to teach you how to find a short story from any idea.
Three live video critique sessions with MRK and six fellow writers on your short stories.
Monthly sessions to come together to work on revision, brainstorm story problems, and talk about story elements.
Monthly writing goal setting to provide accountability for your writing.
Intimate group of up to 6 total writers; you will be expected to provide critique for your fellow writers each month.
Weekly two-hour Make Me Write live video session with a short story prompt, during which everyone will write for 90 minutes, then come back together for 30 minutes of show-your-work time where MRK or our guest writer will guide you through their writing process.
MRK’s library of pre-recorded classes on writing craft and career (70 hours of materials and always growing).
Discord Access to the Lady Astronaut Club, the kindest corner of the internet, and a wonderful community of readers and writers. You’ll have your own private channel within the LAC.
Monthly large-group Q&A session for any questions you have about your writing journey.
Monthly live-streamed writing class on craft and career. (Typically at 8:00 PM Eastern on the last Monday of the month.)

Application

There is no cost for this intimate writing coaching group. It is by application only. After the members have been accepted we will ask you to sign up for the Short Story Cohort tier on Patreon (we will tell you the timing of this so you don’t overlap with the current cohort). At the end of the cohort you will be guided through how to leave the tier.

Applications are due on may 9th by 11:59 pm PST.

Click here to go to the application form.

Apply to Join

Schedule

You will be expected to attend the two day Short Story intensive, monthly cohort meetings, three critique sessions. You also have optional access to the Make Me Write sessions during the six month period. The Make Me Write sessions are to teach you to build time in your schedule for writing, but we can make accommodations for things like vacations, body, and brain, etc.

There will be three critique times and the other sessions will either be a chance to co-work for writing or revisions, an unlocking/brainstorming session, or a social time.

If you miss a Cohort non-critique session Mary Robinette will ask you to give her a timeblock you have carved out at another time in the week to make up the writing or revision time.

The other benefits (Make Me Write, Classes, Q&As, etc.) are optional attendance.

Please note, schedules can be subject to change due to travel or emergencies; we will give as much advanced warning as possible

Short Stories Explained Schedule (all times in Mountain)

July 14th
- 10-11:30am: meet on Zoom
- 11:30 – 4pm: open time to watch a video recording at your own pace and work on some assigned writing exercises
- 4pm: meet on Zoom for Q&A and debrief
July 15th
- 10-11:30am: meet on Zoom
- 11:30 – 4pm: open time to watch a video recording at your own pace and work on some assigned writing exercises
- 4pm: meet on Zoom for Q&A and debrief

Mandatory Session Dates (3-5pm Mountain Time)