Finish it Returns!
A few times across the years, I have run a beloved course one student renamed Finish It!
It’s a unique, year-long book-revision course. In 2026, it's back!
Here's What You Get
A full professional critique of your manuscript with detailed marginal notes as well as a thorough end note from me (Elizabeth).
Reading and notes from all the members of your group.
A 1 – 1.25 hour group conversation about your book, led by me.
A half-hour private consultation with me about your book (including making your plan for completion).
Craft/ editorial insight checklists for each critique so you can apply ALL the workshop lessons to your own book.
The incredible learning opportunity of reading and discussing other writers’ books with them. People learn SO much from this aspect of the course about improving their own books. Become a powerful editor of your own work!
Monthly dynamic, 1-hour “Making Progress” check-ins and laser coaching that deep dive into all aspects of writing and revising a book, keeping you going step-by-step to the completion of your book.
A team of talented writers also working through the revision process--their insights, shared struggles and triumphs, and the power of multiple hearts and minds working together.
And always, the Story Makers community, with 24/7 forums for any questions you have, a weekly goals check-in, and easy-to-access materials, tips, and inspiration.
Overview of the year
Sessions are held on Sundays, 10:00 am - 12:15 pm PT (via Zoom, recorded) monthly, January - December. The schedule is available below.
The first hour of our monthly meeting is a “Making Progress” session: check-in about your individual goals and progress and get laser coaching on any obstacles or issues. So many tips and insights come out of hearing people at all levels of deep revision and finalization of their drafts. After this session and a half-hour lunch break, we meet to discuss one full manuscript. Through the year, about one every two months, you will read each writer’s manuscript in your subgroup--three others besides your own. (You are welcome to read and attend the critiques of the other group, or come only for the opening hour check in on those months.)
For each manuscript we read, I will create a checklist that shows you how to apply what you learn from reading this other writer’s work directly to improving your own. It is often much easier to understand story problems, character development issues, and even questions of style when we see them in others’ work than it is to spot them in our own. This workshop environment will provide incredible growth for every writer involved, and with my coaching, you will become a powerful editor of your own work. This is the most important tool a writer can have. It will free you in your early drafting as well as save you at the end.
My professional, thorough edit will include marginal notes, a detailed endnote and, following our workshop and your chance to review my comments, answers to any questions in a private half-hour conversation with me to be scheduled any time up to three months after the course wraps.
Where Do You Fit In?
If your book is almost ready, you should ask to be slotted early in the course. If your book is well launched, but you need the fabulous push of a real-life deadline, sign up for one of those later months. Those who receive their critique early will spend the months after they get notes making the final changes and beginning the submissions process. Those who go later will finish a strong draft ahead of workshop, supported by the power of the group, culminating in a critique that will enable you to finalize revisions after the course ends, including complete notes on the manuscript and a clear final revision plan we make together.
TESTIMONIALS
What others are saying
"I finished a whole book"
“It was such an incentive to have a "due date" and know that someone else was going to read my work and give me feedback. I finished a whole book and really felt like I'd accomplished something. Having all the support along the way was invaluable.”
"Courage and Compassion rule"
"There is so much to learn about writing and about revision in this class, but I would say that the biggest benefit--what a new participant can expect--is to find a place where courage and compassion rule.”
"Great class"
“Great class for a writer serious about honing her craft.”
"Great class"
“Great class for a writer serious about honing her craft.”
"Edits worth the whole class"
“Elizabeth's endnotes/edits are worth the whole course!”
I am limiting the group to 8 (2 sub-groups with students responsible for reading three other manuscripts; you are welcome to read any others and, if you have read the manuscript, to attend the discussion). If I have more than 8 interested, I will run a lottery .
Want to be first in the know when enrollment opens? Sign up below!
Clarify the structure of your book, strengthen each scene in your book and polish each sentence in your book. We will edit and discuss your submissions as a way to understand the art of editing story, scene and sentence. Leave with a complete, personalized diagnosis of what to focus on in making your writing professional and excellent.
This is more than a full MFA program offers. Some people pay $50,000 - $150,000 for this kind of attention and focus on their writing, and few of them leave with a book ready to deliver to agents.
Investment:
One-time payment: $4975
12 Monthly Payments Plan: $425/ month for 12 months
PLEASE NOTE: Edit of up to 70,000 word manuscript is included in the price; if you want to submit more, the cost is $0.06/word beyond 70k. The maximum word count, with additional fee, is 95k.
“I have learned so much from Elizabeth's editing/commentary on my own and other people's work that when I go to writer's workshops, I can't find a single lecture that can tell me something I don't already know.”
“Thank you so much for offering this and having the incentive to offer innovative and different approaches that bring my writing to new and better levels.”
LIMIT: 8
If we have more people than available places, I will run a lottery, or possibly two lotteries, so I end up with a balance of folks who are ready to go in the early months and folks who will go in the later months. Please don't fill this out unless you are certain to commit if selected by the lottery. (Think, winning a million dollars, NOT Shirley Jackson!)
If you know you want this opportunity, submit the letter of interest form for your space now!
Warmly,
Elizabeth
Meet Elizabeth Stark Powers
Elizabeth Stark Powers, a novelist (Shy Girl: FSG, Seal Press, finalist for the Ferro-Grumely and Lambda Literary Awards) and award-winning filmmaker (including producing Lost in the Middle: Winner of Best Feature, Broad Humor 2019; a Festival Favorite, Cinema Diverse), co-hosts the podcast Story Makers Show, co-directs and teaches at Sonoma County Writers Camp and Story Makers Academy, and writes novels, and a Substack to inspire writers.