Welcome to The Lab, a monthly accountability and coaching program designed to spark your creativity, draw you to the page, and keep you writing. It doesn’t matter your genre or level of experience, The Lab is about being in community with other writers online, both in real time and asynchronously, and committing to your art. The Lab is a place to experiment and play, form friendships with other artists, and develop your ideas from inception to final draft.

Here’s how The Lab works

Don’t write alone – You get access to weekday silent writing sessions via Zoom hosted by Brian Gresko, from 8-10am Eastern Time
Generate new ideas – Each month, join Jiordan Castle on Zoom for Power Hour, a generative writing session guaranteed to inspire; these sessions will be recorded if you can’t make it in real time
Find Mentorship – Each month, join Brian Gresko on Zoom for The Creative Accomplice, a q&a kvetch sesh about writing and publishing; these sessions will be recorded if you can’t make it in real time
Build community – You have access to Writing Co-Lab’s Discord server, where writers connect, chat, and share resources
Experience gentle guidance via weekly emails of inspiration
Present your work at a quarterly open mic session on Zoom

Our winter 2026 sessions of The Lab will run from:

Monday Jan 19th to Friday Feb 13th

Creative Accomplice, Jan 26; Power Hour, Feb 9

Monday March 9th to Friday April 3rd

Power Hour, March 23; Creative Accomplice March 30

Enrollment for each session costs $50, or save by enrolling in both for only $90.

Enrollment opens January 1, 2026

Here’s What Past Participants Have Said

“A simple and supportive space to work in, and the live classes were also excellent and worthwhile. It helped me set a morning routine of writing that I can continue. I look forward to joining future sessions.”

“Brian, the host, is pitch perfect with being supportive, kind and positive, without being distracting for a quiet writing group. I felt really lucky to have the cohort we had, lovely people. I also very much appreciated the one-off prompt events Jiordan conducted!”

“Having this space has been so helpful for me, truly. Whenever I see friends and they ask what’s going on, it’s the only positive shift in my life I can think of in these dismal times.”

Meet The Lab’s Facilitators

Jiordan Castle is the author of Disappearing Act, a memoir in verse. Her poetry and prose appear in The New Yorker, The Millions, The Rumpus, and elsewhere, including the anthologies Best New Poets and What My Father and I Don’t Talk About. Originally from New York, she lives in Philadelphia with her husband and their dog.

Brian Gresko (he/they) is the author of You Must Go On: 30 Inspirations on Writing & Creativity. Their work has appeared in Poets & Writers Magazine, Slate, The Atlantic, The Rumpus, and many other publications. They are a co-founder and co-director of Writing Co-Lab.