Fire Starters: Group Memoir Writing Program
Ready to take your writing to the next level?
The writing group of your dreams is here!
✨ 2025-26 Cohort Applications Now Open ✨
Fire Starters is a six-month memoir / personal narrative writing program and community. Fire Starters will be your answer to building momentum and the follow-through to make your writing dreams come true!
What most writers lack is time. Fire Starters exists to help you designate and commit to taking the time to cultivate a rich writing practice. From October to April, you'll immerse yourself in the writer life you dream about with a cohort of others who are wholly focused on writing and refining their writing.
Who is it for?
All stages of breast cancer welcome.
Participants may be any age now, but were diagnosed under 50. (If you were older at your diagnosis, Wildfire resonates with you, and you feel Fire Starters would be a good fit for you, reach out for a consultation.)
Ideally, you have attended a Wildfire “Sparks” Writing Workshop six-week series in the past or are currently enrolled, but not required.
What does it include?
Monthly Zooms — instruction, sharing, and critique (all recorded so you can do this on your own time as needed)
Monthly storytelling craft instructional videos
Bi-monthly motivational emails (prompts, instruction, tips, and inspiration)
Friendly, nurturing, optional group critiques and critique instruction
Monthly 1:1 coaching sessions with April (more available as add-ons)
Group feedback on a manuscript excerpt
Personal feedback on 1 manuscript by April
A Wildfire notebook and April’s favorite writing pen
Optional “Bonus” Components:
Be paired with an accountability partner to boost your productivity
“Write-in" days each month to write together via Zoom
Group art therapy session with Stephanie McLeod-Estevez (more info on this bonus below)
Private WhatsApp group for writing community and support between Zooms
How does it work?
Starting October 1st and running through March 31st, Fire Starters is an online six-month memoir / personal narrative writing program and community.
Write the essays you've been meaning to write, craft a TEDTalk or keynote speech, begin your book at last, or make serious headway on an existing memoir book project!
Each month, we will meet on Zoom for group instruction and the opportunity for sharing and critique of your writing. Between Zoom sessions, I will provide you with writing instruction as well as a personalized weekly writing plan with prompts, inspiration, and goals. In this way, you will make real headway. In fact, you can expect to write 20-200 pages during Fire Starters!
You’ll receive coaching, group critique (optional), feedback on your writing and more.
Between Zoom sessions, the private Facebook group will become your favorite place on the internet, giving you the writing community you crave.
Note: There is no requirement to write about your cancer experience, but if you choose to, you're in perfect company to do so. Fire Starters is specifically designed for personal narrative writing (no fiction, please).
2025 - 2026 Monthly Zooms:
Saturdays, 10a -12:15p PT - Writing Salons and Critique-Only Sessions: Oct 4, Oct 18, Nov 1, Nov 15, Dec 6*, Jan 10, Jan 24, Feb 7, Feb 21, Mar 7, Mar 27**
These Zooms are recorded — live participation is not required.
*We will meet just once in December due to the holidays.
** Also, a meet & greet kick off on Oct 1st.
Price
Early bird: $850 (ends July 15)
Saver: $924 (ends August 15)
Standard: $997 - registration closes Sept 15
What past participants have to say about the transformative experience they had in Fire Starters.
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“Fire Starters is a fabulous program! Thank you for providing this type of space where we can not only feel seen and heard, but collaborate and learn and grow at the same time.”
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“I love the sense of community and belonging I always feel from Wildfire. I don't have to be embarrassed or afraid or even really explain what I'm going through, everyone knows!”
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“My favorite part about Fire Starters was that it was filled with women who are very courageous and love writing.”
In Fire Starters, we craft a unique and personalized journey for each writer, providing clarity on where you are, your next milestone, and the specific action steps to reach it.
The key is to create an environment that allows you to make steady progress by breaking down your goals into manageable steps. By doing this, we empower you to focus on what matters most and experience significant growth.
The Fire Starters Road to Success
Step 1: Identify the Story You Need to Tell
It all begins with a life experience. Memoir is less about this experience, though, and more about what you did next - what you did with that experience. We’ll use targeted writing prompts, one-on-one coaching, and optional group art therapy designed for writing clarity and sacred projects to help you determine the story you will write in Fire Starters.
Step 2: Find the Right Structure For Your Story to Shine
Writers in Fire Starters have used all manner of structures to tell their unique stories from weaving together a collection of essays into one book, to creating a narrative poetry collection, to using a screenplay format, as well as traditional book structure. In Fire Starters, we’ll explore the right structure to tell your story, and go even deeper into the way your memoir project will handle the story timeline: will your story be told linearly or reverse chronologically? Will it include flashbacks, or perhaps it’s best to tell it as two storylines concurrently? We’ll help you find the right structure for your story.
Step 3: Flesh Out the Story
Now it is time to bring to life the aspects of your story that will make it irresistible to your reader. We’ll teach you how to create binge-worthy scenes, compelling characters, and raise the stakes to drive the plot forward. You’ll receive not only instruction but also personalized writing prompts.
Step 4: Focus & Write
One of the biggest gifts of Fire Starters is the time it will afford you to actually write. As a memoirist, no one can do this part for you, but we can make it easier for you by carving out time on your calendar. Each month during the program will include optional “write-in” days when you can tune into Zoom and write in community with your fellow Fire Starters.
Step 5: Refine & Critique
At the heart of Fire Starters is the group critique. Each month, you’ll have the opportunity to have your work gently critiqued by your fellow Fire Starters. You will learn how to give and accept critique in this environment. Whether you chose to have your writing reviewed by the group, or simply participate in the critique of another’s writing, this process will be invaluable to the progress of your writing. You’ll also learn tips for editing your own work and April will review each manuscript and provide feedback.
Step 6: Celebrate Your Finished Manuscript!
After six months of writing and growing stories together, we’ll celebrate the progress of the group with an optional storytelling event where you can read your manuscript aloud. If writing is the inhale, sharing is the exhale!
Step 7: Find the Right Publishing Path
Finding the right place to publish your story is an important final step of Fire Starters so that you leave the program with a clear path forward for next steps to share your story with the world (when you’re ready, of course). You’ll receive our guide to diverse publishing locations.
Price
Early bird: $850 (ends July 15)
Saver: $924 (ends August 15)
Standard: $997 - registration closes Sept 15
About Your Facilitator
Hi! I’m April Stearns, the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Wildfire Journal & Writing Community.
A lifelong writer, I landed my first memoir-based magazine cover story at just 16. From there, I worked for my college newspaper (“City on the Hill” at the University of California at Santa Cruz) and then went on to work for my local newspaper (The Sentinel, Santa Cruz, CA) following graduation. I loved the smell of the printing press and the excitement of the reporters’ bullpen! But, before long, I was lured to other writing jobs “over the hill” from Santa Cruz in Silicon Valley during the tech boom of the early 2000s.
However, in 2012, in the midst of this budding career, I was diagnosed with Stage 3 breast cancer at age 35. Four years later, while struggling to “go back to normal” and find others in similar circumstances, I took a leap of faith and launched Wildfire Journal as a way for younger people to tell and read breast cancer stories.
Since 2016, I’ve had the privilege of guiding hundreds of writers through the Wildfire writing workshops — from the fun, free monthly pop-up to the heartfelt, expressive writing-focused Sparks series to the rich memoir incubator Fire Starters — and published more than 50 issues of Wildfire Journal.
I believe strongly that helping others tell their stories has the dramatic effect of turning a traumatic cancer experience into an empowering one — and uncovering a life full of meaning. I live with my husband and teen daughter in Santa Cruz. Although I love town life after growing up on an apple orchard, I also like to get away from all the hustle and bustle whenever I can to hike in the woods with my 10-year-old border/aussie, Skye, but writing memoir remains my purest, most beloved escape.
“I created Fire Starters to really foster the community, creativity, time, and space to sink your teeth into a life-changing writing project. This is the writing program and community that I personally longed for as a writer. I want to give you the jumpstart and momentum that I craved to bring a memoir project to life.”
~April Stearns
Who is Fire Starters For?
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Fire Starters is for you if:
You have started or thought about starting a memoir.
You have experience writing in other genres and now want to explore creative nonfiction writing.
You need help with writing inspiration and/or motivation.
You crave time and support to nurture your writing goals.
You long for a community of like-minded writers.
You're ready to heal your story.
You love the idea of disappearing into a cozy writing program for the fall and winter months.
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Fire Starters might NOT be for you if:
You were recently diagnosed with cancer. (Your story is still unfolding.)
You're a seasoned, published memoirist. (You got this!)
You're a lone wolf and hate group masterminds & critique. (More power to you!)
You don't want to work on a big project, you just love expressive writing prompts & groups. (Sparks would be a better fit for you.)
The idea of a six-month commitment makes your skin crawl. (Embrace that side of you!)
Money is tight right now. (You can absolutely write your book for free!)
BONUS
BONUS
This session of Fire Starters includes a fun, hands-on (optional) art therapy session! I am pleased to announce that I've hired art therapist Stephanie McLeod-Estevez to do an art session with us for the purpose of mapping out a vision for your big project. You might know Stephanie already - maybe you've had the pleasure of doing a session with her at the Living Beyond Breast Cancer annual Metastatic Breast Cancer conference - or maybe you're completely new to the idea of art therapy or how art might help you as a writer. Either way, you're in for a treat. The session is designed to:
Give you clarity on what the project is
Address your fears around releasing your story from your body
Give you a path to follow as you move forward
Writing projects can feel very much like you're traveling through a dark forest alone. This art therapy will illuminate the trail and help you visualize the destination.
Stephanie McLeod-Estevez LCPC, is an art therapist and BRCA2+ breast cancer survivor who’s passionate about helping people live life boldly, no matter what kinds of obstacles they face. She became an art therapist after being a caregiver for her mom, who died from metastatic breast cancer when she was 26. To learn more, visit stephaniemcleodestevez.com.
Writing enables you to go deep and connect with yourself, which can be both deeply rewarding & exceptionally lonely. This group allows you to craft your story in the exquisite company of others doing the same.
Price
Early bird: $850 (ends July 15)
Saver: $924 (ends August 15)
Standard: $997 - registration closes Sept 15
*(If you are/were older than 50 at the time of your diagnosis , and still want in, email me to discuss: editor@wildfirecommunity.org)