About

Hi. My name is Eyal. I’m an Israeli who lived in the US for 11 years, where people often called me Ale or Eel. Sometimes Chad (weird time [which lasted longer than I’d care to admit]). I have no preference on how you call me, though just know that I would much rather you text.

I did my MFA in Writing at Columbia University in NYC. My debut book was published last August, a memoir about how men understand, withhold, and express love. It has not yet solved the issues of toxic masculinity or gender inequality or the dating crisis, but I feel like we’re really, really close.

A couple of weeks before the book was due to come out, I was kicked out of the US. Now I’m here. Working on a novel. It’s about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the discourse in the West post-October 7th. So basically exactly like my first book, except a little more optimistic and fun.

I love: routine, cats, coffee, knowing where I’m going without having to check Google Maps. This is beginning to look like a dating app profile, which it is not meant to be, though I will ask you to continue swiping.

I started Shesh Shop because writing has taught me a ton about myself. Not just the actual content I’ve written, which has always felt therapeutic to me and deeply introspective. But the process. The literal experience of sitting and trying to fill a page with coherent thoughts.

I’ve learned how I think about the world, how I face challenges that present themselves, and how many times I can use a pen to smack myself in the forehead in a single day (I write in pen, btw, instead of typing, which is something I Highly Recommend).

So, within Shesh Shop, I hope that your experience will be the same. I hope you not only write the story you want to tell, but you better understand who you are for yourself, and who you are in this world. How you can take this process of writing and apply it to whatever else it is you do in your life.

Important: Shesh Shop will not write for you. We will provide structure, guidance, and tangible ways for you to write. We will be supportive, always, and encouraging, always. We know how hard this is.

But we will also be harsh. Think of us as a combination of SpongeBob’s mother and an Eastern European figure skating coach.

Because writing takes time, and effort, and a slightly masochistic (and self-indulging) belief that you have something important to say, and you want to say it well. And to do that, you must learn to be critical with yourself, and learn to accept criticism from others, which is a valuable skill for any facet of life in which you seek to grow and improve.

Good things aren’t easy, so we will do our best to make the hard, easier.

In my time in the US I lost some of my inherently Israeli skills, like how to push in line at the post office, understand why Chatunami is so popular, or how to roll a cigarette.

However, I gained a lot. I learned about writing, yes, but not just the act itself of putting words together. I’ve learned about the process, the challenges, and how to push through them. The dread and sense of loss while staring at a blank page, and the overwhelming self-doubt after you’ve thrown some words onto it.

And most importantly, perhaps, the inner satisfaction of having written. Of having said what you were holding onto inside you.

The workshop, macro

Our goal is not just to teach, or try to teach, you how to write. It is of course that, and we will spend our time really digging into the literal and technical mechanics of how to piece together sentences, paragraphs, and pages. But.

It is also important to us to use writing as a vehicle to learn more about ourselves. What do we do when we face a challenge that AI can’t solve? How do we push through frustration? What can we create that gives us true, deep, and pure fulfillment? Something that is totally ours.

In order to get that, we, both you and I, will need to dig deep inside. It’s cliche, but it is a journey inwards, writing. There’s a reason people journal. It’s something AI cannot replace. Because you, yes you, have a story that you want, or perhaps need to tell. Be it for your own good and (not or) for the good of those you will share it with, that story needs to come out. And that is what we will help you do.

The workshop, micro:

Six meetings, every other week.

The workshop: you submit twice or thrice, depending on group size. Fiction or nonfiction (poets, I’m sorry, I’m ill-equipped; I haven’t totally given up on life yet).

The seminar: we read, we review, we discuss, we write based on what we read.

I use the word ‘story’ as a blanket term for all submissions for this workshop, but it can be whatever you want to work on: essay, memoir, short story, flash fiction, novel.

You will learn how to:

• Start your story
• Develop your story
• Revise your story (this is so important)
• Read other people’s work
• Critique other people’s work
• Talk about writing in a way that makes you understand yourself better
• Use a semi-colon (time-permitting)

We can talk all we want. This workshop can give you whatever you think will help. You can always wait for a later Eventually.

Every person has a story

Every story has a reason

Every reason can become an excuse

And eventually, you just have to write.

So let’s get to work.