a certain distance
weekly story work exercise
If you’re new here, Story Work is the name of my current book-in-progress. It describes a process of reflecting, reclaiming, and reimagining the stories of our lives. It involves looking at your life experiences as creative material that you have the power to shape.
The weekly Story Work topics cover universal life themes with references from literature, philosophy, science, and spirituality; offering perspectives that spark ideas for personal growth and creative expression.
Paid subscribers receive Story Work exercises every Sunday night at 8 pm et.
Hi everyone,
Before we get into this week’s Story Work exercise, I’m excited to tell you about two guests that will be visiting our virtual community this month. Read on to check out these sessions which include experimenting with social media as inspiration for poetry, and a chat with a multi-genre writer who also coaches writers and professional women on how to manage their energy and make space for all the things they are passionate about.
The Practice: Group Journaling Session #14 w/ Kelly Macias
As writers, we can draw from many sources of inspiration and are not limited to using our own words to express our ideas. Sometimes possibilities and great ideas are hidden in plain sight.
This Thursday evening, April 11 from 6 - 7:30 pm et, join us for Play and Create: Writing Through Found Forms with Kelly Macias. Kelly will lead us through a session where we experiment with found forms, learning to create stories from social media posts, text messages, emails, customer reviews on Amazon and more! This session is free for paid subscribers and open to free subscribers for a $15 drop-in fee.
Kelly is a writer, researcher, and storyteller based in Los Angeles. Her writing has appeared in Prose Online, The Sunlight Press, Newsweek and elsewhere. Kelly’s work has been supported through recognition and fellowships by Anaphora Arts, Roots.Wounds.Words, BlogHer Voices of the Year, NYC Midnight, Stories Books and Café, and she is an alumnus of the 2019 Yale Writers’ Workshop. Kelly holds a Ph.D. in Conflict Analysis and Resolution and completed her dissertation research on Black women’s use of social media as a form of storytelling and testimony about their lived experiences. You can connect with Kelly on Instagram at @kelmacias and at www.kellymacias.com.
Author Visit and Book Giveaway w/ Chelene Knight
Chelene Knight is a multi-genre author of four books including her most recent narrative nonfiction release: Let It Go: Free Yourself From Old Beliefs and Find a New Path To Joy, a warm, candid and essential book that will guide the reader to carve a new path to joy.
She is also the author of a collection of poetry, Braided Skin, the memoir Dear Current Occupant, winner of the 2018 Vancouver Book Award, and long-listed for the George Ryga Award for Social Awareness in Literature. Her novel, Junie (Book*hug 2022) is winner of the 2023 Vancouver Book Award, long-listed for the inaugural Carol Shields Fiction Prize and a finalist for the Ferro-Grumley Prize for LGBTQ fiction.
We’ll be discussing her recent release, Let It Go, as well as her creative process and publishing journey. The session is on Wednesday, April 17 from 5 - 6 pm et.
How to attend this Author Visit:
Join the Inner Story Writing Circle. If you’d like to attend this session and join our all-access writing group to support your story work & creative development, you can learn more about the Inner Story Writing Circle here.
Purchase a Copy. You can also attend the session by purchasing a copy of Let It Go: Free Yourself From Old Beliefs and Find a New Path To Joy and sending me proof of purchase. Proof of purchase can be a photo of you with the book, a picture of your receipt, etc.
Book Giveaway. The giveaway will open this Wednesday, April 10, so be sure to look out for a post that day!
Okay, let’s get into our weekly exercise.
a certain distance
If you’re just joining us, for the past few weeks we’ve been doing writing exercises with the five senses. We’ve used sensory language to practice mindfulness, nurture attention and gratitude, evoke vivid memories, and to create healing narratives.
To wrap up this series, let’s look at how we can use sensory metaphors as creative tools to explore feelings that may be challenging to address directly.
You know how hard it can be to put your feelings into words sometimes? Or to even know what you’re feeling in order to describe it? For those of us who use writing to make sense of our lives, it’s so frustrating when you can’t find words to capture the feelings, or the scene, or the memory.
Sometimes instead of trying to translate it directly, we need to activate our imaginations and look for parallels that help us work through our emotions in a more indirect, conceptual way. We can do this through finding metaphors that create an easier access point.