pain and pleasure
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 friends,
How is your heart? How are you keeping the highs and lows of life in perspective? Our creative practices can help us process life and all of its layers. I’m happy to offer some opportunities to enrich your creative practice below.
As we approach the end of April, that means that it’s almost time for a fresh set of writing prompts and another opportunity to come together for our free monthly writing workshop where we freestyle write from the list of prompts. I’ll be posting the prompts on Wednesday, May 1, and the free workshop ison Friday, May 3 from 7 - 8 pm et. You can RSVP here.
upcoming author visit
On Wednesday, May 8, the Inner Story Writing Circle will be joined by author
. Kern is an author, filmmaker, and community builder. I first came in contact with his work when I stumbled onto his essay, “Diary of a Bachelor Who Suddenly Became a Solo Dad to a Teenage Girl” which is now behind a paywall on . I followed him to Medium where he had a publication called CRY Magazine. The tagline was Creativity and Vulnerability, so if you know me then you know I was immediately interested. A black man, sharing stories centering vulnerability and building creative community? Sign me up. I submitted a piece to his publication called “Procrastination Ends Where Alignment Begins” and I’ve followed his work ever since.On his Substack, he shares weekly posts for writers that highlight lessons to be learned from pop culture — how to build a fanbase, different ways to monetize, experimenting and taking risks — to be more successful as a writer and author.
He recently released And Then There Was Us, a YA coming-of-age novel where a mother’s death forces a teen girl to reevaluate their tumultuous relationship. Our author chat with Kern Carter will take place on Wednesday, May 8 from 5 - 6 pm et. We’ll be chatting with Kern about the book, his writing journey, and creative process.
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 And Then There Was Us and sending me proof of purchase. Proof of purchase can be a photo of you with the book, a picture of your receipt, etc.
Enter the Giveaway. Everyone who comments on this or any post that goes up between today and Monday, May 6 will be entered to win a copy of And Then There Was Us and access to our visit with Kern on Wednesday, May 8 from 5 - 6 pm et.
Okay, let’s get into this week’s story work exercise.
pain and pleasure
If you’re just joining us, our current theme is body language. More than the postures, facial expressions, and hand gestures we use to communicate with others, when I hear the phrase body language, I think of our relationship with our bodies and how we communicate with ourselves.
Last week we explored movement as a creative practice. This week we are looking at the relationship between pain and pleasure and how our bodies experience the sensations that prompt us to fulfill our needs or to avoid potential harm.
Many of us writers and introspective folks live in our heads and become desensitized to what’s going on in our bodies. As I was thinking about the stories that live in our bodies and often seem unreachable, I got to thinking about the highs and lows that our bodies experience and how our fears of these extremes impact us.