personal storytelling and poetry

group journaling session tomorrow at 6 pm et

A quick reminder before today’s post. Today is the last day to get the early bird discount for the summer cohort of the Creative Courage Writing Intensive. Regular registration kicks in tomorrow, and there will be payment plans available.

The first book I self-published back in 2014 was a story written in free verse about a heartbroken woman facing a disruption in her life. Inspired by my life, it remains one of the scariest and most rewarding steps I’ve taken on this creative journey to healing.

The free-flowing genre-bending format allowed me to find the rhythm of my truth, and it also allowed me the distance I needed to express myself publicly in a way that I never had before. It was the first step in reclaiming my story.

Since I published that first book, I’ve been steadily taking my power back through oral and written storytelling, while creating spaces and pathways for others to tell their stories. One of those pathways is poetry, a practice that cultivates awareness and expression, and you don’t have to consider yourself a writer or poet to benefit from the practice.  

Tomorrow evening, we have the next session of The Practice, our monthly group journaling session for paid subscribers and guests. In this session, we will read poems to provide inspiration as we blend poetry and memoir to write about our life experiences. This session includes a brief overview of the topic and prompts and reflection questions to generate poems.

I’ll be sharing my favorite technique for writing difficult truths, a word association exercise for journaling from poetry, and we’ll study works by Lucille Clifton, Maya Angelou, Yrsa Daley-Ward, and more as we write about our life experiences. 

This session is free for paid subscribers and open to drop-ins for a $15 fee.

Come write with us!