week five: the story work writing challenge
shifting stories
Hi friends,
Welcome to the fifth (and second to the last!) week of the Story Work Writing Challenge. If you’re just joining us, you can catch up on everything here.
here’s how it works:
➔ Each Monday through November 3, I’m sharing weekly prompt lists here on Substack and on Instagram. The weekly prompt lists feature found phrases directly from Story Work, giving you a taste of the language and themes in the book.
➔ On Substack only, I’m also offering reflection and story prompts to spark ideas and give you different ways to approach the week’s theme.
➔ Giveaway: Each time you post about the challenge in any way—whether that’s reposting the prompts, sharing something you’ve written, or posting about the challenge—you’ll be entered into a drawing to receive a signed copy of the book. The more you share, the more chances you have to win. Use the hashtag #StoryWorkChallenge and/or tag me to make sure I see your post. At the end of the challenge, I’ll draw 3–5 winners!
Before we get into this week’s theme, let’s review last week:
Week Four: Voice Stories - Our words carry creative energy, shaping the stories we tell ourselves and the reality we experience. The way we complete statements like “I am” has the power to define who we believe we are, influencing our thoughts, actions, and possibilities. By observing our inner and outer narratives, we can notice how our voice either supports or limits our growth, and intentionally use our words to align with our values, truths, and creative vision. The prompts invited you to notice your patterns of self-talk, how you speak and express yourself, and imagine how your thoughts and words can expand your sense of what’s possible.
We started the challenge with Origin stories, which plant the seeds of who we become. Identity stories grow from those seeds, shaping how we see ourselves and respond to the world. In order to fully grow into the wholeness of our true selves, we need to face our Hidden stories and integrate them into our understanding of who we are. And Voice stories explore the many ways we name, speak, and share our truths with ourselves and the world.
This week, our theme is Shifting Stories. These prompts invite you to weave together the truths we’ve discovered from the challenge so far, opening the door to new possibilities.
Chapter Six in Story Work marks a turning point in how I viewed my identity, my personality, my differences, strengths, and weaknesses. It shows how one of my long-time limiting beliefs—that I was too sensitive and fragile—transformed into one of my greatest strengths through following my calling to write and create spaces for writers. Sometimes we have to find the environments and callings where our differences are valued in order to realize their value for ourselves.
Learning to care for our needs, honor our unique circumstances, and find the gifts in our challenges allows us to make conscious choices about how to own who we are. In this chapter, I explore the courage to be misunderstood, the risk of getting stuck in victim narratives, and how gifts can feel like burdens if we don’t learn how to harness them.
week five: shifting stories
By now, you’re hopefully noticing that healing and reframing our stories is a deeply creative process. You’re seeing how moving from a fixed mindset and limiting narratives can evolve into a growth mindset and empowering narratives. Perhaps some of your stories are already shifting, or you’re at least beginning to recognize the possibility for them to shift.
Transformation is part of the human experience, part of every story, part of every character’s arc. We are wired for growth and creation, constantly evolving through the ways we make meaning of our experiences. Creativity isn’t reserved for artists. It’s the life force that allows us to adapt, reimagine, and rebuild ourselves over time.
If you were reading a book or watching a movie and the main character had no challenges to overcome, wouldn’t you be bored? If everything worked out for them because of chance and they didn’t learn anything or evolve in any way, would the story have an emotional impact on you? Would it be satisfying? Likewise, in our life stories, we have to learn or grow in some way to meet our challenges differently. This is how we end unwanted cycles, move forward in our character arc, and continue to evolve.
Even in the work we’re doing on the page, the way we see ourselves and our stories is shifting. We are opening up, noticing new pathways, and hopefully, beginning to explore them in real life to see where they lead.
This week, you can use the prompts to:
➔ Reflect on the life lessons your experiences have taught you and how they’ve shaped your growth and shifted your story.
➔ Clarify your motivation for reframing your stories—why this work matters, and what might become possible if you do.
➔ Identify key turning points, beginnings, endings, and the unexpected opportunities that have emerged through challenge and change.
➔ Explore how you’ve been assigning meaning to your experiences and how adopting a more creative mindset might expand your outlook.
➔ Notice the people, places, and situations that pull you back into old patterns of thought, and what inspires you to brave uncertainty and embrace the new.
➔ Acknowledge the hard truths or growing pains you may need to face in order to step fully into reclaiming your story.
Okay, here’s the prompt list and reflection questions:
reflection questions:
Remember that this challenge is not about following strict rules. It’s about using the prompts to generate ideas for reflection. The questions below are to help spark ideas for using the prompts, but ultimately, just let your imagination lead you.
What words or labels do you need to redefine so you can recognize the gifts and strengths in your differences?
What fears or resistances arise when you feel called to go against the grain or rock the boat?
What roles, identities, or dreams have you had to grieve to make space for who you’re becoming?
Where do you feel like you are in a tug of war between the past and the future, between what’s safe and what’s possible?
Tell the story of a moment that changed your direction or perspective in life. What did that moment teach you about choice, surrender, or trust?
What have you been given a second chance at, and how did you approach it differently the second time? What would it look like to give yourself a second chance right now?
Write about an experience where you found abundance, purpose, or hope in an unexpected place.
What generational or personal pattern are you ready to stop repeating? What new story are you choosing to live instead?
Book Launch Updates - Save the Dates 📅
Story Work: Field Notes on Self-Discovery and Reclaiming Your Narrative, will be released on November 4, 2025 and it’s currently available for preorder. 🎉
If you’ve already preordered, thank you so much for helping me create awareness about the book! Don’t forget to register your receipt here so you can attend The Stories That Shape us Author Panel.
November 5. Story Work Book Release at The Writer’s Center in Bethesda, MD // 7 pm et
November 11. Story Work Virtual Book Launch, Craft Talk & Workshop // 7 pm et (open to all)
November 16. Story Work: The Stories That Shape Us – Author Panel // 6 pm et (to gain access to this event, preorder a copy of the book and visit this link to register with your receipt)
December 4. Story Work at DC Writer’s Salon // 6:30 pm et
More details and events will be shared soon!
Book Clubs, Author Chats, and Community Events
If you run or belong to a nonfiction book club focused on healing and personal growth: I’m offering free virtual author chats and book club visits through the end of the year. These informal sessions can be tailored to your group and are a chance to discuss Story Work and how its themes resonate with your life experiences.
If you run or belong to an online community that brings in artists, speakers, experts, etc. to share ideas and tools: I’m available to come talk about Story Work.
If you think your group is a good fit, you can get in touch by contacting me here.
What early readers are saying:
“As a therapist who works at the intersection of narrative therapy and bibliotherapy, Story Work moved me deeply. GG Renee Hill invites readers to examine both the life events that have shaped us and the meanings we’ve attached to them. She demonstrates with care and compassion how those meanings shape who we believe ourselves to be or not be. Part memoir, part guide, this book weaves her powerful personal history, including being raised by a mother later diagnosed with schizophrenia with reflective prompts that encourage readers to reconstruct their own stories with main character energy and intention.
For me, it was both a professional and personal read. I deeply relate with Hill’s story as someone who also turned to storytelling as a young girl to navigate the disorientation of being cared for by a loved one with schizophrenia. This book offers a creative approach to living, feeling, grieving, and reclaiming agency.
This book is an accessible, structured bibiotherapeutic tool to help readers become the most reliable narrator of their own life. So many of us struggle to unmask and get honest with self about our deepest needs and desires. GG Renee Hill provides us with deep insight on how reauthoring works as we heal and move forward through life’s phases and stages.
I love this quote: “We need to give ourselves space to reconstruct meaning in our lives… with our losses lovingly included and honored in our identities.”
Hill’s work is a gift for anyone ready to step into the role of author in their own story.” —Emely Rumble, LICSW, author of Bibliotherapy in the Bronx
