Sense of Place
Deep Dive Experience
Two afternoons devoted to developing a deeper connection with a place that matters to you — and uncovering the stories it holds for you.
August 25 & 26, 2026 · 12:00–4:00 pm ET both days · ONLINE · Limited to 8
Do you have a connection to a place you’ve always wanted to devote more time with?
Or maybe there is a place from your past or present that keeps calling your attention, and you’d like to understand more about your connection to it and why it matters to you.
The Deep Dive gives you two afternoons to do exactly that. Through practices including writing, sensory awareness, research, reflection, you’ll explore a place from different perspectives and see what memories, stories, connections, questions, and meanings emerge.
This program includes writing practices, but you do not have to be a writer to come. You only need curiosity about what a place might reveal to you. You can use what you gain for writing, interpretive programs, curriculum design or just living a more place connected life.
If you've ever admired writers such as Annie Dillard, Barry Lopez, Robin Wall Kimmerer, Terry Tempest Williams, or John McPhee, you've probably noticed how they move between personal observation and factual knowledge, memory, history, nature, and lived experience woven together until something meaningful emerges.
They each have their own voice. What they share is that practice of interweaving what they observe with what they know, so meaning is made, understood, and shared with a reader in an evocative way. It comes alive through their own particular ways of noticing, questioning, researching and writing. You already have that inside you too.
This program is designed to give you a full sequence of learning through experience to help you uncover memories and ideas that will help grow your skills, your stories and your sense of place.
This is for you if
You’re connected to a place you've always hoped to write about and haven’t yet.
You're working on something midway and want to deepen it.
You’re curious why a particular place keeps calling your attention.
Your work involves developing programs or experiences for others, and you want new ways to bring a place alive.
You crave dedicated time to explore and grow your craft, in the company of others doing the same.
This experience is designed for all kinds of people: writers, community members, interpreters, educators, and anyone simply curious about enriching their feeling of connection in their lives and bringing their ideas to life.
How the Two Days Work
Many of us have places, memories, and ideas we'd like to explore, but rarely give ourselves the uninterrupted time, structure, and guidance to stay with them long enough to discover what they might become.
One of the greatest benefits of this experience is simply having two defined afternoons set aside for this work—time protected from everything else, with a clear focus and a reason to stay with what you are exploring.
You’ll be guided through a sequence of Sense of Place practices and tools that help you approach a place from different perspectives. You’ll notice more, remember more, investigate what you don’t yet know, and begin seeing connections between your own experience and the larger natural, cultural, and historical stories a place holds. These are practices you can return to later with other places, stories, and creative work.
And another part of what makes the experience valuable is working alongside a small group of other curious people and writers, hearing what they discover, sharing what emerges, and having the encouragement of others who are also giving serious attention to their own material.
This is a hands-on, experiential program. We'll talk through each practice, then work with it together. You'll be writing, observing, exploring, researching, and sharing what you find as we move through the sequence.
You do not need previous writing experience, a finished project, a research background, a perfect idea, or even a place already chosen. You only need curiosity and a willingness to explore further and go deeper.
DAY ONE — Discovery: Gathering Ideas and Content
Day One is about gathering material and seeing what opens up when you explore a place from different perspectives.
You’ll work with:
Personal story and memory through a core practice I developed more than twenty-five years ago and still use in my own writing.
Sensory awareness to notice the present moment more fully.
Natural, historical, and cultural context to discover more about the place beyond your own experience.
By the end of the afternoon, you’ll have a rich collection of memories, observations, questions, discoveries, and information to bring into Day Two.
DAY TWO — Integration: Braiding and Meaning Making
Day Two is about looking across what you gathered and seeing what begins to connect.
You’ll explore:
What patterns, themes, and connections are emerging.
What you are discovering about your relationship with the place.
How what you learned about the place changes or deepens your understanding of your own experience.
What significance, meaning, story, or creative direction may be taking shape.
You’ll begin bringing the different threads together and identifying what you want to carry forward—whether that is a narrative thread, a piece of writing, an interpretive idea, a creative project, or simply a deeper understanding of the place and your relationship with it.
By the end, you’ll have a clearer sense of what your material holds and where you want to take it next.
You'll Walk Away With
A complete sequence of practices, ready to use again with other places.
A rich collection of memories, observations, research, questions, and discoveries to develop further.
Greater confidence exploring stories and ideas through both personal experience and place knowledge.
A deeper relationship with a place that matters to you.
A narrative thread, story direction, question, or creative idea you can continue developing through writing, teaching, interpretation, creative work, or your personal life.
About This Approach
The tools and practices I offer in this program come from the same processes I use in my own creative work and have shared for decades with writers, individuals, groups, communities, and organizations, including national parks, museums, and heritage sites across the country.
You'll learn by moving through the experience yourself and seeing what you discover along the way.
At the heart of the approach is something simple: place gives us details we can notice, remember, question, and follow. Those details can lead into memory, nature, history, culture, relationship, and story.
As we come to know a place more deeply, we can also come to understand more about ourselves in relationship with it. That is part of what makes this work both a journey of place connection and a journey of discovery.
What you uncover can become material for writing, interpretation, education, creative work, or simply a richer way of experiencing the places that are part of your life.
Register Now. Join us for the
Sense of Place Deep Dive
August 25 & 26, 2026 · Online
12:00–4:00 pm ET both days
Limited to 8 participants
$497
Questions? Email Erica
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need to be a writer?
You do not. The Deep Dive includes writing and reflection because they are powerful ways of noticing, exploring, and making meaning, but you do not need previous writing experience or need to think of yourself as a writer. The program is for anyone curious about what a place might reveal to them.
What kind of place should I have in mind?
You might already know exactly which place you want to explore. Or you may simply have a place from your past or present that keeps calling your attention. It can be familiar or new, nearby or far away. And if you aren't sure when you arrive, the practices can help you discover where you want to begin.
What if I've attended something similar with Erica before?
Your relationship with a place is always changing, and so are you. Returning to these practices can reveal different memories, questions, connections, and meanings each time. There is also a difference between experiencing an individual practice and having devoted time to move through the full sequence with one place or body of material.
