Class Zoom link
Weds 5:30 to 7:00
Monday Co-work 12-1
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88108090464
Foundational Documents 2023 Writer’s Path
Writer’s Path 2023 Manual and Guidebook
The Writer’s Path PDF 4 quadrants.
Sense of Place Creativity and Connection Compass PDF
Worksheets
A blank copy of the Four Fires PDF for you to fill in your own ideas.
Click Moments Worksheet
The Storied Place Worksheet (One place/4 layers)
Class #6 March 1st, 2023
Link to video Dropbox link March 1st Video (I have to upgrade to post the video here, and will do that if you like going here.)
We talked about how to start to interweave some of the idea banks we’ve gathered— for places that are meaningful to us, and life moments and experiences that are meaningful to us.
Readings
We reviewed/deconstructed the Northern Lights piece. It’s a nice example of a well-rounded 1200-word piece.
And the Joy Harjo section from her book Crazy Brave, which is a nice example of a Click Moment, so well described.
Click Moments/Awe Moments
Think about stories or moments you want to tell and see if you can put your finger on a turning point or powerful moment, which I call a Click Moment, where things seem to "click into place.” These can be jumping points for whatever you want to write more about. You can generate lists of them when they come to mind. And start just pulling one of the list to write about.
One way to start thinking about interweaving these stories is to keep a list of Click Moments, where everything seemed to click into place.
This can often be moments of awe, or moments of awakening.
Prompt: It all clicked when…
Purpose/Steering
I asked you to write about your purpose for writing- which can be for yourself, for others, for the world, and/or all three. It’s what can help you steer your writing, and give your efforts purpose.
In his 1967 “Where Do We Go From Here?” King speaks of power, love, and action: “Now, power properly understood is nothing but the ability to achieve purpose. It is the strength required to bring about social, political, and economic change… What is needed is a realization that power without love is reckless and abusive, and that love without power is sentimental and anemic. Power at its best, is love implementing the demands of justice.”
Prompt: Use the first line about " power properly understood is nothing but the ability to achieve purpose." What is the purpose of your writing? What do you want to convey, shift or change? For yourself and to know/explore your inner world, or for making some impact in the outer world. Write a list of 5-10 reasons you write.
You can also heed this insight from writer Grace Paley: “You write from what you know, but you write into what you don't know.”
Honor your purpose: You might want to make note of what you came up with- and make it a nice note. Put it in a pretty font and print it out to post somewhere— it can be a guidepost for when you’re unclear what you’re doing and if it’s worth the effort. You could place this on a writing altar, a collage that is a visual map of your purpose.
A Delicious Question
What have you been exploring in your life lately? What seems really rich? What have you been pondering or trying to grapple with? Write out 3 or so ideas you’ve been exploring or are interested in exploring.
Idea: Look at the books you have piled up in your house. They are a clue to what you’ve been exploring. Or go to a book store as if it’s an oracle/tarot reading— what are you drawn to? What sections? What books? Why?
Deeper Dive/Structure
A Journey Map: Write a personal journey— an experience- a transformation- a return
Where you went, what happened, and what you got when you came back— internally and externally
Mind Maps- what’s the story, the click moment (in the middle) I’ll give more resources for this soon.
Class #5, February 22, 2023
Timelines, narrative maps, narrative medicine and story grids
Here’s a link to the video https://www.dropbox.com/s/sok15a9vauq0606/Feb.22.23Class.mp4?dl=0
Reading: Narrative Medicine
Worksheet Narrative Medicine and Story Mapping
Narrative Maps
You can make many narrative maps in your life, and keep lists of these. But it would be good to choose one as your frame of exploration this week. It could be listing everything that led you to…….the place you live now, the work you do, your interests or hobbies, your relationship, your home. Choose an angle that explores some aspect of your life journey.
Or choose a more general life history— and start to list out different events and moments.
As a head start you can start making lists that are paired with years/dates of your age then, your school grade, your relationship, where you lived.
Print this out, but you don’t have to work with it yet. This is what we’ll be doing in class.
YOU COULD ALSO DRAW YOUR MAP. Bring paper and colored pencils. I will share examples of this.
Here’s the homework:
1. Set a timer for 10 minutes. Write a 10 minute memoir in 3rd person. When she/he was young and living in….. (or wherever you want to start.)
2. Draw a “deep map” of a place where you live now, or have lived before. Give places names like “deer rock” or “where the grouse live.”
3. Write about some of those places like Winnie the Pooh on the map of 100 acre woods. “In which….”
4. Read the two other writings I sent last week— by Sigfurd Olsen and Joy Harjo.
Class #4, February 15, 2023
Participant Readings and Feedback
The Crush: Writing about our deep affection for a place.
Class #3, February 7, 2023
Readings: Islands of Abandonment by Cal Flyn
Notice how descriptive and sensual her writing is, even when writing about hard/painful observations.
This one is also a good one for weaving in facts into experiences.
Class# 2, January 30, 2023
Warm-ups
We started with some warm up prompts
1. What’s one word that describes how you feel?
2. Choose someone else’s word and writing about that feeling.
3. If your life was a landscape, what kind of landscape would it be and why? If my life was a landscape it would be….becasue…
4. If my life was a body of water it would be…. because…
5. If my life was a kind of weather, it would be…because…
I shared a reading by Alan Cohen called “Song of the African Soul”
I share a poem by Simon Ortiz called “Land and Stars”
The Touchstone Story
What’s true for me today… (use the 4 rivers if you want: Challenge, Inspiration, Surprise, Love)
A place I’m thinking of is… (use all the senses to describe your place)
The connection between these is…
Touchstone Story Closing Practice
I forgot to mention tonight that sometimes this “Touchstone Story” practice brings up deep stories. I did mention, that we are called to write about what we need to write about— and sometimes what we feel called to write about can take us by surprise sometimes. This can be an amazing breakthrough, but it can also be overwhelming. If you discovered a story that opened a part of you, and you don’t have time to explore it more, here’s something you can do in the meantime: you can put it safely on a shelf until you are ready to come back to it. Imagine your story in a mason jar, waiting for you there for wherever you’re ready to do some more exploring. Sometimes we need a bit of closure after a writing session when we’re called back into our lives. So this is a good trick for you when that occurs.
If you discovered a story you want to pursue, hooray! It’s a core practice you can use again and again to get to some very meaningful writings.
Reading: Chapter from Refuge by Terry Tempest Williams
Class #1, January 25, 2023
The Power of Place— the soil, the base of a place-based story.
Warm- ups
Twelve Moons of the Year, by Hal Borland (out of print, but you can find used copies)
Range of Light, by Terry Tempest Willams
Power of Place
List out 25 places that contain meaningful moments for you. Do some for each decade— where were you living? Where did you go? What’s a moment that stands out.
Start with “To know this place, first you must…”
Direction: Everything happens someplace. Start someplace and see where it leads you.
Practices/Homework
1. Keep a list of power places — Think about different decades, and places that hold power for you or have a story to tell you.
2. Think about stories of places inhabit you— What are those places you keep feeling called to write about?
3. Snoop around books you like— how do they start a chapter? What do you like about that? Be a detective and let us know what you found.
4. Exercise your creative muscle— write another short impression, a few lines, less than a paragraph. Overdo it with imagery and description. Show me what it’s really like.
Homework
Write one about the present moment
Write one about a past moment- maybe pick one from your list.
Reading: David Abrams, Storytelling and Wonder
Bonus Kickoff Call: January 19, 2023
Impressions
We talked about describing something from our day, which I call “Impressions” which is describing something that catches your eye.
Try using as much descriptive details as possible. Load it up as practice, just to see where it takes you.
Go back over what you wrote and add more specificity where you can.
Challenge yourself to write 1-2 this week. You’re welcome to bring one to class next week to read.
Prompt: Jane Kenyon poem, Twilight After Haying
Notice the details that linger in this poem.