An invitation to experiment
I watched this short video clip again yesterday and was struck afresh by how powerful writing can be. Author and political activist Dr. Nawaal El-Sadaawi answers a question people often ask her: how despite her painful life that included prison, several divorces, political exile and so on, does she seem so happy? She tells a powerful story and adds:
“By writing, the pleasure of creativity, the pleasure of writing, I didn’t feel prison…When you express yourself, you feel you are happy.”
What she says is so true for me. I feel happy when I’m writing. So happy.
And, I’m the first to admit I’ve struggled to make time for it. Even now when I have a more flexible schedule and am by all accounts writing more than I used to, I still cycle in and out of days or even weeks where I’m not writing as much as I want to be.
A few weeks ago, I had an idea.
I do very well taking classes, showing up for scheduled programs and various commitments and such, so I wondered: Could I create something similar that I myself need? Could I invite others to help make the space work for me? Might they want something like this too?
I floated the idea out to a few people. And to my delight, many have responded and said that yes, they too want to be writing more often.
So, here I am now, with this idea that I’m happy to say will turn into an active experiment next week. Today, I’m sharing with you to see if you might be interested yourself in trying this out.
Here it is in its essence.
The Idea
An online writing studio for women (and those identifying as women) who want to write and are ready to spend more time doing it.
This is for the woman who:
may have been feeling this pull toward writing for a long time, maybe even for most of her life, and she wants to make more time for it; maybe for whatever reason she’s been having trouble making space for it; she’s been pushing it aside for other things, other people;
may also be writing now yet she is wanting something more – more time or more community around it
feels a longing to express herself, to uncover her thoughts, stories, memories; she has a feeling that doing so will unlock something inside
may or may not hold an idea for a story, or for her own story, that she’d like to try to tell, it’s a small flame inside that will not leave her alone
understands that the more voices that are being silenced, the more we must speak out
I want to offer a place with inspiration, structure, and community to finally write.
Writing to me is about being alive. It’s about self-expression and self-empowerment. And I believe that giving voice to and sharing our stories is one of the ways we change the world.
Online Writers’ Studio, as of now:
We meet twice a month for two hours for a facilitated writing workshop, offering us writing inspiration, sharing, and affirmation. We’ll meet on a Tuesday and a Saturday at 11:00 a.m. Central Time in the U.S.
We have a daily (Mon-Fri) at 10:00 a.m. Central Time in the U.S. for one hour of co-writing, offering us a consistent space and gentle accountability. I recognize people have obligations, appointments and such so know that you do not have to attend every day unless you want to. This is your studio to make how you want to support you and your writing best.
I could see this as an ongoing monthly program so we can all make some progress on our projects and creative work, but for now I suggest we try it for a single month and see how we all feel about it.
$45 USD/month — This is the founding price, meaning if this goes forward and if I need to raise it later, you keep this rate as long as you stay.
If this has you even a little interested, you can click here to find out some ideas for the future (i.e. if after one month I, and enough other people, want to carry on…)
If this has you saying, oh gosh, this is just what I need, I’d love to welcome you into trying it out and seeing what you think.
We start soon. Daily cowriting will be open on Monday, April 20th.
Finally, before I go, whether this invitation is for you or not, I hope you can spend even more time this week finding ways to express yourself. That could be through writing, or it could be through other creative pursuits, like watercolor, photography, or creating beautiful meals.
The world needs your self-expression.