“Don’t give up, and don’t lose your stubborn belief that you have a story worth telling. I’ve had so many people tell me over so many years that I didn’t have the qualities needed to be a writer. All of my writer friends and I have one thing in common: We didn’t listen to the naysayers. We kept writing. And eventually we have all been published.” -Devi Laskar
“I’m trying to help us remember that we invent our own beauty and our own paths and our own crooked, weird ways of doing things, but that they’re not nothing and they matter, too. We’re the half of culture that doesn’t take the paths that are sitting right in front of us. Our song may be a little off-key, but it’s a kind of beauty, too.” -Lidia Yuknavitch
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“To me, the process of writing is just reading what I’ve written and—like running your hand over one of those mod glass stovetops to find where the heat is—looking for where the energy is in the prose, then going in the direction of that. It’s an exercise in being open to whatever is there.” -George Saunders
Even the most seasoned writers have difficulty carving out time and summoning inspiration. This popular, productive morning workshop provides quiet, structured writing time among peers, a handful of fabulous prompts to get you rolling, and the inspiration to support your writing practice.
Starting with a variety of imaginative prompts, we warm up, engage in a sustained writing period (over an hour), then share our work and receive thoughtful, encouraging feedback. Each session includes writing time, craft tips, quotes, supportive discussion, and advice on how to sustain a creative life in challenging times… Come for inspiration, structure, and a supportive community, and make serious headway on your projects! Appropriate for all levels and genres. These popular workshops fill fast!
Mondays, 4 -7 p.m. or Tuesday, Thursday, or Friday mornings, 9:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.; 10-week session starts week of May 18th
Learn more/sign up here or at the link in our bio:
/writing-workshops/p/writing-jumpstarts-dori-ostermiller
“All of these declarations of what writing ought to be, which I had myself—though, thank God I had never committed them to paper—I think are nonsense. You write what you write, and then either it holds up or it doesn’t hold up. There are no rules or particular sensibilities. I don’t believe in that at all anymore.” -Jamaica Kincaid
You know the feeling all too well: the excitement of a new project has worn off, and stubborn resistance has set in. You want to make progress with your writing! You want to get the book (or story, or essay or collection or dissertation or revision) done, but somehow you can’t wrestle yourself down to the desk. Or you do manage to get your seat in the chair, but the work feels impenetrable, dull, impossible… You’re overcome by a sense of futility or fatigue. You’re worried you might hurt someone. You wonder if you have anything to say.
We all know that resistance takes many forms but is really fear in disguise. Fear of failure. Fear of the uphill slog. Fear of vulnerability or exposure. The only thing that helps most writers overcome that fear is having a schedule, manageable goals, and the support of other writers. That’s why we created the Resistant Writers’ Support Group. For three hours a week, writers will come together online to blast through resistance and get the work done. Each session will start with a brief check-in, an inspiring quote or craft tip and a selection of imaginative prompts to get you rolling. Then, we’ll write together for two hours (!), after which there is another quick check in to share successes/progress and set a weekly intention, creating accountability and support. Minimal sharing/feedback. This group is perfect for anyone with a longer writing project who craves productive writing time, accountability, inspiration, and
encouragement.
Mondays, 1:00 - 4:00 p.m. EST; 7-week workshop begins May 11th
Learn more/sign up here or at the link in our bio:
/writing-workshops/p/resistant-writers-support-group-sarah-browning
Friday! Join us for a reading and conversation with Sarah Browning and Patricia Lee Lewis to celebrate the launch of their new books. The evening will feature readings from Sarah Browning’s new collection, CALL ME YES, and Patricia Lee Lewis’s debut novel, THORNS OF MESQUITE. Afterward, the writers will sit down for a conversation with Dori Ostermiller.
Hope to see you there!
“Here’s a short list of what not to do when you sit down to write. Don’t answer the phone. Don’t look at email. Don’t go on the internet for any reason, including checking the spelling of some obscure work, or for what you might of as research but is really a fancy for of
procrastination… On the list of other less fancy procrastinations, when your wild surge of energy is accompanied by the urge to leap up from your desk, are: laundry, baking, marketing, filling out insurance claims, writing thank you notes, cleaning closets, sorting files,
weeding, scrubbing, polishing, arranging, removing stans, bathing the dog. Sit down. Stay there. It’s hard—I know just how hard—and I hate to tell you this, but it doesn’t get easier. Ever.” -Dani Shapiro
Missed this month’s Community Writing Workshop? Our next one is on
June 7th! Join Sarah Browning for a morning of writing online.
Learn more/sign up here or at the link in our bio:
/writing-workshops/p/community-writing-workshops
“I think there is a tremendous amount of avoidance that goes on while writing. People used to ask me if I got writers block and I’d always say, “no” because I have never had that thing where you just sit and stare at the blank page and nothing comes. But then I realized that I did have writer’s block, it just didn’t take that form. The form was this incredible avoidance and I could think of so many things to do, and they were all totally legitimate things. I mean your taxes have to be done, right? All the things that interfere in life. I once made an experiment, if I quit writing would I have a lot of spare time? And after three weeks I realized that I could just quit and never notice. The time would just vanish like throwing a stone into the water, it would leave no trace. So unless I was willing to just carve out this time for writing, I was never going to get anything done. It is a dilemma that I think everyone faces.” -Connie Willis
