GUIDED WRITING SESSIONS
Below you will find a few of the writing guides from the 90-minute sessions I host monthly, providing theme-based topics and inspiration to help you get words on the page. You can leverage the handouts below as self-study writing guides.
You will have access to attend the September and October guided writing sessions live, and the details will be available when all the course details are released on August 29. The live sessions include an overview of the topic, guided writing exercises, discussion and Q&A.
WRITING ABOUT IDENTITY AND CULTURE
We will write about the roles that culture and tradition play in shaping our individual and group identities, and read examples of this work being skillfully done. Writers will reflect on how cultural context influences the stories they tell about their lives and how they assign meaning to their experiences.
Writing About Mental Illness
In the spirit of healing through storytelling, participants will be prompted to write about their mental health journeys and/or how mental illness has directly or indirectly affected their lives. To explore different approaches, we will read pieces by Bassey Ikpi, Melissa Broder, Marya Hornbacher and more.
PERSONAL STORIES AND POETRY
We will study works by Lucille Clifton, Maya Angelou, and Yrsa Daley-Ward to provide inspiration as we blend poetry and memoir to write about our life experiences. Participants will be given prompts and reflection questions to generate poems.
WRITING ABOUT GRIEF AND LOSS
We read reflections on grief and loss from writers like Joan Didion, Cheryl Strayed, and Jesmyn Ward. Writing prompts gave participants a creative outlet to express the range of emotions that accompany loss.