Dear Friends,
I’m giddy as I write this. I’ve been waiting to announce this community for months after spending the last two years (no, really) thinking about what my dream online writing community would look like and learning what it would take to put it into practice.
So, please say hello to Conscious Writers Collective, an online writing community dedicated to helping you consciously meet your writing goals month after month, year after year.
✨ Join the CWC Waitlist for access to May’s programming. After May 5, you will have to wait until the community re-opens on June 1. ✨
I’ve worked with hundreds of writers over the last 10 years and have come to believe in the importance of mindset and community in sustaining a lasting writing practice. I also believe that rigorous writing instruction, a dedicated community of writers, and opportunities to learn from visiting experts should not be exclusive to an MFA. I’ve seen too many writers with MFAs feel like they never figured out “what comes next.” How to stay invested and find a community that supports continued growth and learning. How to learn from experts in publishing. How to continue to work towards a book, or a second book.
So, I set out to build an online community that would meet these needs, guiding writers at all stages to the next phase of their writing lives and helping them mindfully identify and pursue their goals.
If you’ve worked with me before, you know that my aim is to model the enthusiasm I genuinely feel, and the patience and withholding of self-judgement that I aspire towards. I find that writers write their best when they have the confidence to freely explore and enact their minds without the usual markers of “success” coming into focus. When we’re in a workshop, craft class, or even in the minutes it takes to read this newsletter, we have the privilege of that time—however long or short—to pay focused attention on the inner life. Want to improve your writing? Improve the ways you show up to your inner life. That’s the conscious part. I don’t just care about your writing—I care about you as a person who writes.
I hope you will visit the Conscious Writers website and read more about what’s offered inside the community (over 20+ of hours of recorded past classes, to start, and 5x group Zooms a month with me).
Members can, of course, be as involved as makes sense for them. Come to all the live events, or simply watch the recordings on your own time. Submit to the Feedback Forum, or read and enjoy others’ writing. My not-so-secret hope is that this will be a space you want to interact with often, and that you will discover the writing community you always hoped to find within.
✨ If you’re interested in joining, fill out the CWC Waitlist form. You will then receive an email inviting you to sign up between April 30 - May 5. After May 5, you will have to wait until the community re-opens on June 1. ✨
What’s happening inside CWC in May?
I’m leading a live group replay of a course on re-imagining the process of revision
A 2-hr session on epistolary poetry with Declan Ryan (so good; I’ve sat in on this three times and learned so much each time!)
A conversation on poetry and PR with Milkweed publicist, Morgan LaRocca
2x Office Hours with me (come chat, ask me questions, or update me on your project)
A 2-hr mini-workshop
A meet-and-greet with other members
+ the ongoing usual: chat and collaborate with members daily in our Discussion Board, offer and receive feedback in the Feedback Forum, watch a different course replay in your own time, etc.!
Friends, any time I come to you with a paid offer, I begin by asking myself: what can a person who is not in a position to pay gain from this post? Truly, I value each and every one of you, and the time and attention you’ve placed into my care.
So, I’ll say this: I hope that this inspires you to pursue your wild dream, the project that requires countless hours of research and discussion with tech folks on website and platform design and zillions of emails, a wild dream—whatever it is—that forces you to repeatedly take a deep breath, re-center, and remember the bigger picture.
You can build anything, but it’s true purpose that offsets panic. Find your why, and go do it.
xM
P.S.
Follow @consciouswriters on Instagram for future updates on programing and writing inspirations, prompts, and resources.
✨ Please note that you will only receive a link to join CWC if you are on the Waitlist. You will then be able to sign up and pay between April 30 - May 5. After May 5, you will have to wait until the community re-opens on June 1.✨
This is a great idea! I know and admire your poems and clearly your students have loved working with you. I published four books and taught creative writing and literature for 30 years, but once I retired and left my writing community, I’ve struggled to generate new work and my life is much less rich as a result. I got so much joy from writing and I want to find that joy and commitment again. I will probably be much older than most people in the community—one of the things I’ve missed most about teaching is no longer working with people younger than myself. I want to learn new things and overcome my writing block. Do you think this class would be a place for me?
✖️Ditches organising wardrobe, sorting laundry and tidying office from weekend to-do-list
✔️Adds”Write CWC application”
See you in the Waitlist Poets Department 🩷