Reminder: "Writing About Hard Things: Strategies for Craft & Care" is this Thursday!
We still have spots left on our virtual writing workshop
Sarah Kokernot (who you know from our mini-salons) and I are offering our first joint virtual workshop, “Writing About Difficult Things: Strategies for Craft & Care” on May 14 at 12 CST! We still have some spots left. You can sign up here:
Have you ever wondered how to write about a difficult life experience without feeling like you’re trauma dumping on the nice carpet or just forcing yourself to relive something painful? How can we write about the hard things in our lives while maintaining a sense of dignity and self-care?
This hour-long workshop will explore why it can feel so empowering to write about life’s less-than-wonderful moments, and how to do so in a way that is gentle, meaningful, supportive—and sometimes—funny. We’ll guide you through a few reflective exercises that will help you decide how to write about a difficult life experience in a way that is cathartic yet purposeful. Drawing on our own published essays and stories, we’ll give you craft and self-care strategies so that you can honor the experience in your words.
I’ll talk about how I explore divorce and medical issues through an award-winning poem, a storytelling piece for the Scrappy Reading Series and through my bestselling Substack.
Sarah will discuss two essays published in Tricycle that deal with disappointment in publishing, growing up in a queer family in Kentucky, and also going no-contact with a parent.
What to expect in the class:
Craft tips using examples from our own published/featured pieces
Prompts to help you reflect about obstacles you face when writing about difficult experiences
A hands-on plan for taking care of yourself during the creative process
This workshop is for:
Emerging and advanced writers grappling with a difficult subject matter in their drafts
Writers seeking to publish or share their work about a difficult subject matter
Any writer who wants to create a supportive writing practice for themselves
Can’t make the class? We’ll send out a recording of the event to everyone who registered.
The workshop is $50 but paid subscribers to either mine or Sarah’s newsletter get a 50% discount. Paid subscribers, you can find the discount code here.