Reclaim Your Writing Life in January

Originally Published December 12th, 2017

Speaking of two roads diverging in a yellow wood, ten years ago, I gaped into the jaws of my own future, jaws yawning open and shut, mouthing the brutish question of whether I would ever return to my dream of writing. I counted the rows of triangular teeth between where I stood and what I most wanted. Meanwhile, time breathes through its mouth and we're put on this planet to love, be loved, and chase after our truest selves. I wrote about all this, plus being terrified, recently over at Past Ten.   

Meanwhile, here we go again. A new year. Good riddance, 2017! Let's go reclaim our democracy, and, also, while we're at it, our writing lives. We know the crucial importance of beginnings, the urgency of opening acts, how the way we start sets up the way we finish. Join us this January for one of our remote 4-week workshops (or give the gift of a restart to some other worthy writer!):

The Visceral Self: Writing the Body, on the power of embodying our words on the page, of writing through flesh and blood and sensory images that capture and illuminate the experience of life in a body

Radical Revision, for radically transforming work-in-progress toward a vibrant, publishable draft, making use of immersive, transformative techniques for diving deep and revealing unseen layers through better craft 

Here's what others have said about our classes and workshops. We have two spots left in both of these courses and would LOVE to have you in one of them! 

Finally, a BIG HAPPY DANCE as we close out 2017: Elephant Rock teaching artist Sophie Ouellette-Howitz (who also happens to be my daughter, ahem!) just won first-place among nearly 500 entries to the Pigeon Pages Literary Contest with her beautiful essay, "Study of Bones." On top of that, the same beautiful essay has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Congratulations, Sophie! For those who don't know, Sophie and I are each other's first readers, and for that, I consider myself damn lucky.

As for me, I'm still slogging along with novel revisions and prepping for my residency at Brush Creek at the end of January. The packing list mentioned "Western wear. " Hmm. Still contemplating if or how I'll step into that new look. 

Meanwhile, thinking of all of you warmly and wishing you the best of whatever holidays you celebrate. Hope to "see" some of you in class soon!

Warmly,

Jeannine