Spring Pop-Up Writing Life women’s writing circles on Zoom
Nourish Yourself. Honour Your Voice. Write Your Stories.
You are invited to join me for a spring pop-up writing circle (or more than one!) to honour signs of spring and your own writing practice. For those who find these circle themes familiar, you’ll have an opportunity to reconnect to your writing. For others new to the circle and perhaps even new to writing, you’ll have an introduction to the gifts of writing with companions nearby. In the two and a half hours we spend together on Zoom, we’ll have a mini retreat of connecting to ourselves and to one another.
In each of the Writing Life women’s writing circles, we apply the ancient wisdom of the circle to a modern application: a sacred ceremony of writing, sharing and listening where each woman is respected for her presence and contributions. No previous writing experience is necessary, just the desire to explore your rich lived experience and embrace the fullness of the stories from your life.
There will be writing practice suggestions offered during the circle and for you to continue writing, on your own.
Fee: $50 each (Please see info regarding payment, below the circle descriptions.)
Writing as Medicine
Tuesday, March 12, 2024, 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Pacific time
In spring, we identify new green shoots and relish in the places, practices and people that regenerate us. Practices that return us to a sort of balance are good medicine and a writing practice is one of them. The word “practice” means it is ever-renewing, offering grounding, and in our own self-expression, an invitation to wellness. As poet Gregory Orr wrote: “As a writer, my faith is that words can help us connect and make sense of our lives by bringing out our secrets and shames as well as our joys.”
Ceremonies + Practices for your Writing Life
Thursday, March 21, 2024, 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Pacific time
“Ceremony is a road to the true nature of our selves,” the late Richard Wagamese wisely observed. Our writing circle, even on Zoom, offers of kind of ceremony to honour each woman and the stories she is writing and giving breath to. The invitation offered by a ceremony is to reignite your creative fire and cup your hand gently around the things you may have forgotten.
Your Life as Story
Friday, April 5, 2024 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Pacific time
People, places, things – so much makes up a woman’s stories from life. It’s enough to put us in awe of all we have been part of. Clarissa Pinkola Estes offers encouragement: “ I hope you will go out and let stories, that is life, happen to you, and that you will work with these stories from your life – not someone else’s life – water them with your blood and tears and your laughter till they bloom, till you yourself burst into bloom. That is the work. The only work.” This writing circle is an opportunity to embrace the fullness of your stories from life and your life as story.
The Place You Already Are: Poetry as Memoir
Tuesday, April 16, 2024, 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Pacific time
Poetry can help you express where you already are as poet Jane Hirshfield has said. And it can help you reflect on your life, in the present, with memories of the past.
Poetry is a doorway into the practice of slowing down and a doorway into honouring yourself. Many women have written their life stories in the form of poetry. We’ll have a look at some examples and be inspired to write our own poems from life.
I was born home-loving, under the sign of Cancer,
grew up with my grandparents in their small, Ontario house.
Plum trees, a potato patch, hollyhocks against the woodshed.
A pump in the middle of the garden.
From “Memoir II” by Mary Ann Moore
Please note: Fees are due before the circles begin, by e-transfer to creativity@maryannmoore.ca or by cheque made out to Mary Ann Moore and sent to:
76 Colwell Road, Nanaimo, B.C. V9X 1E4
For further information or questions you may have, please contact Mary Ann Moore at:
E: creativity@maryannmoore.ca
T: 250-591-7990
Mary Ann Moore (she/her) is a poet, writer and writing mentor living on the traditional lands of the Snuneymuxw First Nation in Nanaimo. Her published work includes: Mending (poetry); Fishing for Mermaids (poetry); Writing Home: A Whole Life Practice (a writing guide); Writing to Map Your Spiritual Journey (a digital writing guide), a blog; and many book reviews. The women’s writing circles are a passion of Mary Ann’s and she finds great delight in seeing women awaken their creative potential and to their own stories from life.