Posts Tagged ‘fall’
Does Your Writing Life Need a Reset? MY NEW ONLINE Fall Writing Retreats Are HERE!
Posted on: September 20, 2020
Hi Writers,
Over the past several months, I’ve heard from so many writers that their old ways of doing things just aren’t working.
Many of us aren’t writing and if we are writing, we’re not having a lot of joy doing it. Many of us are finding it hard to get ourselves to the page and to stay focused when we arrive. We’re often afraid, discouraged, and tired. Very tired. Our inner critics have been very loud during the past few months.
We haven’t danced with, wrangled with or been charmed by our muse(s) in quite a while.
I HEAR you and I’ve designed something for you that you will LOVE.
It’s time to RESET. I’ve found that if I don’t reset every 5-6 weeks regarding my mindset, exercise routine, and writing habits, I hit a wall.
A reset is in order. And FALL is a perfect time for one.
I’ve designed a NEW online monthly writing retreat series: Reset, Refresh and Reclaim
I call these themed retreats reset, refresh and reclaim for a reason—we need these qualities now more than ever to deal with the changing pace of life!
These well-paced structured retreats are designed to inspire you and connect you to other writers. You’ll get some serious writing done and have FUN while doing it!
Give me the next four months and I will take you from creatively blocked to creatively sparked!
My reset approach has kept me productive, writing and getting published throughout the last six months.
Space for these online retreats is limited. I’m offering this to YOU at these rates, before I advertise broadly, because you are part of my community as an engaged reader of this blog.
Want to see how excited I am to tell you about these retreats and what we will do in them? Here’s a brief video:
If you don’t want to watch the video, it’s fine. All the details are below.
Here’s what people have said recently about my expertise as a coach and writing facilitator:
“Michele’s calm voice and emphasis on mindfulness practices has been a boon to my writing.” Amy T.
“I’ve written more with Michele in two hours during her Write-INs than I have during the last four months.” Francesca P.
“Michele encourages one to do their deepest work in a supportive environment.” Mark J.
“I thoroughly enjoyed September’s writing retreat! You have a wonderful teaching style, and as someone who struggles with ADHD, you kept me fully engaged the entire time.” Rachelle H.
ONLINE WRITING RETREATS
Reset, Refresh and Reclaim
If you’ve found yourself isolated, alone, and struggling with your writing, imagine how much different writing might feel if you had some dedicated and structured time, plus awesome community and coaching support.
Here’s a way to write THROUGH the fear, sludge and anxiety!
You can sign up for ONE retreat or ALL of them.
They all will include writing time (come with work or start something new), a brief writing craft discussion, fun writing exercises and games, mindfulness exercises for focus, and group coaching. We’ll have the option for a short lunch break and/or additional writing time.
Each retreat is curated to the needs and interests of the group. Once you register, I’ll send a brief survey to find out more about you. A few days prior to the workshop, you will receive additional information and any suggested readings or exercises.
Fall Retreat Dates:
*Saturday, Sept 26-The Harvest of 2020
Saturday, Oct 24-Characters
Saturday, Nov 21-Beginnings, Middles and Endings
Saturday, Dec 12–Author Mindset/Goals for 2021
(11am-2pm EST via ZOOM)
(Dec’s retreat will go 11-3, BONUS hour!)
(*tentative topics; each workshop is tailored to registered participants)
That’s 16+ hours of writing, community and support for you over the next 4 months!
Want to feel GREAT at the end of the year knowing that you MADE time for and NOURISHED your writing life? I know you do!
Ready to sign up? Ready to Reset?
Each online writing retreat is $69.00
Sign up for the remaining 3 for $197(discounted!)
I can accept payment in a few ways:
-via PayPal:
(The link above takes you to my Creative Tickle business link. In the comment box for PayPal, let me know which month(s) you are registering for.)
-I’m also on Zelle as Michele Berger (State Employees’ Credit Union)
Questions? Email me at mtb@creativetickle.com
Look forward to seeing you soon!
***
BTW: Your invitation still stands, click here to get your free guide: ‘Ten Ways to Keep Connected to Your Writing Self during COVID-19’.
- In: creative writing | creativity | writing
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“The fruits of the harvest are gathered and stored. The trees shed their leaves and reveal their true forms. The days grow shorter and darker, reminding us of how brief our time on earth really is. It’s autumn: a season for reflecting on what it means to be truly alive, and for giving thanks for the gifts an authentic life bestows.”
Alan Jones and John O’Neil, Seasons of Grace: The Life-Giving Practice of Gratitude
Although the weather is still warm for many of us, autumn is here and requests our attention. Autumn invites us to reflect on the fruits of our harvest and make sense of a way forward. We know the fallow period of winter is not far away. I love this time of harvesting, gathering and reflecting. Around this time of year, I also find it much easier to reboot my gratitude jar practice if it has fallen off track. Keeping a gratitude jar is like rocket fuel for your creative life. Don’t know what a gratitude jar is or how to fill one up? Here’s my post on this amazing practice.
Here are some writing prompts to feed your creative impulses as you explore the gifts of fall:
-Look at the following two words—autumn and authenticity. What connections between these two words do you sense? (Authors Alan Jones and John O’Neil note that both of these words share the Latin root aut-, meaning “to increase or grow”.)
-What are you harvesting this fall?
-Write about a time when you felt bountiful.
-Write about the bounty of your writing and/or creative life as it is right now.
-Write about what you’re most grateful for.
-Write about what you feel like you should be grateful for, but aren’t.
-Write about the gifts from summer. What came to fruition? What didn’t? What are you letting go of for fall?
-When do you feel the most authentic? Alone? With others? At work? In nature?
-What are your favorite autumn flavors?
-What was a ‘back to school’ ritual that you loved as a child? What rituals do you enact during fall as an adult?
Have you noticed a slight chill in the air? Have you been marveling at the changing colors of the leaves? Have you started to think about unpacking your fall sweaters?
Autumn is here and it requests our attention. At each change of season, I turn to Seasons of Grace: The Life-Giving Practice of Gratitude by Alan Jones and John O’Neil. Seasons of Grace traces gratitude through the metaphor of the four seasons, encouraging readers to practice gratitude in new ways. It’s a remarkable book that has taught me so much about the power of gratitude as a foundational practice.
I have found that gratitude is a creativity enhancer. The more that we can cultivate gratitude, the more we can withstand the ups and downs, the boons and dry spells of a creative life.
They begin their chapter on autumn in this way:
“The fruits of the harvest are gathered and stored. The trees shed their leaves and reveal their true forms. The days grow shorter and darker, reminding us of how brief our time on earth really is. It’s autumn: a season for reflecting on what it means to be truly alive, and for giving thanks for the gifts an authentic life bestows.
It’s no coincidence that autumn and authenticity are linguistic cousins. Both share the Latin root aut-, meaning “to increase or grow.” Autumn brings the harvest bounty: the earth’s increase. Authenticity brings the reward of increased self-knowledge and awareness, of a life augmented (another word cousin!) through integrity. As autumn represents the ripening of the crops, so authenticity represents the coming into maturity of our characters. The link is gratitude, which allows us to ground ourselves in humility and recognize our authentic nature. When we live gratefully, we become more truly ourselves.”
Autumn presents us with an opportunity to reflect on our inner and outer harvests. Here are some writing prompts to feed your creative impulses as you explore the gifts of fall:
-Look at the following two words—autumn and authenticity. What connections between these two words do you sense?
-What’s most authentic in your creative work right now?
-When do you feel the most authentic? Alone? With others? At work? In nature?
-Write about the gifts from summer. What came to fruition? What didn’t? What are you letting go of for fall?
-What is your creative bounty?
-Finish the sentence: If I were living more authentically, I would…
-What are the 10 things you’re grateful for right now?
-Explore the list of seasonal words and phrases below. Pick one or two words or phrases that carry the most energy for you and free write about them for 5 minutes. Then choose one or two words or phrases that carry the least energy for you and free write about them for 5 minutes.
I’d love to hear your reflections on any of these prompts!
Seasonal Words and Phrases
Inner and Outer Harvest
Fruit
Light and Shadow
Waning light
Yearning
The out breath
The in breath
Change of color
Change of form
Surrender
Yield
Journey
Marvel
Inner equinox
Wheel of seasons
Going Within
Cyclical
Spreading
Season of preparation
Fallen Leaves
Opening
Closing
Balance
Turning
Radiate
Joyful completion
Roots
Autumn Light
Abundant core
Living in gratitude
Deepening
Mellowing
Maturing
Bountiful
The harvest is stored
Labor
Lady of the Sunset
Blessing
Harvest Moon
Revision
Practice
Letting Go
Seasonal Change
Ripening into autumn
Gathering and storing
Bird migrations
Wonder and Awe
Winds of Change
Yesterday was World Gratitude Day. Did you celebrate it? World Gratitude Day was officially started in 1977 by the United Nations Meditation Group. The idea for it was seeded some years before at a dinner with spiritual teacher Sri Chinmoy. World Gratitude Day provides us an opportunity to express appreciation to others and reflect on what we’re grateful for in our lives. How nicely the reminder to practice and extend gratitude leads us into the marvel of the first day of fall.
Autumn requests our attention in a way that feels different than the other seasons. Autumn invites us to reflect on the nature of our harvest and make sense of a way forward. We know the fallow period of winter is not far away.
Here are some writing prompts to feed your creative impulses as you explore the gifts of fall:
-Look at the following two words—autumn and authenticity. What connections between these two words do you sense? (Authors Alan Jones and John O’Neil note that both of these words share the Latin root aut-, meaning “to increase or grow”.)
-When do you feel the most authentic? Alone? With others? At work? In nature?
-What is in your harvest?
-Write about what you’re most grateful for.
-Write about what you feel like you should be grateful for but aren’t.
-Write about a time when you felt bountiful.
-Write about the three most authentic people you know. What do they have in common?
-Write about the gifts from summer. What came to fruition? What didn’t? What are you letting go of for fall?
Creative Harvest Meditation:
Sit in a comfortable position. Rest your hands on your belly. Take several deep breaths noticing how the belly expands on the in breath and contracts on the out breath. As you settle into your body allow yourself to imagine (in your mind’s eye and through sensations in the body) a feeling of great warmth flooding through the stomach and low back. Breathe in the feeling of expansion. Let your mind’s eye experience the different colors associated with fall: blazing yellows, scarlet reds, pumpkin oranges, rusty browns and deep majestic purples.
Feel the richness of your inner landscape with each breath.
Slowly repeat the following phrases to yourself (in your mind or aloud, whatever feels right in the moment)—The harvest asks of me, the harvest intends for me, the harvest gives me…(you can also substitute ‘autumn’ for ‘harvest’).
Invite the energy that has gathered in your core to offer bodily wisdom. Repeat these phrases over a few times and then freewrite the first responses that come to mind.
At the close of the summer, I’ve been rummaging through several journals containing writing from the past year. At the end of a writing workshop last December, my instructor gave us a stimulating prompt. The prompt was: ‘The writer I was meant to be’ and we had ten minutes to free write about it. I wrote the following:
“The writer I was meant to be writes with the courage and sophistication of James Baldwin
-the irresistible beauty of Gish Jen
-the depth of Ursula Le Guin
-the creativity of Ntozake Shange
-the honesty of Alice Walker
-the fearlessness of Walter Mosley
-the precision of Sheri S.Tepper
-the humor of Jonathan Lethem
The writer I was meant to be encompasses the qualities of writers I admire above. It [a writing career] takes craft, training, persistence and subtlety. I’m still working on it! I’ve written probably under a 100 beautiful pitch perfect sentences in my fiction (even though I have written a lot!). Hmm, maybe a new goal for 2011?”
In the ensuing discussion, everyone shared remarkable insights about the distance between the ‘writer that they were meant to be’ and ‘the writer they were’ at that moment. We bemoaned and laughed about this distance and congratulated ourselves for what we had already accomplished. After I left the workshop, I thought about that ‘100 beautiful sentences’ line. I made an intention for 2011. I wanted to generate a lot of writing, but also aim to craft more beautiful sentences. I felt this was a worthy goal. I haven’t gone through all of my writing this year and evaluated how many beautiful sentences I’ve crafted. But, I know that holding this intention during the last ten months has helped me pay more attention to the quality as well as quantity of my writing. And, I’ve found myself writing more poems, a pleasant surprise, and enjoying using language in fresh ways. A few weeks ago, I stumbled upon Stanley Fish’s provocative and helpful How to Write a Sentence (and How to Read One). It is a spirited meditation on sentence craft. I highly recommend it.
So, as fall approaches and we turn naturally inward, I pose to you these free writes: ‘The writer I was meant to be…’.Try that for ten minutes and then try ‘The writer I am right now at this moment’ for ten minutes. Compare the two lists and reflect on patterns, similarities, differences, challenges and opportunities.
And, finally have you written 100 beautiful sentences this year? Is that an interesting or worthy goal for you? To answer this question might mean making some time to pour over your journal entries, blog posts and other writings. I see you curled up in comfortable warm clothing, as the leaves are turning outside, with a cup of soup near by and lavishing attention on your prose.
These exercises might seed something in you that ripens later this year or in 2012.
I’d love to hear your reflections.
Photo Credit: Ismoyo’s Vintage Playground
The Practice of Creativity 