Writing takes courage. It takes courage to meet our inner creative energies. Writing with others, in a safe, stimulating, structured environment, can ease the process of embarking on the inner journey, and even take us to new heights and depths we hadn’t known lay within us.

In the writing groups that I lead, participants generate new material in response to prompts that I give. Prompts may be spoken or written, visual (such as postcards or books), aural (music, sounds of nature), kinesthetic (texture, taste). Writers are also free to write from their own inner prompts, if they aren’t inspired by the prompts provided. We write for timed sessions of 5, 10, 15, or 20 minutes, and then read our work aloud (writers are always free to skip this step). Following clear and simple guidelines we share the impact of what we’ve heard, telling the writer what was strong and what we liked.

This process works for new and experienced writers. As we gather, go within, then share what emerges, and risk knowing and seeing, being known and being seen, we create a community of depth and kindness.