This free writing group is for women who are undergoing profound transitions and feel that in some sense they are “starting again.” The weekly writing prompts, running Thanksgiving Week 2024 to Thanksgiving Week 2025, offer an opportunity to reflect, create, and look ahead, while exploring the possibilities of language to heal and inspire. Wherever life takes you this coming year, the hope is for a rebirth and a newfound sense of joy. The writing group will offer the opportunity to produce new work and to enjoy a creative community. There is no pressure to share work or to workshop, the point of this group is to allow you to simply create and maintain your privacy.

All writing exercises are posted on my website and on twitter once per week. Please follow me on my website and on twitter if you’d like to join.

Writing Exercise 1: Begin Where You Are. Look around the room where you are now, as you are reading this note. Describe what you see in as much detail as possible, using all of the five senses. Is there any detail that seems memorable? How did you get to this place? What do you think the day has in store for you? You can write this as a poem in any style no longer than one page, or as a prose piece no longer than 300 words. Enjoy!

Writing Exercise 2: Unfamiliarity. Write a short story about traveling to a country where you don’t speak the language. You just found out that you lost your passport and your wallet. You can’t prove who you say you are. 300 words. Enjoy!

THANKSGIVING DAY PROMPT: We often remark, “It’s now what we say, but how we say it that makes a difference.” Imagine a conversation you wanted to have with a person you loved but you never had. What do you wish this person would have asked you and what would you have answered? Write this conversation using traditional dialogue style and punctuation. Then rewrite this conversation without using any dialogue tags. After you read both versions (the traditional dialogue piece, and the narrated conversation), reflect on how each style of writing influenced the details of the story. 300 words for each style. Enjoy!

Writing Exercise 3: House. There are stories in each room of the house. Visualize one room at the time in a house where you lived. In this exercise, recall a particular event that took place in a room, and write about it as a prose poem. Think of the poem as a complete idea, so make the narrative self-contained: let it stand on its own. Is it the room or the event that occupies more of your memory? 300 words. Enjoy!

Writing Exercise 4: Regret. Write a story about an object you had for a long time that you associate with a particular regret in your life. An unused champagne flute? A stone you’ve carrying from house to house? A book you never read? That lovely blouse or dress that you never quite found the occasion to wear? What exactly is regret? The expired plane ticket you kept in your planner? 300 words. Enjoy!

Writing Exercise 5: Catch-22. Women are often forced in impossible situations. Write a short story about a “catch-22” moment in your life, and how you overcame it. (If you haven’t read the novel, take some time over the holidays to read it.) 300 words. Enjoy!

Writing Exercise 6: What If? Imagine that you could just pack your backpack and leave everything behind on the 1st of January. Who would miss you? What would the first page of your story read like? 300 words. HAPPY NEW YEAR!! My new book of poems, Tristia, is out in January.

Writing Exercise 7: Transformation. Please respond to the poem in the link below with a story written in poetic language. https://onbeing.org/poetry/transformation/ 300 words. Enjoy!

Writing Exercise 8: Women who start again. Write a short essay on a woman who changed her life completely in an admirable way. What is particular about her and her circumstances? 300 words. Enjoy!

Writing Exercise 9. Tell the story of your city in 300 words. Here are some ideas: City and the Writer with Words Without Borders.

Writing Exercise 10: Describe the place that has nourished you the most in your past year. 300 words. Enjoy!

Writing Exercise 11: “This being human in a guest house.” (Rumi) Take the first two lines of the poem “The Guest House” by Rumi and extend the metaphor with your personal story. Make it a poem or a story, no longer than 300 words. Enjoy!

Writing exercise 12. Murmurations of Starlings. Describe these images of starlings. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4f_1_r80RY Do they remind you of a life experience? 300 words. Enjoy!

Writing Exercise 13: Censorship. Can anyone stop words from traveling? Write about the experience of not feeling able to speak your mind. Choose imagery from any scientific field to express this experience. 300 words. Enjoy!

Writing Exercise 14: Clarity. The article on the following link was just published: it’s about dealing with difficult situations in writing. https://pulp.aadl.org/node/640929 Write a 300 words piece about the way you search for clarity through writing. Enjoy!