A New Year!
a workshop announcement + a writing prompt & exercise for January
Hi writers and readers,
Twenty twenty five. 2025. I keep looking at that date. I don’t think I’ve ever felt less ready for a new year. I am still processing 2024. Hell, I am still processing 2020! But here we are, with a brand new year. What are we going to do with it?
I keep seeing a story floating around instagram that before the introduction of the Julian Calendar, the new year was traditionally celebrated in March around the Spring Equinox instead of in the dead of winter.
I don’t know if it’s true, but this year it certainly feels true.
So it feels a little aggressive to be sending out a prompt this early in the year, in the bleak midwinter, when we are all so sleepy. But there’s also something nice about the ritual of it, of knowing I’m writing to all of you, that we’re making time for our art and sitting with our imagination through every season.
But first, an announcement:
If you're a local (Durham, Raleigh, Chapel Hill, NC) female-identifying writer working on a memoir or other personal creative nonfiction and you want a place to commit more deeply to your writing practice in this new year, there is an opening in my Thursday Writers that I’m hoping to fill by January 15th.
Here’s a little more about the group: It was launched in June 2023. The bulk of our time is spent in workshop. We prepare for our workshop by closely reading each other's creative nonfiction (personal essays or memoir excerpts) a week before class on our own time, and then spend the class period giving constructive feedback on that work. By reading and providing feedback on each other’s work we become more observant, empathetic and skillful writers.
We also make space for discussions about craft and the writing life, as well as the occasional writing or reading exercise. We give each other support and encouragement, we troubleshoot and we vent!
This workshop group is geared toward writers who may not have the time or resources for an MFA but still want the same continuity, community and rigor. If you're ready to receive feedback from an MFA-trained instructor as well as your peers, this is the place for you. If you want to build more skills as a writer, this is the place for you. If you want to learn how to more constructively give and receive feedback in a creative writing workshop, this is the place for you.
The Thursday Writers convenes in person in Durham, North Carolina on a monthly basis, every fourth Thursday from 10am - 12:30pm ET, with lots of opportunities for connection between classes.
Right now the group is made up of 5 female-identifying writers, most of whom are working on memoir or other creative nonfiction work. We have space for a 6th writer, hopefully someone working in the personal essay/creative nonfiction/memoir genre that doesn’t mind joining a workshop group that’s been running for over a year. Maybe that’s you?
Get in touch by January 12th for pricing and application information. (Just press reply and it’ll go straight to my email inbox.) I require a short application process for this workshop, just to make sure I am matching writers working at a similar level of commitment and experience.
The first session of 2025 is on January 23rd. Please spread the word to other local writers!
Each month I offer a writing prompt and a reading recommendation for my paid subscribers, geared toward writers of creative nonfiction and memoir.
My hope is that these prompts and recommendations can be a resource for writers who want to engage with the creative nonfiction world and with their writing practice on their own schedule, and generate new ideas and maybe even new work.
The first step to finding authority and authenticity in your writing, after all, is to write and read. Take some time to notice what resonates with you, notice what you like and what nags at you in other essays, poems and books. Write a few lines or paragraphs yourself, within the safe confines of a prompt. You never know what starting these new habits might bring forth.
Writing Prompt:
A writing prompt is not meant to produce a finished essay or poem or piece of fiction. It’s meant to be a start. It’s meant to be a little writing sprint, a little writing muscle workout. Maybe it’ll become something bigger. But most likely it’ll be writing for the sake of writing, to connect to yourself and your imagination.
The prompts can be used for journaling, for generating new essay/memoir material, or these prompts can offer a chance to connect with yourself and your creativity, to flex that writing muscle and explore new ideas.
You might not necessarily connect with every prompt, but remember to sit with the blank page, breathe through the discomfort of not knowing what to say, and use the whole 20 minutes to write. At the end of the 20 minutes you can pat yourself on the back because you committed to your writing practice today. That’s always enough.
Let’s take three minutes for prep. Before we work with prompts, especially if we are working outside of the classroom, we should take time to prepare. This pre-writing process is important because it sets the stage for the writing you're going to do.
Here are five things to consider:
1) Time & Place
Do some thinking about when and where you want to complete this prompt.