In this hour-long workshop, we will dig to the root of meaning and write from the heart.

In WRITING CHURCH we:

Read aloud a piece of writing, a poem or brief prose
Discuss that piece of writing
Write together
Share our work (optional)

Bring a notebook or computer, possibly a candle, a cup of tea or coffee — whatever will make the time feel special and supportive.

All writing genres and levels welcome.

These meetings occur during the holiday season as an antidote to frenzy and rushing. WRITING CHURCH feels compact, potent, and essential — like a wheatgrass shot or a brief nap from which you awake feeling profoundly rested or a burst of laughter that momentarily dispels grief.

WRITING CHURCH is available on a sliding scale from $0-50. Please contribute what you can. Those who can afford to pay help support those who can’t. 10% of proceeds will be donated to 916 Ink, a Sacramento, California arts-based nonprofit organization that empowers youth through creative writing workshops.

The Inspiration

When one of my recent writing workshops ended, we continued to meet on Sunday mornings for a few more weeks. I jokingly called these sessions WRITING CHURCH, but later realized this wasn’t such a joke.

Writing is my most regular act of devotion. When we are writing with curiosity and intuition, we’re in a relationship with some other force greater than ourselves, something mysterious we can’t quite name. For ease we call it creativity.

Writing (and reading) can offer wisdom and clarity. It’s a practice from which we learn about ourselves and the world.

Writing (and reading) can pull us back from the spinning madness and put us back in touch with what really matters.

Writing isn’t a hobby or a pastime whose rewards are offered casually. Most of us make sacrifices for our writing lives—of time, money, leisure.

The purpose of these meetings is to come together in our shared belief in the power of art: to read, to talk, to listen, and to write together. To revel in and engage with language as a system of meaning-making.

The WRITING CHURCH mood board: We’re gathered in a circle in a grove of trees. We read poetry and listen to ancient sounds of the woods. Afterwards, the Indigo Girls sing about love and truth while we all drink tea and eat ginger cookies in dappled sunlight.

WRITING CHURCH reality: We meet Sunday mornings on Zoom! Bring your own tea, cookies, tree boughs, and candles.