This is your invitation to come back to your center, to find the water at the bottom of the well, to become your own divining rod for your creativity. Join me. Together, we will find a way through.

In March of this year, the Pandemic hit in full force and thus began The Great Pause. Stores closed. Supply chains were disrupted. Toilet paper became a hot commodity along with soap and hand sanitizer. People started gardening in record numbers. Children were homeschooled while parents struggled to work from home or, worse, lost their jobs and had to file for unemployment or make other arrangements.

If you, like me, are heartsick and devastated, know that you are not alone. I am in pain, and yet I know my pain and outrage is nothing compared to what our Black and Brown friends, neighbors, and family members are experiencing: not just today, but all the time.

As I write this, riots and protests are happening across the globe. The murder of George Floyd has sparked off a powder keg. Our communities are traumatized, enraged, and demand justice.

I can’t fix that alone. And it’s not even about me, and it’s not about my outrage. If you feel, as I do, that things must change, there are many good resources and voices of color whom you can listen to, learn from, and support. If you need ideas, please PM me and I’ll share what resources I have. If you have resources to share, please PM me so I can learn and amplify their reach.

But this brings me to you and me. If you are reading this, you are a fellow writer, struggling with your words to find Story and your own Truth. Me too.

On Sunday, June 14, 2020, I will be hosting a free online workshop using Julia Cameron’s third book in the Artist’s Way trilogy as our guide: Finding Water | the Art of Perseverance. I picked this one because the idea of this book is around how to fend off prolonged creative dry spells, or how to come out of one if you’ve fallen into one. Cameron has given her tools away for free with two stipulations: facilitators must do the work with participants, in her words, “No gurus.” And second, we cannot charge for this work.

I’ve facilitated Artist’s Way workshops since 2007 both in person and online. I find the tools deeply resonate with me and have helped me become and stay prolific. Right now, I’ve been struggling with finding that place of creativity, even while I have been outwardly creative: I’ve been journaling like crazy and weaving. But I’m not comfortable within myself, and that’s what I want to change. The collective trauma we were already experiencing with the pandemic (and over 100,000 dead in the U.S. alone; over 371,000 thousand worldwide as of this writing) has been added to by excessive police violence and racism. Let’s be clear here: the racist acts have not changed. What’s changed is they’re being filmed. While this is traumatic for many of us, for our beloved POC neighbors, friends, and family members this is daily lived experience. Yes, we are experiencing a trauma. My hope is, though, that we can come through this as a portal, not fall into it as a hole. With hard work we can emerge stronger, more equitable, more aware, and more creative.

Join me on this journey. The only thing necessary is the willingness to be open, to experience, and to be honest with yourself.

We begin Sunday, 06/14/2020.

Workshop details below:

The workshop will take place on our online forum, located https://writerzengarden.com/forums/

. If you haven’t already done so, please sign up for a free user account. We will be together for 14 weeks. Each week starts on Sunday. We will use a combination of Zoom calls (in person) and written discussion. I will announce the schedule for the Zoom calls when we get closer to the workshop start date.

Introductory Week:  Discuss the basic tools.  Share our goals and hopes, and maybe even a fear or two.  Figure out what we’re about so we can get the most out of the coming weeks.

Week 1:  Uncovering a Sense of Optimism

Week 2:  Uncovering a Sense of Reality

Week 3:  Uncovering a Sense of Support

Week 4:  Uncovering a Sense of Balance

Week 5:  Uncovering a Sense of Autonomy

Week 6:  Uncovering a Sense of Resolve

Week 7:  Uncovering a Sense of Resilience

Week 8:  Uncovering a Sense of Truth

Week 9:  Uncovering a Sense of Perspective

Week 10:  Uncovering a Sense of Safety

Week 11:  Uncovering a Sense of Discipline

Week 12:  Uncovering a Sense of Perseverance

Wrap Up:  Look back and review what we’ve gained.  Look forward and figure out what next steps we want to take.  Honor the work, and play, we’ve done.

Please let me know if you have any questions or issues. My email is noony AT acatherinenoon DOT com.