Thursday Writers at Lestat’s Coffeehouse, San Diego 2024

Last week I participated in four different writing groups, each with a different approach to writing. At each session, I marveled at what we can do—what we actually do—when we come together in community to learn, to support, to practice, to grow, to share. I came away from each group thinking how lucky I am to be a part of so many different writing communities.

As many of you know, I’ve been a champion for writing groups and writing in community for many years. Some of you have been in various groups with me and I’ve learned and loved every experience—some more than others, of course. Some groups have lasted as long as three decades; some came and went in a single instance.

Many years ago I wrote a book about writing groups. Writing Alone, Writing Together, was published by New World Library in 2002 and is still available as an e-book. Some of the content is outdated, of course. Online groups were barely a thing in those days and in the book, I refer to “floppy disks.” Some of you many not recognize that term. These are the opening paragraphs to the Introduction:

“Writing is a solitary act. We must do it alone. We must go into our singular place of creation, where we sit long hours before our computer, or with pen in hand, notebook on table, and dip down into our own well. Even when we write together, we must go to the page alone. Even when we collaborate, each of us must pull needles from our own internal haystack.

“Yet for all the ideas of writer as solitary, tortured soul alone in the cramped garret or shambled studio working into the night, in reality writers, like the rest of humanity, are basically communal creatures. We search out our own kind and build community as naturally as we breathe. It is within community we connect with others and, through our connecting, find home.”

Why I returned to that book was the result of participating in and facilitating those four specific writing groups last week. At my Tuesday night Memoir Read and Critique Group, I was once again deeply touched by the caring of group members for one another and the closeness that has developed over our two-plus years together.

The day before, my monthly Captured Moments group met via Zoom—eight women from around the country and the world, wrote together and then shared their stories. Their heartfelt response to one another’s work exemplified the trust that happens when we come together with a common purpose.

At Lestat’s Hillcrest, Thursday Writers assembled as we do every Thursday—eighteen of us this time. We squared up our tables, wrote together to a prompt, writing-practice style. Again, I was struck by how writers support each other as we wrote spontaneously then read our work aloud. In this group, no critique or feedback is given. We read aloud to hear what we’ve written and to give voice to our stories while others listen, silent witnesses to our process.

The fourth incident was a workshop I taught at San Diego Writers, Ink— ”Capturing Emotion on the Page: Atmosphere and Mood.” Fourteen writers joined together to study the craft of writing, engage in lively discussions, and practice techniques and approaches to their work.

Tuesday Memoir Read & Critique Group, San Diego Writers, Ink 2025

The Introduction from Writing Alone, Writing Together continues, slightly edited.

“As long as we’ve been putting pen to page, we writers come together for community. I have been involved in writing groups in one way or another since I was eleven years old, when my sister, my best friend, and I agreed to write stories together and to read them to each other. My first story was titled “Three Buckets of Blood,” a tale in which vampires take over the chicken coop in our backyard. By then, I had been a writer for nearly three years, having named myself one in third grade. My work as a solitary writer and as a member of any number of writing groups continues to this day, well over half a century later.

“Though ultimately it is the page that teaches us to write, in my years of experience as a writing teacher and as a participant of many, many writing groups, I’ve come to believe it’s working within the community of other writers that we learned the craft, the discipline, and the process of our art. This is where we become Writers.”

Wild Women of Ajijic at a retreat at near Lake Chapala, Jalisco, Mexico, 2019

What’s your experience with writing groups? Do you participate in a group regularly? Do you find a particular style of group works best for you? Do you read your work aloud at Open Mic groups? I’d love to hear about your experiences.

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San Diego Writers, Ink is searching for a new Executive Director

San Diego Writers, Ink is seeking a visionary, collaborative leader who shares our organization’s passion for nurturing writers and fostering an empowered literary community of diverse voices. If you, or someone you know has experience in nonprofit management and development and would be a great fit for the position, you can find the job description and application details here.

I’ve known and worked with our current Executive Director, Kristen Fogle since she joined the organization nearly fourteen years ago. What she has created and added to and built over these many years has made Writers, Ink what it is today: a lively, inclusive, welcoming, and recognized home and community for all writers and storytellers, not only in San Diego, but across the country and yes, places around the world. A legacy she has given all of us. Kristen will continue to lead Writers, Ink through October 31, and after that continue to teach and facilitate workshops and retreats, such as the Winter Retreat at the Mission we do together each December.

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A few upcoming workshops and events

Jill Badonsky Art Exhibit & Reception—Monday, August 17, 6-8 pm, Inspirations Gallery, San Diego Writers, Ink

Dime Stories—Wednesday, August 18, 6:30 pm (sign-up), The Book Catapult. Come to San Diego’s original open mic prose reading every third Wednesday of the month. Bring your own three-minute story (fact or fiction) or come listen. You can hear one of my stories here.

EPHIT (Every Prose Has Its Thorn)–Monday, August 24, 6:30 pm (sign-up), San Diego Writers, Ink. Join hosts Adam Greenfield and Brendan Praniewicz for two featured readers and open mic poetry every fourth Monday of the month. This month’s features are Nicole Paquin and Victoria Melekian.

Captured Moments—Monday, September 14, Noon-1:30 (PT) via Zoom. Join us for this monthly writing group as we embark on expeditions to discover, uncover, and recover those moments of change in our lives. Each session will include generative writing from a prompt and an opportunity to share your writing with others in the group.

Fall Equinox Celebration—Sunday, September 20, 10 am-Noon. In this Equinox observance, we’ll retreat into our notebooks and journals and gather a harvest of remembrances of summer-past and note our intentions for the coming season.

Fall for Writing Conference—Friday-Sunday, September 25-27. Save the date for San Diego Writers, Ink annual Fall Writing Conference, 12 mini-workshop via Zoom, and three in person events. I’m excited to lead a return edition of Prompt Church on Sunday morning via Zoom.

Everything Happens Somewhere: How Place Shapes Story, Character, and Memory—Saturday, October 17, 2pm-4 pm, San Diego Writers, Ink. Everything happens somewhere and readers want to know where that somewhere is, and how it influences the story. In this generative writing workshop, we’ll explore place through writing exercises and prompts.

Writing Retreat at The Mission—Saturday, December 19, 10 am- 3 pm. Join Writers, Ink Executive Director Kristen Fogle and co-founder Judy Reeves for a winter writing retreat at the beautiful and inspirational Mission San Luis Rey in Oceanside. Retreat writers may come for an overnight option on Friday, December 18 then stay for the all-day Saturday retreat.

Retreaters at Mission San Luis Rey, December 2025

Just One More Thing . . .

I think all artists … are forever in search of a community. It’s a solitary act, and you need a community of like-minded souls to survive and flourish. –Stanley Kunitz

“Our world is awash in information. What we need is wonder.” This is a quote from Austin Kleon’s newest book, Don’t Call It Art. I copied those words onto a sticky note and brought it to my desk where it gets moved forward every time I turn the page in my planner. I’ve been wondering about wonder ever since.

“Wonder” is a word that, like many in the English language, has more than one meaning: A noun—to be filled with admiration, amazement, or awe. And a verb—to think or speculate curiously.

We writers need both. We need the kind of wonder Jill Badonsky told us about in her book, The Awe-manac–A Daily Dose of Wonder. “…to have or be open to the ability to recognize the deep pleasure possible in a simple moment.” And we need, as Austin Kleon told us, “…to be curious, to explore, get lost, discovering something on our own.”

Every morning when I fill the pot with water for my tea, I am filled with wonder as I gaze at the plantings of baby lavender on my windowsill. I planted the minuscule seeds on Spring Equinox in March, and put the little pots on my kitchen window sill. A month later, I delighted in the tiny sprigs making their way through the soil. One day, who knows when, I may see tiny buds taking shape into those fragrant lavender flowers I love so. I am filled with both awe for the marvel of seed to sprout to flower, and amazement that I get to witness, on a daily basis, such a miracle.

The other morning, I opened my meditation app and, as synchronicity would have it, I found this quote from Mary Oliver, “Keep room for a little wonder.” And so I do, and remember Mary Oliver’s iconic poem, “The Summer Day.”

Who made the world?

Who made the swan, and the black bear?

Who made the grasshopper?

I ask questions of my own as I visit the Native Plant Garden in my neighborhood’s Bird Park where the scent of sage invites me to breathe deeply and where, nearby, little ones giggle as they’re pushed higher and higher in the swings, and dogs gallump through the grass. I marvel at their happiness. “Marvel,” another word for wonder, which reminds me of another book I love—World of Wonders, by Aimee Nezhukumatathil, subtitled, In Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks, and Other Astonishments.

It is a world of wonders if we pause to notice, to pay attention. This is good for us as human beings sharing this world and as writers sharing our stories. As a writer, every day, when I open my notebook and pick up my pen, I am curious to discover what might come from putting pen to page. I want to explore, to get lost in words and ideas and images. I wonder what will appear. Or what sometimes doesn’t.

Tell me, what is it that causes you to wonder, in astonishment or in curiosity?

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A Year in Ink, Vol 19, edited by Adam Greenfield and Brendan Praniewicz was released at a gala reading at the Mingei Museum in Balboa Park. I am grateful to have a piece in the anthology and honored to be among so many great writers, both prose and poetry. Thank you, Adam and Brendan, and thank you Kristen Fogle and San Diego Writers, Ink for this annual collection. You can order your copy here.

A few upcoming readings and events

Voices for Pride–A Community Open Mic, Friday, July 10, 6-7:30 pm, San Diego Writers, Ink. Read your own prose or poetry or bring an excerpt from a queer author. Allies welcome. Hosted by Adhara Mereles.

Captured Moments—Monday, July 12, Noon-1:30 (PT) via Zoom. Join us for this monthly writing group as we embark on expeditions to discover, uncover, and recover those moments of change in our lives. Each session will include generative writing from a prompt and an opportunity to share your writing with others in the group.

Dime Stories—Wednesday, July 15, 6:30 pm (sign-up), The Book Catapult. Come to San Diego’s original open mic prose reading every third Wednesday of the month. Bring your own three-minute story (fact or fiction) or come listen.

EPHIT (Every Prose Has Its Thorn)–Monday, July 27, 6:30 pm (sign-up), San Diego Writers, Ink. Join hosts Adam Greenfield and Brendan Praniewicz for two featured readers and open mic poetry every fourth Monday of the month.

Creating Emotion on the Page—Wednesday, August 12, 6:30-8:30 pm, San Diego Writers, Ink. In this workshop, we’ll explore techniques that create atmosphere, generate mood, and evoke emotion.

More opportunities for writers and journalors

Wondrous Writers’ Retreat–A Creative Retreat for Writers—October 5-11, San Miguel de Allende. Friends and generous and gifted creatives, Joseph Bennett and Eli Hans are hosting this retreat that promises, well, wonder. After all, look at the title. The hosts are pretty wondrous themselves. Here’s your link.

IAJW–the International Association for Journal Writers is offering new membership options for journalors to join this inclusive worldwide community. Lots of new ideas in the online shop as well. I’m honored to serve on the Journal Council along with many experts in the field. IAJW Director, Lynda Monk’s book, The Adoptee’s Guild to Healing, Wholeness & Growth, is rich with information and journaling invitations. Go here to find out more about IAJW.

INKspiration: Rising Stars is a Zoom-based learning experience featuring emerging and next-generation teachers, therapists, coaches and writers who bring fresh voice, depth, and innovation to the field of journal writing. Hosted by Kathleen Adams. You’re invited to join these inspiring events on Saturday, July 18 and Saturday, October 24 with a special ten percent discount when you use the code TEN. Here’s the link to find out more.

Just One More Thing . . .

Always be on the look out for the presence of wonder. – E.B. White

I ask that question because of something that came up for me in reading Susan Orlean’s new memoir, Joyride. (Recommend!) Here’s a quote I tagged as I read:

“The single essential element in good writing is confidence. You need swagger to be a writer at all, to be convinced that readers should listen to you.”

That word “swagger” jumped off the page. Next thing I know I’m looking it up, not the dictionary definition, but the thesaurus, which offers: sashay, saunter. Oh! all those seductive “s” words. This sent me on a dive to find quotes using “swagger.” I love this one by television producer and screenwriter Shonda Rhimes.

“Wonder Woman is not faking it. Wonder Woman means it. Wonder Woman is all swagger and badassery.”

And this one from Poet Laureate Ada Limon from Bright Dead Things:

“I like the lady horses best, how they make it all look easy, … . I like their lady horse swagger, after winning. Ears up, girls, ears up!”

Oh, I want me some swagger.

As for the other part of the Susan Orlean quote about confidence, often I don’t have a lot of it as a writer, especially in the beginning stages of a project. At other points along the way, too, but beginnings are the most challenging for me.

So what does all this have to do with my question about giving certain qualities to our characters that we wish we ourselves had?

I’m at that stage in my current WIP that is more about developing characters than it is writing the story. This as yet unnamed novel has an ensemble cast of five women—all in the third third of their lives, all close friends. In my writing sessions they reveal more of themselves, sometimes speaking in first person, other times a narrator tells more about them individually or in relationship with each other.

Each of the characters has qualities I have myself; some have talents I wish I had, and some are engaged in things I get to learn more about as I write like organic gardening for instance, and Greek myths. But it’s Georgia who most fascinates me.

Georgia is a performance artist who creates a stage wherever she might be and launches into spontaneous pop-up performances. She’s a bit outrageous and I love her and I love writing about her. Georgia definitely has swagger.

Maybe that swagger is why I love her so and enjoy writing about her. Maybe that’s a quality she’s claimed that I wish I had myself.

Here’s another quote I found, this one from Candice Accola, of The Vampire Diaries:

“I dyed my hair, like Jessica Rabbit red. It kind of allowed me to have this whole new confidence and this whole new swagger and this whole new sense of self.”

This reminded me of something I’ve kidded about over the years. I’ve said that when I come back in the next life, I get to have red hair and legs as long as Uma Therman. Now that I think about it, maybe my next-life fantasy about having red hair is really about having confidence and swagger.

And yes, Georgia has red hair. Currently it’s a rich auburn shade but I have a feeling it’s going to be Jessica Rabbit-red as the story goes on. Come to think of it, Susan Orlean has red hair, too!

What about you? As a writer, do you give qualities to your characters you’d like to have, or that you admire? What’s your writerly confidence quotient? And whether you’re a writer or not, do you have swagger?

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Speaking of characters and other writerly topics, writer, editor, and writing coach Marla Miller recently invited me to join her on her video podcast Marla Miller Talks to Authors and Content Creators. What a wide-ranging conversation we had! Give a look and a listen, and find out what else Marla has to say on her Substack at Writersmama. Here’s a clip from the video where I talk about my characters. You can watch the entire conversation here.

A Few Upcoming Readings and Events

Captured Moments—Monday, June 8, Noon-1:30 (PT) via Zoom. Join us for this monthly writing group as we embark on expeditions to discover, uncover, and recover those moments of change in our lives. Each session will include generative writing from a prompt and an opportunity to share your writing with others in the group.

Writing in Nature at the J&J Ranch—Saturday, June 20, 10 am–4 pm, J&J Ranch, Descanso. Write, reflect, and connect with nature at the J&J Ranch—prompts, vision boards, lunch & more with Jill G. Hall, Kristen Fogle, and Judy Reeves.

A Year in Ink Reading—Monday, June 29, 5 pm, Mingei Gallery, Balboa Park. Authors in Vol. 19 of the San Diego Writers, Ink anthology will read their work. I’m honored to have my flash piece, “With Flowers at Her Feet,” chosen by guest editors Adam Greenfield and Brendan Praniewicz.

Dime Stories—Wednesday, May 20, 6:30 pm (sign-up), The Book Catapult. Come to San Diego’s original open mic prose reading every third Wednesday of the month. Bring your own three-minute story (fact or fiction) or come listen.

EPHIT (Every Prose Has Its Thorn)–Monday, May 25, 6:30 pm (sign-up), San Diego Writers, Ink. Join hosts Adam Greenfield and Brendan Praniewicz for two featured readers and open mic poetry every 4^th Monday of the month.

So what do you think? Can I carry it off?

Thank you for keeping company with me and The Lively Muse. My deepest gratitude for sharing the journey with me. This post and all the Lively Muse posts are public so please feel free to share it.

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Just One More Thing . . .

“The characters in my novels are my own unrealised possibilities. That is why I am equally fond of them all and equally horrified by them. Each one has crossed a border that I myself have circumvented.” ― Milan Kundera

What bright hope it takes to plant a seed, what tender patience to grow a garden. And what remarkable stamina to return, day after day, to the work of feeding and watering and weeding and thinning and transplanting.

In all this, gardening is a lot like writing.

Think of a garden and the rich, loamy earth that’s exposed when you heave to with hoe and shovel. This is what happens when we write. We dig in with pen, turning the soil of an idea, a memory. We keep writing, turning the soil, going deeper. Surprised maybe, at what we’ve unearthed and curious—why this image, this day? We weed and thin as we edit and revise.

“More than anything else, a garden is a portal, a passage into another world, one of your own thoughts and your own making; it is whatever you want it to be and you are what you want to be,” wrote William Longgood.

Again, writing, like gardening—a passage into another world, one of our own making.

It wasn’t exactly a garden that we planted when we came together for “Planting Seeds for Peace,” our Spring Equinox Celebration last month. We wrote together and shared our stories and we planted miniscule lavender seeds in tiny containers to take home with us and tend, much as we tend to our writing. Now, just over two weeks later, the two little pots on my kitchen windowsill have sprouted over a dozen shoots, each holding the promise of a beautiful, fragrant lavender stem. I get giddy every morning when I sprinkle water into the pots, welcoming and celebrating each new green sprig, a feeling not unlike what I experience when my writing is working, or when it surprises me, when it promises to reveal something new to me.

I know the metaphor is obvious. Planting seeds, tending gardens—one word at a time, one story seed at a time. I know what I’m implying with the hoeing and watering, weeding and thinning. This is our work as story gardeners.

I like this Margaret Atwood quote from Bluebeard’s Egg, “In the spring, at the end of the day, you should smell like dirt.”

So, after a day or an afternoon or even an hour of writing, what would be our smell? What is the smell of words? Sentences? Paragraphs or poems?

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Blazing Laptops Write-a-thon

On Sunday, April 26, I’ll join dozens of other writers for San Diego Writers, Ink 19th annual Blazing Laptops Write-a-thon.

Blazing Laptops is a six-hour non-stop, write ‘til you drop, writing marathon and I’m committed to writing for the full six hours, swollen fingers and flagging imagination be damned.

I’ve been involved with San Diego Writers, Ink since the beginning. I was among the volunteers who started the nonprofit organization more than 20 years ago and served as Executive Director during our first five formative years. I’m still deeply involved—I serve as Board President and I continue to lead groups, teach classes, and volunteer.

I know this is a departure from what I usually write in The Lively Muse, and I promise, it is the only time I’ll ask, but what I need besides stamina, coffee, and a good supply of M&Ms for this non-stop day of writing, are sponsors who’ll pledge to support me in my efforts.

Here’s my request: Will you sponsor me for any amount of your choosing ($5/minimum/no maximum!)? I would be so grateful for your support and promise to do you proud. I’m going to call out sponsors names every hour on the hour and say “Thank you” loud and proud. I’d love for your name to be among those I get to announce.

To support me, all you have to do is go to my personal webpage on the Blazing Laptops Write-a-thon website, and click on “Donate Now.” You’ll be taken to a secure pledge page. Just fill out the information, make your pledge in any amount, and you’re done.

I’ve set my personal goal at $750.00! With your support, I know I can make that goal.

With the current challenges to free speech and more books than ever being banned nationwide, your support is more important now than ever. I truly appreciate your encouragement and your belief in my work and the work we do at San Diego Writers, Ink. San Diego Writers, Ink is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Your donation is tax deductible.

A few upcoming readings and events

Captured Moments—Monday, April 13, Noon-1:30 (PT) via Zoom. Join us for this monthly writing group as we embark on expeditions to discover, uncover, and recover those moments of change in our lives. Each session will include generative writing from a prompt and an opportunity to share your writing with others in the group.

San Diego Poetry Annual—Monday, April 13, 6:30-8:30 pm. SDPA is celebrating 20 years at this annual book launch at Point Loma Library. All poets whose work appears in the Annual are invited to read. I’m excited and honored to read my poem, “Ta Da,” which appears in this year’s collection. Open to all.

Steve Kowit Awards—Tuesday, April 21, 6-8 pm, San Diego Central Library. San Diego Poetry Annual and San Diego Public Library present the 10th annual Steve Kowit Poetry Prize, given to deserving poets anywhere in honor of celebrated San Diego poet Steve Kowit.

Common Ground: Earth Day Writing Gathering—Wednesday, April 22, 6:30-9:30 pm, San Diego Writers, Ink. Celebrate Earth Day with an evening of shared words and quiet reflection. We’ll gather to read and write about the planet we call home—nature’s influence on our lives and our own place within the living world.

The Sound of Us Rising – Community as Resistance—Friday, May 1, 6–7:30 pm, San Diego Writers, Ink. Join us for an evening of literary activism as we come together for an open mic of prose and poetry—raising our voices, holding space, and creating community. We’re proud to join with Fall of Freedom for this second nationwide wave of creative resistance.

Thank you for keeping company with me and The Lively Muse. My deepest gratitude for sharing the journey with me. This post and all the Lively Muse posts are public so please feel free to share it.

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Just One More Thing . . .

But always, to her, red and green cabbages were to be jade and burgundy, chrysoprase and porphyry. Life has no weapons against a woman like that. –Edna Ferber

It’s National Poetry Month. Write a poem. Read a poem. Kiss a poet.

My granddaughter got married last Saturday—a beautiful wedding in a gorgeous setting with family and friends present, all of us—and we were many—basking in the love and joy of this special day. I was giddy with happiness and a little teary with sentiment.

On Sunday morning in my usual place at my table, candle lit, journal open to a blank page before me. I wrote the day and the date and then stopped. What would be the first words that would capture all I felt about the event? How would I begin to describe … what would I begin to describe? Images, one after another, like fireworks, burst in my mind, the finale in a grand display of memories. But my pen remained still, hovering above the waiting page.

When what you want to write about is too large, to grand, where do you start?

This is when the whole idea of free-flow writing practice comes into play. You don’t try to think of the right place to begin, you simply begin. “First thought, best thought,” Allen Ginsberg told us and so we write one word and then the next. We “bird-by-bird” it, as Anne Lamott suggested. We capture—moment by moment, one image after another and soon we have filled four, six, ten pages in our journal. Moments, small and large, that make up the story, captured one and then another as the story reveals itself.

Some of these moments may not, on the surface, seem significant to the whole, but the feeling underlying that particular moment may hold deeper meaning for us. Emotion resides inside that moment, which is why we remember it. For now, we don’t judge which is the right moment, the best moment, we just write, surrendering to the page, letting our intuition have its way.

I’ll write more about the wedding, I’m sure, as time goes on and memories and images appear and who knows what may make its way into something larger or more complete. For now, I’ll just write the moments as they come, as I did in my Captured Moments group during our Monday session when I wrote about the sweet wrist bouquet I wore that day—all the grandmothers received one—small white roses, a few white delphinium blossoms, a touch of baby’s breath and just that bit of green on a copper wristband.

The practice of writing practice can serve us at other times too. I’m thinking about the chaos of the world right now, with so many areas of conflict and unrest, events that flare up like wildfires and are not so much contained, but overshadowed by the next and the one after that. Where do we begin to write about how we are affected by the outside world? What words can speak our truths? Again, we trust our pens and begin with the first word or image that comes and follow where it leads…moment by moment. Writing alone with our journals or in groups where we write alone/together, not for critique and not necessarily for publication, but to discover what matters to us and to give that voice on the page. “I write entirely to find out what I’m thinking,” said Joan Didion.

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On the Road Again

Kristen and I are packing our bags for our second Writers in Weird Places Road Trip—this time heading to the Southwest! Five stops in five days, looping through Arizona with even more strange, wonderful, and unexpected places to write together.

First stop: Yuma Territorial Prison—Friday, March 13. Join us for a live workshop at 1 pm PDT). We’ll also host a pajama dance party, visit an observatory among a few other weird places. Last stop: Sedona where I’ll get a tattoo live during our workshop. Write us at writersinweirdplaces@gmail.com to get the Zoom link to all the workshops.

A Few More Upcoming Events

Spring Equinox Celebration—Saturday, March 21, 10 am-Noon, San Diego Writers, Ink. Celebrate the spring equinox and the timeless magic of season renewal with me as we plant seeds for peace.

San Diego Writer’s Festival—Saturday, March 28, 9 am-6 pm, Coronado Public Library. The San Diego Writer’s Festival is a free, community-based event designed to celebrate the power of writing and storytelling.

Steve Kowit Awards—Tuesday, April 21, 4 pm, San Diego Central Library. San Diego Poetry Annual and San Diego Public Library present the 10th annual Steve Kowit Poetry Prize, given to deserving poets anywhere in honor of celebrated San Diego poet Steve Kowit.

Common Ground: Earth Day Writing Gathering—Wednesday, April 22, 6:30-9:30 pm, San Diego Writers, Ink. Celebrate Earth Day with an evening of shared words and quiet reflection. We’ll gather to read and write about the planet we call home—nature’s influence on our lives and our own place within the living world.

Blazing Laptops Write-a-thon—Sunday, April 26, 9 am-3 pm, Lestat’s Hillcrest. THE big annual fundraiser and writing marathon in support of San Diego Writers, Ink. Join me as a fellow blazer or a sponsor for our 19th annual Write-a-thon.

California poppies welcome Spring in Bird Park’s Native Plant Garden

Thank you for keeping company with me and The Lively Muse. My deepest gratitude for sharing the journey with me. This post and all the Lively Muse posts are public so please feel free to share it.

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Just One More Thing . . .

“There’s power in allowing yourself to be known and heard, in knowing your unique story, in using your authentic voice.” – Michelle Obama

It’s Women’s History Month . . . Let’s make some!

This is the thought that woke me this morning after a tossing and turning night of turmoil. Yes, I read Heather Cox Richardson’s post before going to sleep. Yes, I doom-scrolled through the latest news posts scolding myself for doing it even as I did it. Of course, I would toss and turn, of course I wouldn’t sleep well (if at all). I turned off the light wondering where I might find the balance between grief and anger. Then came in this pre-dawn, pre-cognitive message whispered by my subconscious, or perhaps an angel: “writing as an act of resistance.”

It’s what I can do, what I have always done, what I did when I didn’t have a name for what I was doing except, “I’m writing.”

Writing is what we do when we express our grief and anger in our journals, in our letters and emails to friends and legislators. When we pen our poems, our posts, our prayers. It’s what we do when we create protest signs, when we draft essays and stories, when we compose memoirs, plays, and books, screeds and songs and speeches. When we make a Declaration of Independence. A Constitution.

“The pen is not mightier than the sword,” said Roxanne Gay at the AWP Conference in Los Angeles last year, “the pen is the sword.”

For those of us who name ourselves “writer,” the act of putting pen to paper or fingers to keyboard and express whatever we’ve come to say—publicly or privately—this is where we’ll find that place between grief and anger, between confusion and understanding, between being lost and finding home. Not every time and not right away, but if we will continue, if we will persist, if we will be faithful to our gift, the page is where we will find our truth. This has been my experience.

What about you? Are you finding solace on the page? Are you writing during these chaotic days and nights?

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This month I have been participating in JanYourStory, a 500-words-a-day challenge sponsored by Memoir Nation. Of January’s twenty-eight days so far, I’ve missed only five and I tried to make up for those by doubling my word-count the next session. Or some days, like when I went to my daughter’s Big-Ass Birthday Party in Oakland, I missed a day and didn’t beat myself up over it. And I had so much fun at the party! Joy is an act of resistance, too. I know some of my writing pals are also Janning their stories because I see their posts on the community board, which is a delight. Even though we’re not writing together, we’re writing alone/together and the sense of community is strong and has its own powerful effect. (I have a tee shirt that says “Community as Resistance.”)

I felt that great sense of community at the Southern California Writers’ Conference earlier this month, too. This year was the 40^th annual gathering in San Diego and it was a joy (there’s that word again) to be with old writing friends (Hi Jennifer Silva Redmond) and make new ones as well. I’ve been involved with the conference since the mid-nineties and I’m going to keep on doing it as long as they let me.

The coming months offer many more opportunities for participating in the writing community. Most of those I’ve listed below are in San Diego, but wherever you are, I’m sure you can find opportunities for community, too. I hope to see you here and there. Or on the road.

In March, San Diego Writers, Ink Executive Director Kristen Fogle and I will be taking it to the road again with our second edition of Writers in Weird Places. This spring we’ll be in Arizona, beginning March 13, when we’ll be hanging around the Tucson Festival of Books. That will be followed by four more days of weirdness and writing together virtually. More details will be posted soon. Meantime, we’re seeking a Road Trip PA/Program Producer for Writers in Weird Places: Arizona edition. A long title for a volunteer who will help run our literary road trip. It’s a virtual position, with a few perks and a lot of fun. Interested? Just let me know: judy@judyreeveswriter.com

A few upcoming readings and events

Jim Moreno Tribute and Remembrance—Friday, February 6, 6-7:30 pm, San Diego Writers, Ink. An Open Mic Tribute to our beloved friend, poet, activist, teacher, and community builder, Jim Moreno, whom we lost in December. One of Jim’s sign-off sayings was “Peace in Your Heart.” I wish the same for you.

Captured Moments—Monday, February 9, Noon-1:30 (PT) via Zoom. Join us for this monthly writing group as we embark on expeditions to discover, uncover, and recover those moments of change in our lives. Each session will include generative writing from a prompt and an opportunity to share your writing with others in the group.

Galentine’s Day Open Mic Reading—Friday, February 13, 6-7:30 pm, San Diego Writers, Ink. Join Kristen Fogle and me to celebrate the fierce, funny, heart-holding bonds between women and women+ communities. Bring three minutes of your prose or poetry for our open mic.

Writer’s Symposium by the Sea—February 25-27, Pt. Loma Nazarene University. This year’s Writer’s Symposium by the Sea features Judy Woodruff, Jamaica Kincaid, and George Saunders with interviews by host Dean Nelson. By the way, Dean has two new books out from Bloomsbury, writings from his interviews with writers over the thirty-plus years of the Symposium. Talking to Writers, includes both fiction and nonfiction editions.

Thank you for keeping company with me and The Lively Muse. My deepest gratitude for sharing the journey with me. This post and all the Lively Muse posts are public so please feel free to share it.

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Just One More Thing . . .

“Let us each give voice, in 1 page or 50 or 200, to the story we alone can write. And in doing so let us refuse fear and despair and manipulation.” – Mary Rakow, Ph.D

Saturday evening I celebrated the Winter Solstice with nineteen other writers. We came together to acknowledge the cycles of the earth and the cycles within ourselves. It wasn’t the longest night we were celebrating, but the return of the light.

The Solstices are all about the earth’s relation to the sun, whether it tilts away from the sun or toward the sun as it makes its elliptical journey around our star. Beginning with Winter Solstice we’ll have more light each day from now until the Summer Solstice in June, when the earth again begins its tilt away from the sun.

A post from Moonlight Whispers a friend shared with me, tells of how ancient astronomers tracked the progression of the earth’s cycles by building structures such as Stonehenge and Newgrange, “not just to witness the pivot, but to prove the return continues.” Each cycle of the earth’s turning, like our own cycles, are observable when we pay attention.

Just out of curiosity a few years ago, I dug out some old writing practice notebooks. As I paged through those scrabbled, chaotic notebooks, I noticed that there were series of entries when my writing seemed more imaginative than other times, more expressive, and the language more vivid. In these writings my handwriting was looser, more loopy and open. Oh, they were messy, these several entries, but there were no scratch outs; the writing flowed without seeming restraint. But as I continued to go through the notebooks, I noticed other pages when the handwriting itself was tighter and words were crossed out, sometimes whole sentences. The writing didn’t flow as it did other times, cliches abounded, and passive voice plodded along. The images weren’t as rich nor the language as fresh. Again, these rough attempts appeared in a series of several pages, day following day. There wasn’t an abrupt shift between the flowing, imaginative writing and the plodding, reluctant writing. Rather several series of pages that were neither this nor that and some of each.

Because of my many years of having a writing practice, I know by heart Natalie Goldberg’s Rule #6 from her book, Wild Mind: “You’re free to write the worst junk in America.” In my writing practice groups we added to that rule, which we read along with the others at the beginning of every session: “And some days you will,” we say. “Other days you’ll write something really beautiful. And some days you’ll just write.”

That’s what my notebooks illustrated. And they showed that, like the traveling of the earth and its titling toward or away from the sun, my creativity runs in cycles. It too has its solstices and equinoxes, the phases of darkness and light. Which brings me to the truth of the words, “To everything there is a season,” from the Book of Ecclesiastes, and to which I can’t help but hear in my mind the tune of the song, “Turn! Turn! Turn!” by Pete Seeger and recorded by The Byrds.

My writing practice these days late in the year are messy and dull. Some days I don’t write at all. My tendency is to scold myself, “if you were a real writer…(blah blah blah),” but I try not to. I know I’m in a fallow time; but planting time will come again, and a time to reap.

What I can do during this time is pay attention, take notes, observe the world and all that’s in it, notice what I notice, and be grateful for this time, too. So long as I continue to attend to my writing practice and don’t judge, I know from experience the return will come and the cycles will continue, and sometimes, even on those darkest days, I may discover a gem among all the mess—a phrase or an image, even the fresh use of a particular word. I’m grateful for that, too.

At our Solstice celebration on Saturday evening we talked about the longest night, the dark when we go inward, exploring ourselves and our lives, and reflect on what wants to be released. Then we do our first timed writing prompt: What is found in the darkness?

After a few other timed writing sessions, writing our wishes and telling each other’s fortunes, we ring our bells to welcome the return of the light and close out the celebration singing with The Beatles, “Here Comes the Sun.”

What about you? Do you observe your cycles? Do you celebrate the turn, turn, turn of your life, writing and otherwise? What is your current cycle?

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A few upcoming readings and events

New Year’s Eve Celebration–Wednesday, December 31, 9 pm–1 am, San Diego Writers, Ink. Come join Robb Donaldson and me this New Year’s Eve for an evening of fun and literary games as we write our way into 2026. We’ll delve into New Year’s traditions, write to prompts, and generally have a good time.

Remembering Jim Moreno–Friday, January 2, 5–6:30 pm, San Diego Writers, Ink. Please join San Diego Writers, Ink Executive Director Kristen Fogle and me as we host an open mic reading remembering our beloved friendpoet, activist, long-time Writers, Ink instructor, and respected and loved member of San Diego’s poetry community, Jim Moreno who died December 2, 2025. Please bring your poems or remembrances to share.

Captured Moments–Monday, January 12, Noon-1:30 pm PST on Zoom. Join us for this monthly writing group as we embark on expeditions to discover, uncover, and recover those moments of change in our lives. Each session will include generative writing from a prompt and an opportunity to share your writing with others in the group.

Warmest wishes for your holidays, may they be merry and bright and all your New Year’s wishes be granted.

Thank you for keeping company with me and The Lively Muse. We’ll see you in the New Year. Meantime, all my love and deepest gratitude for sharing the journey with me.

Just one more thing…

“Our calling, as human beings, is to look for the light from where we stand, to call it out, to gather it up — and in so doing, to help repair the world.” – Krista Tippett

Note: Please excuse the extra “subscribe” buttons. Substack can’t seem to tell me how to delete them. If anyone knows how, please share with me. Thanks again for reading and sharing and responding with your thoughts and ideas.

Several weeks ago, I was interviewed by SDVoyager for their series, “Stories, Lessons & Insights.” One of their questions: Who saw you clearly before you could see yourself? Here’s the text of my response:

“I am in third grade, eight years old, learning to spell. Our assignment was to write a sentence using the words from our spelling test. Carrot was one of the words. I loved carrots (still do). which might have inspired the sentence I wrote, something about a rabbit and a carrot. I liked my sentence, and I liked writing it. One afternoon my teacher, Mrs. Chairs, stood at the front of the class holding my paper and said, “Listen to what Judy wrote.” And she read my sentence aloud. What a feeling I had then. I wrote something that I liked, my teacher liked it too, and she wanted others to hear it.

I am in sixth grade, twelve years old. My teacher, Mrs. Cunningham, called me to her desk. Am I in trouble? I couldn’t imagine why. “Judy, how would you like to be editor of our class newspaper?” she asked. Would I? I could hardly contain my excitement. A newspaper. Just like my heroine, Brenda Starr, Reporter.

I am in eleventh grade, sixteen years old. My teacher, Mrs. Gatos, asked me to stay after class. Again, trouble? “Judy, I sent one of your poems to a teacher who is organizing a city-wide writing workshop, and he wants you to be part of it,” she told me. “Yes! Yes!” Mrs. Gatos, the teacher who introduced me to E.E. Cummings, and other poets I still love today. My first “real” writing workshop.

These three teachers saw something in me I couldn’t name yet—that I was a writer. Their encouragement didn’t just shape my career; it taught me how transformative it is when someone sees your potential before you do. That’s why I eventually became a writing teacher myself, wanting to be that person for others.”

You can see the rest of the article here.

I’m writing this on Thanksgiving Day, November 27—my father’s birthday. He died in April 1993, just months before I opened The Writing Center, which I know he would have loved. My dad was the first to see me and the first to say, “Yes!”

Throughout my career, I have been blessed with teachers and mentors and guides who saw something in me and my work that changed my trajectory and deepened my idea of myself. It’s still happening today and I can’t wait to see what’s next.

I know I’m not the only one who has experienced this. What about you? Who saw something in you that you might not have yet recognized? Tell me about it. What did you discover?

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In last month’s The Lively Muse I wrote about “Joy as Resistance, an open mic reading I hosted on November 6 for San Diego Writers, Ink First Friday Open House. One hour, twelve readers, three-minutes each. We expressed our joy that, even in the turmoil and confusion of these troubled times, is our human nature to experience. That we can experience this, and respond is resistance of the most profound kind.

Then on Saturday, November 22, San Diego Writers, Ink Executive Director Kristen Fogle and I hosted “Writing as Resistance,” a Pop-Up Write-In that was part of Fall of Freedom’s nationwide wave of creative resistance. We were one of more than 700 events and exhibitions that unfolded across nearly every state over the weekend of November 21-22. Initiated by a group of artists, writers, and cultural workers–including Lynn Nottage and Dread Scott, Fall of Freedom is an urgent call to the arts community to unite in defiance of authoritarian forces sweeping the nation and seeks to celebrate and assert the cultures, and artistic voices that form the backbone of a free society. At Writers, Ink, seventeen writers joined together and wrote and read our work and made some loud and joyful noise.

We have plans for more community-based creative resistance events. In January we’re collaborating with San Diego’s Moxie Theatre to stage a writing and performance event that will include writers writing and actors performance their work. Stay tuned for more about this exciting project.

A few upcoming readings and events

Speaking of what’s next, I was elected to San Diego Writers, Ink Board of Directors and will begin serving in December. Thank you, Writers, Ink for the honor and the privilege. I can’t wait to get started!

Meantime, here are a few things coming up as we roll full throttle, no brakes into the holiday season.

Winter Retreat at The Mission–Saturday, December 13, 10 am–3 pm. Join Writers, Ink Executive Director Kristen Fogle and me for our winter writing retreat at the beautiful and inspirational Mission San Luis Rey in Oceanside. Retreat writers will have two choices for this annual retreat: come to the Mission on Friday afternoon for an overnight retreat and writing sessions, then stay for the all-day gathering on Saturday or attend the day retreat only.

Celebrating the Winter Solstice–Saturday, December 20, 5:30-7:30 pm. (In-person) Inspired by the spirit of the Winter Solstice and celebrations both ancient and new, we’ll gather at San Diego Writers, Ink to light our solstice candles and write together as we explore legends and myths that surround the ancient festival.

Captured Moments–Monday, December 8, Noon-1:30 pm PST on Zoom. Join us for this monthly writing group as we embark on expeditions to discover, uncover, and recover those moments of change in our lives. Each session will include generative writing from a prompt and an opportunity to share your writing with others in the group.

New Year’s Eve Celebration–Wednesday, December 31, 9 pm–1 am, San Diego Writers, Ink. Celebrate with Robb Donaldson and me this New Year’s Eve for an evening of fun and literary games as we write our way into 2026. We’ll delve into New Year’s traditions, write to prompts, and generally have a good time.

Thank you for joining me and The Lively Muse

Currently all The Lively Muse content and archives are free. Thoughts and ideas continue to brew for how this newsletter might develop, and what additional content may be added for paid subscribers. What pulled me to Substack is the opportunity to interact via the comments section, so please let me know what you’d like more of. And a very special thank you to all of you who have become paid subscribers. Your support of The Lively Muse means the world to me.

Just one more thing . . .

“To reach the heart you can usually do it with a story” – Dr. Jane Goodall

This is just one quote I copied down as I watched the stunning documentary, Famous Last Words, Dr. Jane Goodall, on Netflix.

At a birthday celebration in our Tuesday writers group this week, Michelle, the woman we were celebrating, gave each of us a gift—kazoos. Silliness ensued as a cacophony of joyful noises filled the room. We honked and hummed into our instruments, some of us performed solos and we kazoo-hummed the birthday song. For a reason I can’t explained, I played “Taps.” There was dancing. Some in our group had never experienced the sublime joy of playing a kazoo. Now we’re thinking of forming a kazoo band.

(Thank you, Adhara Mereles, for allowing me to use this photo of us at the celebration, me on kazoo, you dressed as unicorn for a to-be-created video.)

Our group is a memoir read-and-critique group and as writers and readers of memoir know, the material we write about is not always joyful. In fact, more often than not, our personal stories hold pain, grieving, hard times—the difficult parts of life. It’s not unusual for tears to find their way in the sharing of our stories. Yet in the midst of this, we experience moments of joy, too. Not many of them as raucous as our impromptu kazoo concert, but in sharing our pain, we also share our joy, each creating a connection among us.

I write about this because Joy as Resistance is a message that’s gaining wings and flying over the chaos of a world on fire. Toi Derricotte wrote the poem, “Joy is an Act of Resistance,” and in her novel, Possessing the Secret of Joy, Alice Walker wrote that “resistance is the secret of joy.” I see evidence of this everywhere, including at the “No Kings” event earlier this month where people came costumed as frogs and chickens and unicorns, and great good humor prevailed among the protesters.

I write about this because I believe writing is an act of resistance, too. As I believe reading is an act of resistance. During Banned Books Week, Writers, Ink Executive Director, Kristen Fogle and I co-hosted an evening featuring six readers who read passages from books that have been banned in schools and school libraries across the country. Audience members formed teams and between each of the readings, we played rounds of Banned Books Trivia which created moments of joy for us all. All three—writing, reading, and joy—were all a part of that evening of shared community.

Experiencing moments of joy matters to our well-being; sharing our joy can bring even more good feelings to ourselves and to others.

So while hope, that thing with feathers, looks to the future, joy is in the present moment. I wish you all moments of joy. Here’s one I experienced.

“In times of joy, all of us wished we possessed a tail we could wag.” – W. H. Auden

I’d love to see or hear about a moment of joy you experienced. Please share.

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A few upcoming readings and events

Joy as Resistance – Friday, Nov. 7, 6-7 pm. On this first Friday of November, I’m hosting an open mic at Writers, Ink. Come and share your moments of joy with three minutes of fiction, nonfiction, or poetry. The event is part of San Diego Writers, Ink First Friday Open House at Liberty Station and will be followed by a reception for the Fallbrook School of the Arts Instructor Show from 7 – 9 PM PST.

Captured Moments – Monday, Nov. 10, Noon-1:30 pm (PT) on Zoom. Join us for this monthly writing group as we embark on expeditions to discover, uncover, and recover those moments of change in our lives. Each session will include generative writing from a prompt and an opportunity to share your writing with others in the group.

Fall for Writing – Friday, Nov. 14-Sunday, Nov. 16 on Zoom. Fall for Writing is not only a fundraiser for San Diego Writers, Ink, but it’s also a great way to familiarize yourself with Writers, Ink programs or take a class from an instructor or in a subject you are curious about. Best perhaps is that you will be in community with other writers. Classes begin at 10 am each of the three days. I’ll be on a panel with Mark Clements and Robin Kardon, “All Your Read-and-Critique Questions Answered!” Sunday, Nov. 16, 10 – 11:15 am.

Thursday Writers Reading and Social Hour – Sunday, Nov. 16, 4:30-6 pm, San Diego Writers, Ink. As the closing act of the Fall for Writing Conference, our Thursday Writers group will take to the mic, reading pieces created during our sessions at Lestat’s Coffeehouse. Come for the readings and stay for the camaraderie!

Once Upon a Book Fair – Saturday, Nov. 15, 12-5 pm, Mershops North County Mall, Escondido. North County’s vibrant celebration of books, literacy, and imagination, the fair brings together local writers and book lovers of all ages for an aftrenoon of discovery and inspiration. My book, When Your Heart Says Go, and I will be sharing a table with Jill G. Hall and her new book, On a Sundown Sea. Come find us and scores of other writers and readers.

Writing Retreat at the Mission – Saturday, Dec. 13, 10 am - 3 pm. (A day retreat with an overnight option.) Join Writers, Ink Executive Director Kristen Fogle and me for our winter writing retreat at the beautiful and inspirational Mission San Luis Rey in Oceanside. Retreat writers will have two choices for this annual retreat: come to the Mission on Friday afternoon for an overnight retreat and writing sessions, then stay for the all-day gathering on Saturday. All retreatants will join for the day-long session in a private room at the Mission for a day of writing and sharing, which will include time spent on the landscaped grounds of the historic Mission.

Meantime, here I am with my Halloween date

Thank you for joining me and The Lively Muse

Currently all The Lively Muse content and archives are free. Thoughts and ideas continue to brew for how this newsletter might develop, and what additional content may be added for paid subscribers. What pulled me to Substack is the opportunity to interact via the comments section, so please let me know what you’d like more of. And a very special thank you to all of you who have become paid subscribers. Your support of The Lively Muse means the world to me.

Writing spontaneously to a prompt in Dian Greenwood’s recent workshop, “Going Beyond the Surface,” revealed something about one of my characters that opened her whole early life to me. A detail that I can’t imagine would appear if I had tried to “think” it into being. I marveled even as the words appeared on the page.

Workshops aren’t the only time I’m astounded by such surprises. Every week I pack up my notebook and go to Thursday Writers with the anticipation that day’s prompt will spark something unexpected. What a delight when one character or another decides to show up in response to the invitation. One week it might be Georgia giving us one of her impromptu public performances. Or here’s Penny going on about her worm composter again. (She loves that thing.) Or Jolene and Aunt Boochie having one of their spats. Who knows…certainly not me.

And when I take my notebook to a cafe in my neighborhood for an afternoon coffee/writing session and open to a blank page, I can always count on some kind of surprise or intriguing event or revelation. Almost always that is.

There are times when I start thinking and wind up editing or making notes about structure or asking questions that result in too many trips down too many rabbit holes. When that happens, I know all I have to do is skip a few lines and start over or turn a page and there’s that lovely, seductive blank space just waiting to be filled.

Intuitive or spontaneous writing is getting out of my own way, surrendering to the page, and trusting my pen. Some call this freewriting or “automatic writing.” I’d heard and paid attention to Allen Ginsberg’s advice: “First thought, best thought, ” and I knew of Jack Kerouac’s legendary “scroll,” in writing, On the Road, even before I discovered his poem, “Belief and Techniques for Modern Prose–List of Essentials,” which I quote often and reprinted in A Writer’s Book of Days. I love number 29 on the list: “You’re a genius all the time.”

What I love and why this kind of writing works for me:

· Spontaneous writing bypasses the inner critic, crucial for me because mine has a very loud and obnoxious voice

· It invites surprises, causes accidents of the most astonishing kind, and leads to “aha!” worthy discoveries as happened in Dian’s workshop

· It creates all manner of raw material to work with later

· It enlivens language, sparks images, and unearths memories (even fictional characters’ memories)

· When writing in a group, wild synchronicity can happen; we inspire each other. Two writers using the same uncommon word, or a couple of writers describing an identical image that has nothing directly to do with the prompt, three people who conjure a dentist when the prompt is about red convertibles.

All this might be old news to many of you who have created your own writing practice and use spontaneous or intuitive writing regularly. But my recent experience in discovering the wounded place in my most elusive character in this new novel excited me so much I wanted to share the wonder with you.

Right now, together, let’s all set our timers for seven minutes and write. Here’s a prompt: It’s Saturday night, you’re not at home. (Feel free to change the pronoun) After you’ve finished, let me know how it went for you.

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A few upcoming events and workshops

Banned Books Week Reading – Monday, October 6, 7 pm, Mockingbird Improv (Liberty Station, San Diego)

To celebrate Banned Books Week (Oct. 5-11) San Diego Writers, Ink Executive Director Kristen Fogle and I are hosting a special reading from the Top 100 Banned Books, read by Writers, Ink instructors and board members. We’ll also have a fun Banned Books Trivia game with prizes, BBW swag, and other surprises. Find out more here.

Captured Moments – Monday, October 13, Noon-1:30 pm (PT) on Zoom

Captured Moments is back from hiatus. Join us for this monthly writing group as we embark on expeditions to discover, uncover, and recover those moments of change in our lives. Each session will include a writing prompt from which participants will free-write, writing practice style, for a set amount of time. More info and registration here.

Barcelona Journaling Festival – November 8-9, Barcelona, Spain

More than twelve hands-on workshops featuring some of my favorite journaling coaches and teachers, fifteen-plus speakers, and a gorgeous space in a gorgeous city. Oh, I want to go there. Info here.

Following the festival, on November 11-12, International Association for Journal Writing (IAJW) Director Lynda Monk will lead How to Thrive as a Journaling Coach, an intense two-day theory and practice training and workshop. Info here

Book Releases I’m Excited About

Blackbird Whistling follows Dian Greenwood’s previous novel, Forever Blackbirds. Dian’s newest book takes readers on an historic ride with two generations of strong women who are trying to find their rightful place in the world as seen through the lens of today’s challenges and yesterday’s hardships. Blackbird Whistling had just been released when Dian came to San Diego (Sept. 20) for a wonderful reading and conversation about the book at Writers, Ink. (It was earlier that day in Dian’s workshop when the surprising detail about my character appeared.) Find out more about Dian’s book here.

On a Sundown Sea, Jill G. Hall’s newest release tells the story through historical fiction of Katherine Tingley, the visionary medium and clairvoyant who founded LomaLand, her envisioned “white city on a sundown sea.” JIll’s book releases Oct. 14th. You can get first look at Warwick’s in La Jolla on Monday, October 20 at 7:30 pm. Jill and I, along with historical fiction author, Elizabeth St. John, will be in conversation at San Diego Writers, Ink on Friday, Dec. 5 at 5 pm. In between are many other opportunities to meet Jill and her new book. For details of all Jill’s events, go here.

Nineteen– A Daughter’s Memoir of Reckoning and Recovery, Leslie Johansen Nack’s newest release is a sequel to her memoir, Fourteen. BookLife calls Nineteen, “[A] Stirring account of resilience and healing from a a harrowing childhood.” I call it courageous and inspiring.

Leslie’s book releases October 14. Her book launch will take place the evening before the official release date, on Monday, October 13, at Zibby’s Bookshop in Santa Monica. On Thursday, Oct. 16, Leslie and I will be in conversation at Warwick’s Books at 7:30 pm. Find out about more of Leslie’s events here.

Stay tuned for more Writing in Weird Places Doings…

Thank you for joining me and The Lively Muse

Currently all The Lively Muse content and archives are free. Thoughts and ideas continue to brew for how this newsletter might develop, and what additional content may be added for paid subscribers. What pulled me to Substack is the opportunity to interact via the comments section, so please let me know what you’d like more of. And a very special thank you to all of you who have become paid subscribers. Your support of The Lively Muse means the world to me.

Did you ever stand at the open door of your refrigerator, chill air breathing goosebumps on your bare arms, bright light interrogating you … “Make your decision, Sister. You’re wasting energy here.” And still, you can’t choose: the left-over chicken, or make a salad, maybe the homemade chili your friend brought over, or whip up a quick casa dia. So many choices and there you are, frozen in the familiar Libra dilemma—the balancing act that is your life: making choices.

Not to go too woo-woo here, but Libra is my sun sign, Venus-ruled, which is symbolized not by an animal like other air signs, but by a scale. This is where the whole balance/choice thing comes in. We Librans spend so much time measuring one thing against the other, analyzing points—good and bad, looking at it from all the perspectives—and there are so many, before we can choose. There’s a whole lot more behind and under this whole zodiacal analysis, but just take my word for it, it can be exhausting. And frustrating.

So, I come to the current creative dilemma. My muse is a generous bitch. She is ever ready with another idea, an imaginative “perhaps,” a creative journey that includes a variety of optional side trips. Like now. Do I continue with the notes and scraps of scenes for the novel (last November’s gift from the muse), or do I follow the temptation of a micro memoir of my life in eight ragtops? Or do both simultaneously?

My friend and fellow writer Frank told me I already know which one to go with, and I probably do. But Libra that I am, I continue to seek balance while my muse is probably laughing behind the hand that doesn’t have her thumb on the scales.

Do you ever struggle with so many choices, so little time? Or are you the kind of writer who gets an idea and stays with it until the end? Or do you work on several projects at once?

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Notes on the Writers in Weird Places Road Trip

It could have been the recent Writers in Weird Places Road Trip I took with Writers, Ink ED Kristen Fogle that turned my focus to those eight ragtops and all the road trips I’ve taken in them over the years. During our ten-day meander up the coast of California to Ashland, Oregon, we had ample driving time between weird places, which meant substantial time to talk about whatever might come up between two friends traveling together. And plenty did. (More about that another time.)

For those of you who joined us for the virtual workshops from the various stops, thank you. I’d love to know your favorite stop, the best surprise you experienced, the first line of one of the pieces you wrote to a prompt. I hope you had as much fun as we did writing and sharing and being weird. (If you won a sticker, they’ll be in the mail soon.) And for all our generous sponsors, heartfelt gratitude and appreciation. From sponsoring our gas and coffee and food, to making sure we had a place to sleep every night, each gift you made, made our trip that much better. Thank you! ❤️

We’ll have a wrap-up video sometime soon that will include highlights of our ten days, ten workshops journey. Meantime, you can see posts from the trip on our Writers in Weird Places Road Trip Facebook page. Stay tuned. More weird places workshops are in the works.

A few upcoming events, workshops, and groups

Annual Fall Equinox Writing Retreat, Sunday, September 21, 10 am-Noon. We’ll be on location at the Native Plant Learning Garden in San Diego’s Bird Park for our celebration of the arrival of the new season.

Novelist Dian Greenwood’s newest book, Blackbird Whistling, will be released Sept 2 and Dian will be in San Diego to talk about this sequel to her critically acclaimed Forever Blackbirds, on Saturday, September 20, 5 pm at San Diego Writers, Ink. I’m excited to be in conversation with Dian about her new book, writing, and the writing life, which we’ve shared for many years.

Captured Moments will return from hiatus on Monday, October 12, Noon-1:30 pm (PDT) via Zoom. Come capture a moment with this warm and welcoming group.

Check out the many and varied opportunities for writers at San Diego Writers, Ink. Classes, workshops, and groups are offered both in person and online.

From our Writers in Weird Places stop at Tikkun Olam Farm Sanctuary in Phoenix, Oregon where Kristen and I got to cuddle chickens among other critters. The beauty in my arms is Marco Polo who rocks a spikey do!

Thank you for joining me and The Lively Muse

Currently all The Lively Muse content and archives are free. Thoughts and ideas continue to brew for how this newsletter might develop, and what additional content may be added for paid subscribers. What pulled me to Substack is the opportunity to interact via the comments section, so please let me know what you’d like more of.

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A special thank you to all of you who have become paid subscribers. Your support of The Lively Muse means the world to me.

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From hard rocks to mod cats. From feather beds to psychic readers. From whale houses to vibrator museums, it’s the Writers in Weird Places Road Trip.

In just a couple of days, Kristen Fogle and I will be on the road for our much anticipated, continually evolving road trip. This special edition of The Lively Muse is a personal invitation for you to join us.

We’ll be driving from San Diego to Ashland, stopping in ten weird, wonderful, and fascinating places along the way. The idea is simple and joyful: we host virtual generative workshops from each of these unusual places that spark the imagination. Not only will you visit some intriguing places and meet some interesting people and friendly critters, we’ll offer up some evocative prompts so you’ll leave each workshop with fresh, new writing.

Each workshop is pay‑what‑you‑can and all are on Zoom so you can join us from anywhere. We’ve created a Facebook group where you can get the latest information. There’ll be spontaneous posts along the way, too. (Kristen had some crazy idea about a video of me trying to climb up to the top bunk when we overnight at the hostel in San Luis Obispo. You can bet I’ve got some ideas of my own!) Oh, and we have a contest in mind that you’ll be able to enter and maybe win a cool prize from one of our stops.

For more information on how you can join us, email us at writersinweirdplaces@gmail.com and you’ll get an automated message with everything you need.

Got questions? Just ask. Got suggestions? Love to hear ‘em.

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Ready to come on along? Join us. Invite a friend to join us, too.

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Pack your imagination, grab your notebook and we’ll see you On the Road.

A quote attributed to John Gardner posits that there are only two plots in all of literature: A stranger comes to town or someone takes a trip. Others say the quote is from Leo Tolstoy. Or could have been Dostoyevsky. Maybe Hemingway. Hemingway’s name appears often as the source of quotes about writing that nobody really knows from whom or whence they came. (i.e. “Kill your darlings” and “Writing is easy; just open your vein and bleed.”)

But my point is not the quote or who said it, but the idea of it—journeys and writing, more specifically the romantic idea of road trips and writing. All that freedom, the spontaneity, the possibilities. I certainly have had my love affairs with such stories. My all-time favorites are the classic On the Road, by Jack Kerouac; Travels with Charley, by John Steinbeck; and Blue Highways, by William Least Heat-Moon.

Me, I’m a top down/music up/blue highways road tripper. Both my unpublished novels include road trips. I’ve written road-trip flashes, essays, and road-trip poetry, and I’m currently making plans that include researching a location for my new novel while on an upcoming road trip with San Diego Writers, Ink Executive Director and my friend, Kristen Fogle.

A Road Trip for Writers

The idea of us doing a writing/teaching/workshopping road trip up the west coast has been part of Kristen and my conversations for more than a year, but when Kristen, who is also a writer/director/teacher/actor, got a gig directing a community theater production in Oregon in August, the plan shifted into first.

“Want to do our road trip to Ashland August 1-10^th?” Kristen asked. “Oh, hell yes!” I answered. And so evolved “Writers in Weird Places—a Promptapalooza Road Trip.”

Kristen and I both are prompt-based writing workshop leaders—I’ve been doing it for more than thirty years and Kristen is the originator of the iconic Promptapalooza workshop. We’ve both published craft books that include writing prompts—me, A Writer’s Book of Days and Kristen, Dare to Write and a few others.

We’ll be driving from San Diego to Ashland, stopping in ten weird, wonderful, and fascinating places along the way. The idea is simple and joyful: we host virtual generative workshops from unusual places that spark the imagination. Each location inspires a custom set of writing prompts for participants tuning in online. I hope you’ll join us.

We’re still confirming stops, but included so far are:

• A cadaver dissection lab at Pasadena City College

• The Hard Rock in Hollywood

• Untamed Fire, a metaphysical shop in Sand City, where we’ll be joined by Kristen White, a psychic who will do a group reading for us.

• Pine Cone Tree House in Santa Cruz

• The Antique Vibrator Museum in San Francisco with curator Dr. Carol Queen

• The Mod Cat Hotel in Oakland (Thanks Amy Boyd)

• Featherbed Railroad B&B in Clear Lake—we’ll be workshopping from an antique railway car

• Lighthouse Farm Sanctuary in Ashland, home to over 250 animals including pigs, cows, horses, chickens, sheep (including one named “Judy”), and goats. (Thanks Midge Raymond)

Other pending stops include a fire station, a house dedicated to whales, and a chocolate factory. Oh, and maybe a full moon writing experience. And who knows, as we motor along, what additional weird place might spontaneously appear. That’s the thing about the best road trips—plan yes, but stay open and allow time for spontaneous invitations and temptations.

You’ll be able to join us for our ninety-minute prompt-based writing workshops via Zoom. They’ll be scheduled at various times over the ten days. We’ll continue to post updates to the listing on my website (scroll down to find it), and our Writers in Weird Places Road Trip Facebook page. Sign up now to be on our mailing list for more information. You can register for the workshops—singles or Promptapalooza packages—soon.

We’ll be posting and updating as we go along and keeping a road-trip journal, which, who knows, might be the genus of a road trip book.

Are you a road tripper? A road-trip writer? Tell me.

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Something special has been happening the last couple of months and it continues Sunday, July 20. My long-time and dear friend, Kathleen Adams is celebrating her 40^th anniversary of leading journal workshops. To acknowledge and honor this landmark, Kay has created a lalapalooza of a celebration: INKspiration—Journaling with the All-Stars. I’m both honored and giddy at being invited to be part of this fabulous event.

On Sunday, July 20, I’ll be the kick-off speak for Day 3 of INKspiration. My topic is “From Journal to Memoir,” and I’ll be talking about how I wrote my memoir using my journals to reconstruct timelines, write in scenes, and more.

Three awesome workshop facilitators will also be featured that day: Jackee Holder, Writing with the Urban Forest; Sandra Marinella, The Story You Need to Tell; and Nancy Scherlong, When the “Well” Runs Dry.

Kathleen has offered a special 15% discount for this program and the August and September INKspiration sessions. Click here to register and find out about the upcoming programs, dates, pricing, and agenda. Use coupon code JOURNAL THERAPY.

Kathleen is Registered Poetry/Journal Therapist Founder and CEO, the Center for Journal Therapy/Therapeutic Writing Institute and inspiring in her own right.

A few more upcoming events, workshops, and groups

Writing the Micro Memoir—Wednesdays, July 23 & 30, 6:30-8:30 pm. (In person). A two-part workshop about writing the flash memoir and the memoir in fragments.

Captured Moments—Friday, July 25, 11 AM PDT (Online). I’ll be joining National Association of Memoir Writers founder and president and a dear friend, Linda Joy Myers to talk about those moments, large and small, that make up our lives and how to capture those moments in writing. Our talk is the featured NAMW Member Event for July and Linda Joy is generously opening it for all. You can join us on Zoom here.

Little Things Mean a Lot—Sunday, July 27, 2-4 pm (In person). We’ll explore the use of the smallest of details that can bring your story to life.

Thank you for joining me and The Lively Muse

Currently all The Lively Muse content and archives are free. All sorts of thoughts and ideas are brewing for how this newsletter might develop, and what additional content may be added for paid subscribers. What pulled me to Substack is the opportunity to interact via the comments section, so please let me know what you’d like more of.

Leave a comment

A special thank you to all of you who have become paid subscribers. Your support of The Lively Muse means the world to me.

Thanks for reading The Lively Muse! This post is public so feel free to share it.

Share

EZDSSIT, one of my favorite road-trip cars from a few years back. And yes, I am wearing a goofy “fake-nose-and-glasses” Groucho mask.

We writers are a quirky lot with our habits, superstitions, and idiosyncrasies—whatever we believe it takes to get the attention of the muse or elicit inspiration. I have a friend who has a particular hat… another friend who insists on a certain pen… one who places a goofy little figure beside her computer while she writes and puts it away again when she’s done. Oh, there are so many others.

Me: I’m a light-a-candle-read-a-poem-cup-of-coffee woman. And I’ve been lighting a lot of candles lately as I struggle to get this new—I’m calling it a novel, which it isn’t yet; not even close—on the page. I’ve laid in a supply of fragrant candles and raided my bookshelves for poetry of inspiration. I’ve got a half-dozen fresh loose-leaf notebooks and a handful of Pilot Precise V-7 fine point pen ready to go. Now, I just sit myself down and let the Muse know I’m ready anytime.

How do you let the Muse know you’re ready for a visit?

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In A Writer’s Book of Days, I noted some of the ways famous writers found their inspiration. I thought I’d print that list here, as a way of reassuring any who might consider themselves a little odd when they don a flea-bitten sweater or dust their philodendron. Mind you, these tidbits are all based on research I found here and there; I didn’t make any of it up. That’s not to say this is all factually true. Some may be the literary equivalent of urban legends.

This then, is the list, excerpted from A Writer’s Book of Days.

The poet Friedrich von Schiller used to keep rotten apples under the lid of his desk, open it, inhale deeply, and compose.

Tea was the stimulant for Dr. Johnson and W. H. Auden. Johnson was reported to have frequently consumed twenty-five cups at one sitting. Honoré de Balzac drank fifty cups of coffee in a day.

Colette first picked fleas from her cat, then wrote. It’s told she had a dozen of them (cats, not fleas).

While writing The Charterhouse of Parma, Stendhal began the day by reading two or three pages of the French civil code.

Willa Cather read the Bible.

Samuel Taylor Coleridge indulged in two grains of opium before working.

Alexandre Dumas, the elder, wrote his nonfiction on rose-colored paper, his fiction on blue, and his poetry on yellow. Langston Hughes also used a different kind of paper for each project.

Rudyard Kipling insisted on the blackest ink available and fantasized about keeping “an ink-boy to grind me Indian ink.” (Note: I’ve had this same fantasy.)

Voltaire used his lover’s naked back as a writing desk.

It’s said that Edgar Allen Poe wrote with his cat on his shoulder, Charles Baudelaire kept a bat in a cage on his writing desk, and Henrik Ibsen kept a pet scorpion on his.

T.S. Eliot preferred writing when he had a head cold.

Paul West listened nonstop to a sonatina by Ferruccio Busoni as he wrote The Place in Flowers Where Pollen Rests, while Hart Crane wrote to Cuban rumbas, Maurice Ravel’s Bolero, and torch songs.

And sometimes I leave the candles at home, go to a cafe where I take my notebook and get a coffee. My muse likes to hang out at any of a number of neighborhood cafes. This is Lovesong in North Park.

What’s your go-to invocation to your muse?

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Speaking of writing in other places

. . . that’s what I’ll be doing next Sunday, June 22, when dozens of us will gather at Lestat’s in Hillcrest for San Diego Writers, Ink 18th Annual Blazing Laptops Write-a-thon. We’ll be writing for six hours straight as we raise funds for my favorite nonprofit writing organization. This year I’ll once again join the Thursday Writers Team as we blaze the page! You can join me in advocating for the arts by sponsoring me in any amount. Your gift is tax deductible and I’m ever grateful for your support. Thank you. Remember, Art is Resistance. Here's the link to find out more and to sponsor me and my Thursday Writers team.

Summer Solstice is another reason to take your writing gear to a remote location, maybe the beach where you’ll gather around a bonfire and write about the lore and legend of the annual celestial event. Join me and Solstice celebrants on Friday evening, June 20 at Mission Bay as the sun sets on the longest day of the year. You can get more information at San Diego Writers, Ink, celebrate the Solstice.

There’s more “writing in other places” to come. Kristen Fogle and I are cooking up something fun and maybe just a little weird for August. Stay tuned…

Thank you for joining me and The Lively Muse

Currently all The Lively Muse content and archives are free. All sorts of thoughts and ideas are brewing for how this newsletter might develop, and what additional content may be added for paid subscribers. What pulled me to Substack is the opportunity to interact via the comments section, so please let me know what you’d like more of.

Leave a comment

A special thank you to all of you who have become paid subscribers. Your support of The Lively Muse means the world to me.

Thanks for reading The Lively Muse! This post is public so feel free to share it.

Share

Erato, the Greek Muse of erotic poetry and mime. I found this lovely figure in a shop in the old town of Chania on the island of Crete.

What is “away”? It is someplace else. It’s the place that each of us craves, and when we close our eyes, comes to us in all its wooded shadiness or vast, unending blueness. We visualize a mountain cabin; a cottage by the sea; a secret, hidden monastery; a wide decked, windowed, pillowed, sweet-smelling, abundant, nurturing, solitary place where there are no “musts” or “have tos” or “shoulds.” No dishes to do or phones to answer or children/mates/partners with whom we must interact. No set time to start or stop, to wake up or go to sleep. No television. No e-mail. No deadlines. It is simply a place to be.

“Away” is generally where we long to be as we arm wrestle the elements of our daily lives to make time for our writing and for that private and soulful part of us that we long to be with but so often set aside.

It's not that we don't love our lives; We do. Mostly. And we love the people in our lives—family and friends—and the work we do that allows us to afford the lives we mostly love. What we want is to get away for a little while. We don't want to just go on vacation, though that’s great, too, but we want to go to a place we go alone, or maybe with a few like-minded souls who also want to be alone, but in an alone/together way. To renew and refresh and explore and create and refill. To retreat. And to write. A writing retreat.

At the end of this month, I will “get away,” for just a few days at Dorland Mountain Arts Colony, where I will stay in a cottage at the edge of a hillside with a front porch and a rocking chair. Where I will take my scrabbled notebooks and journal and an abundant supply of pens and an even more abundant stash of possibilities and perhapses that come with embarking on a still-new project.

While I’m away, I’ll launch into Jami Attenberg’s #1000 words of summer—committing to writing 1000 words a day for two weeks, the first of them at Dorland then continuing when I return home. I’m relieved that not all 1000 words a day have to be “good.” Just get the words on the page, that’s my intention. Once the words are on the page, then I have something to work with.

Do you have place you like to go for a writing retreat? Or do you create one at home? What’s your “ideal” writing retreat?

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More plans for summer

The writing retreat isn’t the only thing I have planned for summer. There’s this, too:

My friend and colleague Kay Adams of the Center for Journal Therapy is celebrating her 40^th anniversary year of teaching journal writing, and she’s offering a grand celebration you can be part of.

It’s called INKspiration: Journal with the All-Stars, and it takes place on Zoom one day a month May 31-Sept 27. Each workshop day features four leaders, speakers and authors in the field, each offering a 90-minute workshop on writing for growth and change.

The kick-off is Saturday, May 31, and there is still time to register with a 10% discount. Featured speakers are Lynda Monk, director of the International Association for Journal Writing, a sponsor of the event, along with former poet laureate Wendi Kaplan, Jungian scholar Jon Sayers and expressive arts therapies pioneer Dr. Peggy Heller.

I will be teaching “From Journal to Memoir–The Art of Translating Yourself” on Sunday, July 20. We’ll explore how to shape our raw, open-ended, unfiltered journal entries into a story that will resonate with readers. I’m excited to share the day with three amazing teachers/writers/coaches Jacklee Holder, Sandra Marinella, and Nancy Scherlong. In fact, I’m excited about the whole summer-long of INKspiration!

Hope to see you May 31 at INKspiration!

It’s time to Blaze!

Once again I’m all fired up to take part in San Diego Writers, Ink annual Blazing Laptops Write-a-thon, a fun-filled, day-long writing marathon to raise money for my favorite nonprofit writing organization. I plan on writing more than 1000 words on Sunday, June 22 when our lively community of blazers will gather at Lestat’s in Hillcrest for a day of writerly fun and fundraising. You can join as a participant or a sponsor. Here’s the link to find out more and here’s a link to sponsor me and my Thursday Writers Team. You can sponsor us in any amount and all your donations are tax deductible. Thank you in advance for your support and cheering on.

Here’s more Summer Doings

The Story So Far–Readings of Works-in-Progress with my favorite Read & Critique Group on Friday, June 6 at San Diego Writers, Ink. We promise an evening of diverse stories (all of them true), yummy refreshments, and we’ll have a few books for sale and authors who’ll be delighted to sign them.

Summer Solstice Celebration. What better way to celebrate the Summer Solstice than gathering with a group of writers around a traditional Solstice bonfire for stories, legends, myths, and writing in community. Join us if you can, Friday, June 20.

The Premise Podcast. And here’s a link to a conversation I had with Jeniffer Thompson and Chad Thompson on their podcast, The Premise. Our conversation delved into the writing of my memoir, When Your Heart Says Go, and so many other topics—grief, love, travel, the kindness of strangers, tossing pigs. Take a listen. I hope you find something you like.

There’s even more summer fun coming that I’ll tell you about next time in The Lively Muse including how many words I wrote in that two-week, 1000 words-a-day commitment. Will I hit anywhere near 14,000? (whoa! I just scared myself!)

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Books of Summer

Summer is also reading time. But then when isn’t it reading time? My current reads include The Book of Alchemy by Suleika Jaouad, which offers a journal prompt for every day. I have it beside my morning writing table where I begin each day with a few pages in my journal. I adore her Substack, The Isolation Journals, too. Anyone up for a group of writing alone/together from the prompts in this book?

Afternoons and evenings I dip into Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardina Evaristo. This 2019 Booker Prize-winning novel breaks tradition in many ways including offering four chapters, each with three different protagonists’ POVs. I found it when I went on a search for novels that featured multiple protagonist POVs. My new WIP has five narrators and I wanted to see how other writers handled multiple points-of-view. I never expected twelve! A well-deserved, wild, funny, and innovative prize winner.

What’s on your bedside stand or in your TBR pile?

New favorite place: the Mill Valley Library, set among giant Redwoods in Marin County in the San Francisco Bay area—gorgeous! Do you have a new favorite? Or old one? Libraries are my home away from home (an ideal place for a mini-writing retreat, by the way), and right now they are under attack—libraries and in some cases even librarians themselves. Please, let’s do all we can to support these critical community institutions. “A library outranks any other one thing a community can do to benefit its people.” – Andrew Carnegie

Thank you for joining me and The Lively Muse

Currently all The Lively Muse content and archives are free. All sorts of thoughts and ideas are brewing for how this newsletter might develop, and what additional content may be added for paid subscribers. What pulled me to Substack is the opportunity to interact via the comments section, so please let me know what you’d like more of.

Leave a comment

A special thank you to all of you who have become paid subscribers. Your support of The Lively Muse means the world to me.

I barely got a start on some of bits and pieces for a new novel, some character notes and spontaneous scenes that came during writing practice sessions and intentional set aside times. We’ve had some fun, five new characters and me as they revealed information and details.

I found out one wears a size ten shoe, one can whistle so beautifully you might think she swallowed a flute, one has a worm composter that she brags about, another nearly got arrested for a piece of performance art she staged beside the flagpole at the Ruth Bader Ginsburg Elementary School, one has a thing for Greek myths—particularly those goddesses who cast spells, and one is a writer who’s being sued for wrongful death.

When they first showed up, these five women, I took my notebook to cafes and on mini-writing retreats. I set up a Scrivener file and entered some of the mini-scenes I’d scribbled out. I rearranged my work space and now have a cleared off table to spread out the work. I even dug out my old bulletin board and spiffed it up ready to receive notes and timelines and images that reminded or inspired me.

Then something happened. Two trips to Mexico and a flurry of catch-up when I returned, extra workshops added to an already full-to-overflowing schedule and suddenly it seemed it had been weeks since I’d written anything more than a line here or there. Except for the occasional mention, the characters didn’t even show up in my Thursday Writers sessions where they’d been regulars. I missed them. More than that, I missed writing, working on a project, being immersed in the fun and frustration of exploring a new whatever it might turn out to be.

Writing this feels like a sort of confession, which makes it sound like not writing is a sin. I know it isn’t. I know not writing is a thing all writers experience from time to time. But I and so many writers I know and have worked with over the years, have been told by others—teachers, guides, gurus, the much published and quite a few famous, that that to be a “real” writer, you must write every day. I think back in my early, naive days, I may have said something like that myself. (If, in fact, I ever said it to you, my apologies. I didn’t know what I was talking about.)

My belief now is about the importance of having a regular writing practice. What that practice is depends upon each individual and what fits with your goals, your life-situation, and lifestyle, and it can be influenced by all manner of events and circumstances. As mine has recently been.

If not writing is something you sometimes experience, I can offer some suggestions that might help, you’ve probably heard them all before (and I may be talking to myself here):

· join a writing group

· meet up with a friend to write alone/together

· sign up for a class or workshop—in person or online

· use a prompt-a-day companion to give you lift-off (may I suggest A Writer’s Book of Days, available in e-book format, which has a writing prompt for every day, plus some.)

· make appointments with your writer self on your to-do list or calendar (and if you don’t keep them tell yourself why)

· go on a writing retreat

· commit to a time-based group or organization (like NaNoWriMo or Jami Attenberg’s #1000wordsofsummer)

· be part of a writing practice group like our Thursday Writers (many are online)

· work with a writing coach or editor

· keep a journal or a log and give yourself rewards for reaching certain goals

· remind yourself why you do this—what does writing give to you?

· _________________(fill in the blank with what works for you & tell me about it)

Me, I’ve scheduled a writing retreat at Dorland Mountain Arts Colony for the end of May/first of June, which is when I also start my #1000wordsofsummer commitment. Now that my schedule has eased, I’ll resume my afternoon café/writing treat and I’m sure my Thursday Writers notebook will once again welcome those women and their stories.

Next I’ll tackle that regular physical practice (i.e. going to the Y) I haven’t been able to realize for too long.

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*Sehnsucht is a German noun translated as "longing", "desire", "yearning", or "craving". Some psychologists use the word to represent thoughts and feelings about all facets of life that are unfinished or imperfect, paired with a yearning for ideal alternative experiences

A few upcoming events, workshops, and groups

Captured Moments—Monday, May 12, Noon-1:30 (PDT) Online. We’re celebrating our 4^th year.

Spring into Writing with San Diego Writers, Ink—May 16-18 (save the date)

Summer Solstice Celebration—Friday, June 20, 6-8:30 pm (PDT) In Person. We’ll gather by the shore in San Diego’s Mission Bay.

Conversations with Poets—I was honored to be invited to a Conversation with poet Michael Klam via Pt. Loma Nazarene University’s Video Department as one of the many San Diego Poetry Annual programs. Michael is Executive Editor and Associate Publisher of the Annual.

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It’s still National Poetry Month

Here’s a Book Spine Poem I created for the occasion

Thank you for joining me and The Lively Muse

Currently all The Lively Muse content and archives are free. All sorts of thoughts and ideas are brewing for how this newsletter might develop, and what additional content may be added for paid subscribers. What pulled me to Substack is the opportunity to interact via the comments section, so please let me know what you’d like more of.

Leave a comment

A special thank you to all of you who have become paid subscribers. Your support of The Lively Muse means the world to me.

Thanks for reading The Lively Muse! This post is public so feel free to share it.

Share

So goes the first sentence in an entry on paying attention in A Writer’s Book of Days. It encourages us—as writers and as human beings—to notice what we notice, and to be present in the present moment.

I wrote those words in the first edition of that book in 1999, and repeated them in the second edition, and most recently said aloud in a video that’s part of a writing workshop I’m preparing for later in the Spring. It seems of late I’m paying attention and noticing the natural world around me as Spring makes herself known in my neighborhood.

For example, my landlords erected a couple of bird feeders in their back yard, which I see from my kitchen window and pass every time I go up and down the stairs to my apartment. These bird feeders are a magnet for the Lesser Goldfinches that blaze their bright yellow breasts all around them in flutters of me first/no my turn/outta my way. I can’t get enough of watching these tiny creatures wing-wrestle their way to the perches, then flit off to a branch in the lemon tree, then fly back again for more.

I just returned from two separate trips to Mexico, one to San Miguel de Allende where I was on the faculty for the San Miguel Writers’ Conference and a second, a week later, to Ajijic where I presented a couple of workshops. A day in either of these cities, even a few hours, will reward the attention-payer with a plethora of noticeable details; two weeks in one location followed by a week in another is almost detail-overwhelm.

Witness these shoes:

This display of honey:

And you should see the fabulous murals in both cities.

So why is it important for us as writers to pay attention? Because this is where we find the details that enrich our writing and bring it to life. Maybe more important, because paying attention and noticing what we notice enriches our personal day-to-day lives. This is how we discover what matters to us and how we view the world; paying attention reveals our truth, and this is what we’ll pass on in our writing.

In a piece on “Truth is in the Details” in the Book of Days, I wrote, “Details, truthfully rendered, bring your writing to life and create connection points for the reader. … Single, telling details skillfully wrought relate more about a character or place than a thousand more general aspects.” An example: “She got married the second time at Judge Sweetum’s Marriage Parlor in Miami, Oklahoma, wearing a mini-skirt and white go-go boots.”

That’s not in the book, it’s the detail I told about myself at the workshop in Ajijic when I invited each participant to introduce herself by giving us one telling detail about herself. What telling detail would you use to introduce yourself?

In a moment of lovely synchronicity on Friday as I was drafting notes for this month’s The Lively Muse, I read about The Art of Noticing, a book by Rob Walker that Austin Kleon mentioned in his Substack. It’s subtitle: 131 Ways to Spark Creativity, Find Inspiration, and Discover Joy in the Everyday. I’m looking forward to discovering what Rob Walker has to say and playing with a couple (or several) of the 131 ways.

What about you? Are you a noticer of details in your everyday? What details did you notice today? What did you pay attention to?

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It’s Women’s History Month

And we’ve made some! We’re doing it right now—writing our stories, telling our truths. Remember this: well-behaved women seldom make history. So go stir up some “good trouble.” It’s what we need these days.

Speaking of making history, my friend Laura Stanfill is doing just that. Her new book, Imagine a Door, releases April 1 from Forest Avenue Press. You can pre-order it now. I’m honored to have my “blurb” on the beautiful cover designed by Gigi Little.

A few upcoming events, workshops, and groups

Spring Equinox Celebration—Saturday, March 22 (in-person). We’ll gather in the newly renovated Botanical Building in San Diego’s Balboa Park to celebrate the change of seasons.

AWP Conference and Book Fair in Los Angeles—March 26-29 (in-person). I’ll be there taking it all in…or as much as I can. Will you be there? Let’s meet up.

San Diego Writers Festival—Saturday, April 5 (in-person) Coronado Library. I’m on a panel that will discuss “Building a Following: How to Create Meaningful Connections.” One of my goals in writing The Lively Muse is to create connections, which is what we do when you leave a comment or write a note. Thank you!

IAJW Writing Alone, Together Circle—Wednesday, April 8 (virtual). Lynda Monk invited me to lead the International Association for Journal Writing monthly event. I’m delighted. This is always a warm and welcoming group.

Thank you for joining me and The Lively Muse

I hope you found something of interest. (What did you have for breakfast this morning?) Currently all The Lively Muse content and archives are free, and even so, some have chosen to support my work by becoming paid subscribers. I am deeply grateful. Your support means the world to me. One of my favorite things about Substack is the opportunity to interact via the comments section, so please let me know what you’d like more of.

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Oh, and here’s a prompt I came upon as I was paging through A Writer’s Book of Days. I may use it in a writing session for one of the characters in my new novel. “This is what she asked for.” Let me know if you use it and tell me what happened!

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If you asked when I started writing in cafes I couldn’t give you an exact date or even a year. I close my eyes and pull up an old slide show. . . Here I am at Gelato Vero Caffe on India Street or Quel Fromage on University in Hillcrest. I’m writing in my notebook and having a cappuccino at Bassam’s back in the day when it was in the Gaslamp. Or up on the mezzanine at Claire de Lune Coffee Lounge in North Park.

I can smell the coffee brewing at the Pannikin in La Jolla after visiting D.G. Wills Bookstore. I set myself and my notebook up at a table painted with a scene inspired by Hopper’s “Nighthawk Cafe” at Lestat’s in Normal Heights.

I linger at cafes along the way on road trips to San Francisco—The Earthling bookstore/cafe in Santa Barbara, Nepenthe in Big Sur, and when I get to the city, I hang out at Caffe Trieste in North Beach.

Memories of my around-the-world journey in 1990-91 are held in journals I kept, writing in cafes and coffee shops from Paris to Bombay. (You can read about my journey in my memoir, When Your Heart Says Go). When I lived in Barcelona, my notebook and I found our place at Caffe de Francesca on Passeig de Gracia or upstairs at Laie Llibreria Bookstore and Cafe.

Writing in cafes was so good for me and my creative work, after I started The Writing Center in San Diego’s Gaslamp Quarter, I wanted to share the experience with others, so I led a six-week series of Cafe Writing workshops meeting in cafes all over San Diego. The series was so productive and fun, we did it twice.

I wrote under the mural at Rebecca’s on Juniper in South Park and later at Caffe Madeleine’s, where I go for the pastry and writing. Bassam’s is now on Fifth in Banker’s Hill and I take my notebook there for a late afternoon coffee after a walk in Balboa Park. Nearly a dozen cafes or coffee shops are within walking distance of my current home, including Caffe Calabria where I order a Metro and meet the muse on the deck. Communal Coffee, Subterranean Coffee, Lovesong Cafe, Influx, Muri Coffee & Cake—you might find me at any one of these places on any given afternoon.

Every Thursday I write at Lestat’s in Hillcrest with Thursday Writers and every year I pass through the sarcophagus and up the stairs to spend the day with a couple dozen other writers for San Diego Writers, Ink’s Blazing Laptops Write-a-thon.

If you asked me why I make these forays to coffee shops and cafes all over town, notebook and pen in my tote or laptop in its case, I would say, “Well, I like coffee and I like writing and there’s something about putting these two together that somehow increases the pleasure of both.”

We’re more creative in coffee places

What I didn’t know until recently that there’s such a thing as the “Coffee Shop Effect.” Onno van de Groen, a neuropsychology researcher from Edith Cowan University in Joondalup, Australia, created the name. His research shows that a coffee shop is filled with a productivity-boosting element scientists call “stochastic resonance.” What happens is sensory signals induced by the background-noise help the brain break out of a mental rut to see things from new perspectives.

That’s why when I sit with my Americano in front of me and open my notebook to a blank page and set the pen to writing , a new idea, a fresh image, even a break-through solution can suddenly appear on the page. Or maybe I just write a quick couple-hundred-word reminisce of that first dance with Rosalio at a ninth grade party, or a memory of staking up tomato plants with my dad in our family garden, or a description of yesterday’s goofy squirrel activity viewed out my kitchen window.

Whatever happens, the Coffee Shop Effect almost never fails to enhance my productivity and creativity. Plus I experience the pleasure of a brewed-just-right Americano.

What about you? Are you a coffee-shop writer or an artist sketching in your notebook as you sip your cappuccino? Do you have a favorite cafe or favorite drink?

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Here are a few more details about the “Coffee Shop Effect,” according to research:

• Background Music: Not too loud, kind of familiar, and without lyrics is best for productivity and creativity.

• Motivation: Being surrounded by others doing the same thing acts as a motivator.

• Change of Scenery: Your brain is constantly looking for something new; coffee shops and cafes can provide us not only a shot of caffeine, but a shot of dopamine, our happy hormone, which is linked to an increase in motivation.

• Intentions: Research shows that when your sole purpose of going to a coffee shop is to get some work done, you’ll probably do it. Your intention will motivate you to get it done.

So whether you go by yourself or with someone else, pack up your notebook or laptop, set your intention, settle in and order your favorite drink. I’ll see you there.

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A few upcoming events, workshops, and groups

Captured Moments—Monday, March 10 (virtual). Join me for the March edition of my monthly online writing group.

Spring Equinox Celebration—Saturday, March 22 (in-person). We’ll gather in the newly renovated Botanical Building in San Diego’s Balboa Park to celebrate the change of seasons.

AWP Conference and Book Fair in Los Angeles—March 26-29 (in-person). I’ll be there taking it all in…or as much as I can. Will you be there? Let’s meet up.

San Diego Writers Festival—Saturday, April 5 (in-person) Coronado Library. I’m on a panel that will discuss “Building a Following: How to Create Meaningful Connections.”

IAJW Writing Alone, Together Circle—Wednesday, April 8 (virtual). Lynda Monk invited me to lead the International Association for Journal Writing monthly event. I’m delighted. This is always a warm and welcoming group.

Thank you San Miguel Writers Conference for a fabulous Conference. So many great speakers and panels and workshops and readings, oh my! And so many wonderful writers and volunteers. I loved every full and rich minute of it.

Thank you for joining me and The Lively Muse

Currently all The Lively Muse content and archives are free. All sorts of thoughts and ideas are brewing for how this newsletter might develop, and what additional content may be added for paid subscribers. What pulled me to Substack is the opportunity to interact via the comments section, so please let me know what you’d like more of.

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A special thank you to all of you who have become paid subscribers. Your support of The Lively Muse means the world to me.

Each Thanksgiving the women in our family receive an amaryllis from Jan, my son’s mother-in-law. I place mine, pregnant with promise, next to the window on my kitchen table where I do my morning writing.

The photographs were taken from the first morning the amaryllis and I shared my table, through December 20, when I took the last photo in the series. And, as it happened, beginning in November and continuing into December and the new year, a new idea began to take shape in my notebook.

The gradual blossoming of the amaryllis into four gorgeous blooms that accompanied the progressive opening of an idea into what might become a book, reminded me that writing anything is a day-at-a-time event—each day, another word, another sentence, another thought.

I learned a long time ago about the benefits of having a regular writing practice and how writing for even ten minutes is how words get on the page and ideas blossom and grow. Recently in a Jane Friedman newsletter, Allison K. Williams said that Andre Dubus III wrote House of Sand and Fog 17 minutes at a time, sitting in his car after leaving for work 17 minutes early.

Writing Alone, Writing Together

While some flowers, like my amaryllis, can bloom on their own—a single plant in a single pot—there’s something about a generous garden of roses, a long hedge of rhododendrons, an entire patio billowing with brilliant magenta bougainvillea, that reminds me of how gorgeous we can be when we join in community to write. I do this every Thursday in our Thursday Writers group. In December, I wrote with others at an overnight winter writing retreat and again during a New Year’s Eve celebration. And rather than watch the inauguration, I’m going to be at a writing retreat with several other women—all of us writing together. (Thank you, Pie’d Piper Amy Wallen for making this respite possible.)

Not all my writing alone/writing together sessions are live and in-person. The first of the year, I joined Jami Attenberg’s Mini-1000 Words. It’s one of several she offers each year as an extension of her popular #1000 Words of Summer project. Jami’s groups are self-guided with an opportunity to post daily in an online community. I plan to do this again, and probably the two-week #1000 Words of Summer as well. Who knows when NaNoWriMo comes around in November whether I’ll take part in that marathon! There’s a whole Spring and Summer of day-at-a-time until then.

Have you taken part in any of these online opportunities for writing in community, either live or self-guided? One of the reasons I ask is that I’m in the process of developing a program and I’d love to write with you. Look for it somewhere further along in the year—maybe around the time the sunflowers show off their bright summertime blooming.

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Meantime the amaryllis and I will keep doing our day-at-a-time thing at my kitchen table. It’s nurturing a new blossom or two and I’ll be there with my notebook to discover what these new characters have to say. I’ll also be at Lestat’s Hillcrest for Thursday Writers every Thursday afternoon, and hanging out at local cafes on other afternoons for coffee/writing sessions. Maybe you’ll see me at Open Studio sessions here and there, and other opportunities for a ten- or 17-minute or half-hour or longer writing session. Are you a regular writing practitioner? Tell me about how you do it and what you like about it.

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Want to Write Together or Talk About Writing?

I’ll be leading workshops and gathering with other writers at the San Miguel Writers’ Conference, February 12-16.

Plans are underway for an in-person Spring Equinox Writing Retreat in San Diego on March 22 (more info soon).

My monthly Captured Moments workshop will continue online the second Monday of each month (except February).

Lynda Monk invited me to lead the April Writing Alone Together Circle online with the International Association for Journal Writing (IAJW). I love this one. It’s always such a warm and welcoming group and a lot of fun.

Thank you for joining me and The Lively Muse

Currently all The Lively Muse content and archives are free. All sorts of thoughts and ideas are brewing for how this newsletter might develop, and what additional content may be added for paid subscribers. What pulled me to Substack is the opportunity to interact via the comments section, so please let me know what you’d like more of.

A special thank you to all of you who have become paid subscribers. Your support of The Lively Muse means the world to me.

It isn’t a particularly good first sentence, or even a good-enough sentence that might show up in the third paragraph on page 27 only to be edited out in rewrites. But when something like that happens you don’t wait, you don’t ignore it, you don’t tell your sleepy self you’ll remember because you won’t. When a gift like that comes, you pay attention. You get it down and you say, “thank you!”

This new work-in-progress is where my year is ending up and I couldn’t be more excited. It’s been a minute since something new and promising has appeared in my writing practice notebooks. In fact, last time was an afternoon in June 2016, when I wrote the first words of what would become When Your Heart Says Go, the memoir I published in the fall of 2023.

I don’t mean to say that nothing exciting or fun or interesting has appeared in my writing practice notebooks or in my morning journals for a long time. Just the opposite. I do these things: regular writing practice and daily journaling because I never know when something fresh and new and exciting might show up. It happens all the time, but it’s not often that an idea grabs hold and doesn’t let go, insisting, as this one has, that we might be in it for the long run, so buckle up and pay attention. I did and I am.

I hope the same thing has happened to you recently. If it has, tell me about it. Or tell me about the last time it happened to you. The time you got one of those ideas that seemed to flow right through your fingers and onto the pages of your notebook or computer keys to an open file. Or maybe it was a bright flash that came out of thin air and nearly knocked the breath out of you. A gift from the muse or some benevolent spirit who knew you were ready.

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Writing Alone, Writing Together–2024

Someone asked me how many workshops and groups and events I did this year. Just now I did a review of my 2024 calendar and let’s just say “many,” and leave it at that. I won’t recount them here, though it was fun to make notes and remember this reading and that workshop and those writers. Here again I want to say “thank you,” for all the opportunities I’ve had to be with other creators and to be a part of the lively community of writers I call home.

This is one of my favorite things—being in community—writing alone/writing together. (That was even title of my second book, published in 2002 and available as an e-book). I love sharing our stories. Supporting each other. Inspiring each other. Laughing, crying, confessing, remembering, imagining; being playful, being serious—being real. Being who we are or maybe who we want to be.

I am especially grateful to have celebrated the 20^th anniversary of San Diego Writers, Ink this year. (Thanks Brendan Praniewicz for the photo)

Do you have one thing you’re especially grateful for this year? Or maybe a dozen. Tell me and let’s celebrate them together.

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The year’s not over yet

We still have New Year’s Eve and I’ll be celebrating with co-host Robb Donaldson and a roomful of lively writers as we ring in 2025 at San Diego Writers, Ink Tuesday night, December 31. Find out more here.

The new year promises many opportunities to write alone/together or join in community for readings or workshops or conferences and other special events. Some I’m looking forward to in just the first quarter of 2025:

Jami Attenberg’s Mini-1000 Words, Jan. 3-7. That new work-in-progress and I will be participating for this five-day intensive of 1000-words-a-day. I can’t wait to find out what these new characters have to say.

Captured Moments, my monthly online workshop where we do just that (capture a moment in writing) enters the New Year on Monday, Jan. 13. Let’s write together then.

San Miguel Writers' Conference, San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, Feb. 12-16. My workshops are filling. I’m looking forward to this fabulous lineup of keynote speakers!

Southern California Writers’ Conference, San Diego, Feb. 14-16. You still have a couple of days to get the early “bard” discount (thru Jan. 1)

AWP Conference & Book Fair, Los Angeles, March 26-29. My favorite Book Fair!

So many events through San Diego Writers, Ink, both in person and virtual, including a free seven-week online workshop looking at the writer and AI, with Achi Mishra that begins Jan. 14. (more here).

Something new is coming in 2025

Amy Boyd is behind the camera; I’m in front of the camera and we’re making a thing. I’ll tell you more as more gets done.

As we enter the New Year

I want to say thank you for all that we’ve shared this year. Thank you for joining me on the journey and inviting me to join you. For writing with me—alone/together, and sharing your stories (keep doing that!) and for your support in all the ways you do, some you probably don’t even know.

Also so much gratitude to all of you who have become paid subscribers. I appreciate your support and am taking your paid subscription as encouragement to keep doing this.

Currently all The Lively Muse content and archives (such as they are, we’re still new here) are free. All sorts of thoughts and ideas are brewing for how this newsletter might develop, and what additional content may be added for paid subscribers. What pulled me to Substack is the opportunity to interact via the comments section, so please let me know what you’d like more of.

Leave a comment

As I sign off for this month’s Lively Muse and 2024, here’s this from Brenda Ueland:

Work with all your intelligence and love. Work freely and rollickingly as though you were talking to a friend who loves you. Mentally (at least three or four times a day) thumb your nose at all the know-it-alls, jeerers, critics, doubters.

And a prompt to end the year, which I pulled from Writing Alone, Writing Together: “You left something behind.”

May your new year be abundant with peace and love and joy. Happy New Year. (We’re not done yet!)