Posts Tagged ‘teaching’
Writing again in 2018!
For me, 2017 was not a writing year. Certainly the state of our country was a huge distraction, and it took me too long to realize that I could not check my news feeds first thing in the morning. It was also a busy year work-wise, so my creative time was limited. And the creative…
Read MoreWhat now? – A case for compassion
This morning the house is quiet and I’m sitting in my tiny office. I love my office. There are books lining my desk, stacked on the floor beside me, above me in the cabinet. This is the place where I put words on the page, where I log into my email to immerse myself in…
Read Morecelebrating women’s stories
Last weekend I was at Faith’s Lodge for my spring retreat, and I was, once again, blown away by what can happen when women get together to write and share their stories with one another. When we delve deeply into both the beautiful and hard parts of life, then share that writing with each other,…
Read Morefishing nets
I spent the last few days at Faith’s Lodge, leading my winter Motherhood & Words retreat. As always, it was a weekend filled with words—some funny, some difficult to speak aloud. As always, it was inspiring to sit in a circle of amazing women and talk and laugh and cry and share delicious meals and…
Read Morewrite with me
Have you always wanted to write your motherhood stories? Do you need a gentle nudge to get you going and keep you accountable? Are you craving a community of women who write? I’m kicking off a 10-week online Motherhood & Words class on January 27th and there are still a couple of openings. What recent students have…
Read MoreHello, 2016!
We rang in the New Year up at my mom’s cabin in northern Minnesota as we so often do. It was cozy—just D, the girls, my mom and step-dad and me. We cooked and ate and read and did puzzles (in an obsessive way that was somehow still relaxing). The girls and D skated in…
Read Morefall motherhood & words class
Donny and I spent the last five days painting (or rather emptying, then taping, then painting, then taping more, then painting more, and finally reassembling) our kitchen and my office. It was grueling, but it’s done, and now my office looks like this: And now I’m ready to dive back into writing and also gear…
Read MoreLet me count the ways…a love letter to River Teeth
For the past four years, one of the highlights of my spring has been the River Teeth Nonfiction Conference at Ashland University. I’ve written about it here on Motherhood & Words before, and all of those things I lauded in the past still hold true. The conference is small, intimate, and chock-full of talks and…
Read Moreholding steady
* Disclaimer: This post is full of health-related over-sharing. Proceed at your own risk. Though I took a small break for Zoë’s birthday festivities, it feels as though once again most of my time is dedicated to navigating my health issues. Last week I had a double colonoscopy/upper endoscopy, which was, um, lots of fun.…
Read Moresmashing our fears
I always encourage my students to write towards vulnerability and explore the things they’re too afraid to say out loud. And always—always—I’m blown away by what emerges when they really do that, when they craft something beautiful from digging deep and confronting the things that scare them most. I love what one of my former…
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