Sarah Pemberton
AWA licensed writing group facilitator
Certified NLP Master Practitioner
MA in Education
(503) [email protected]
| Women’s Writing Groups – Tuesday Mornings Online | Thursday Evenings In-person | Register |
 | We can write ourselves into connection with our Self. We honor our different selves when we write our stories and meet the various voices of our lives in the written word. We soften our left-brained minds as we trust what wants to flow from our pens onto the page, often surprising ourselves by what comes forth! When we share our stories with others who are doing the same thing, we see ourselves in new ways. Self discovery opens.Come write with us and step into curiosity. |
Online group: Tuesday Mornings | January 30-March 19 | 10-11:30 am | meets on zoom
In-person group: Thursday Evenings | February 1-March 21 | 7-8:30 pm | meets at 316 NE 19th Ave (limited to 7 people)
Fee: $375This writing group is for anyone who is interested in expressing their creative self through writing. Whether you write the stories of your life or you write fiction, this is a time to deepen your relationship with yourself, to be surprised by what emerges, to experience our shared humanity, to enjoy the creative process. You will generate new material that is honest and fresh. You will leave each week a little bit expanded, a little bit changed, breathing a little bit deeper because of the connection with yourself and with the other writers. You will sharpen your craft in the process.
We will write from compelling prompts, such as poetry, art, sounds, and ideas from writing books by authors like Natalie Goldberg and Anne Lamott. We will stir the soul and the imagination. All are welcome. No previous writing experience is necessary. Those with a regular writing practice or who are working on projects can use the prompts to invigorate their current work.
This group is based on the Amherst Writer’s and Artist’s method. You will find more information about this method below.
About the Amherst Writer’s and Artist’s Method: We hold the following 5 essential affirmations in our writing groups:
1. Everyone has a strong, unique voice.
2. Everyone is born with creative genius.
3. Writing as an art form belongs to all people, regardless of economic class or educational level.
4. The teaching of craft can be done without damage to a writer’s original voice or self-esteem.
5. A writer is someone who writes.“Whether your purpose for writing is artistic expression, communication with friends and family, the healing of the inner life, or achieving public recognition for your art – the foundation is the same: the claiming of yourself as an artist/writer and the strengthening of your writing voice through practice, study, and helpful response from other writers.”
– Pat Schneider, from Writing Alone and With OthersThe Amherst Writers & Artists’ philosophy is a simple one: every person is a writer, and every writer deserves a safe environment in which to experiment, learn, and develop craft. The AWA method, which is fully described in founder Pat Schneider’s book Writing Alone and With Others (Oxford University Press, 2003, and available at www.patschneider.com), provides just such an environment.
Unique to the AWA method, at the time of the publication of the book, are these two revolutionary practices:
Everything in the writing workshop is treated as fiction, to keep the focus on the writing rather than the personal and to minimize the vulnerability of the writer. The teacher or leader writes with the participants, and reads aloud along with the other writers.
These practices, along with keeping all writing confidential, responding to just-written work with positive attention on what is strong in the writing, create an environment that is non-hierarchical, honest, and safe. Accomplished and beginning writers learn from one another in a generous atmosphere that works seriously to develop craft and holds personal respect for the value of every voice.
The AWA method has been used successfully with experienced writers as well as beginners, writers who have confidence as well as those who are uncertain. It has been equally effective in helping those whose voices have traditionally been silenced by poverty, discrimination, illness, age or other obstacles to achieving the powerful combination of language and confidence needed to overcome social barriers. While the AWA method is not therapy, it has great healing potential for writers from all backgrounds. Writers who have used the AWA method have published major works and taken top prizes and awards in the U.S. and Ireland, and over a thousand have completed the AWA training program in workshop leadership.
Peter Elbow, author of Writing Without Teachers, brought the writing process movement into classrooms across the U.S. In his the introduction to Writing Alone and With Others, he called Pat Schneider “the best teacher of writing I know.” The practices outlined in the book have proven effective in graduate school classrooms and in work with the homeless, in children’s schoolrooms, with nursing students, in bereavement groups and in living rooms among friends.