Why write alone when you can write with friends?

Come join me for the Zen Pen Virtual Writing Café

3rd Saturday of the month, 12-1pm eastern

Born in the pandemic and inspired by the essay "Writing in Restaurants" by Natalie Goldberg (in her landmark book, Writing Down the Bones), the Virtual Writing Café is intended for people who want to write and need or want a little bit of support and gentle accountability to get their pen moving.

The Virtual Writing Café is like writing together or co-working in a coffee shop. But online. We keep each other company while we get some writing done.

Bring a project, or not. Writing prompts will be offered, so you're good either way. Warm beverage optional, but highly recommended.

Contemplative writing: meeting your restless mind on the page

Contemplative writing is a powerful writing practice based in mindfulness meditation.

The practice of contemplative writing helps you write what's in your mind and in your heart, from moment to moment. You never need to be “blocked” or lacking something to write about. When you don’t know what to say, you can simply write “I don’t know what to say,” and move on from there. 

Who is this for?

Writing is for everybody, so come on in. Best suited to those who:

• want the support of a group for inspiration and companionship
• might be feeling stuck
• love to write and always wanted to do more but ... don't
• hate to write but love having written (as Dorothy Parker famously said)
• are curious, open-hearted, open-minded, willing to try new things

Who is this not for?

Not for you if you:

• have no interest in writing
• have zero interest in anything spiritual
• want to socialize or talk about writing (this is a hands-on session, mostly silent)
• want to "workshop" your writing project or do critique
• want feedback on your work (I'm happy to do that individually if you want private coaching -- you can contact me here
• want to learn about writing craft or grammar, punctuation, syntax, word choice, etc.
• want to learn to meditate (I'm not a meditation teacher)

Especially not for you if you're uncomfortable with inclusivity, diversity, or neurodiversity.

I'm committed to providing a loving, supportive, healthy, welcoming space that's safe for everyone. I'm particularly committed to welcoming people of any race, faith, ethnicity, national origin, age, size, gender, sexual orientation, health condition, or neural wiring, people with visible or invisible disabilities, and people with neurodivergent brains.

If you're not okay with that, this event is probably not a good fit for you.

What can I expect?

We'll do a quick check-in and get right to writing. I'll offer a prompt. We'll write, take a quick stretch break, and come back to write again.

If you have a project:

If you have a project you want to work on, you could use this as a firestarter: explore the intersection between your project and the prompt. (Or you could just jump right into working on your project.)

No project? No problem.

I'll offer a prompt to get you started.

What if I'm not a "writer"?

Who's to say who is or is not a "writer"? If you like writing and want to write, you are most welcome. Hell, you don't even have to actually like writing. (Full disclosure: I used to hate writing. Contemplative writing practice turned me around.)

For more info, please visit https://www.zen-pen.ca/

Out beyond ideas of "good" and "bad" writing, there is a page. I'll meet you there, with blessings to light your way. (Apologies to Rumi)

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Land Recognition: I live, work and play on land that is on unceded and unsurrendered traditional territories of the Algonquin people. I invite you to pause and reflect on whose land you live and work on, and if you don’t know, to research and reflect.