Write Here Write Now

We can't go into gyms right now in Alberta, which is a place where many people release frustrations, hang out with likeminded people, and help their mental and emotional health.

Writing, journaling, getting your thoughts down onto paper (or typed into a computer) is also a proven way to help relieve stress and boost your mood and emotional health.

While we wait for our regular go-to mental-health aids to open up again when the pandemic restrictions lift, why not try another tool (writing) that you don't usually make much time for?

Just four weeks. About 2.5 hrs per week of work. You write your own story, your way. As a journal entry. As a journalist, interviewing people. Or as a fictional story based on real life events. But all pertaining to the past year dealing with our individual pandemic situations.

Write Here Write Now: Who doesn’t love puns or old songs with lyrics that ironically relate to your life today?

Right here, right now

There is no other place I want to be

Right here, right now

Watching the world wake up from history

I saw the decade in, when it seemed the world could change

At the blink of an eye

And if anything

Then there's your sign of the times

As a journalist and editor, I’ve written published articles about amazing people and companies doing impactful and inspiring things. I’ve also written personal blog posts about friends, events, and my family because keeping the stories within makes me feel like I’m going to burst. The stories need to get out.

I’ve taught a few mindful journaling workshops to guide people who are not trained writers to get their story out. To share thoughts, feelings, and dreams on paper that have been pent up within because they didn’t know that writing them down could be a form of release.

Why Register for Write Here Write Now?

• The pandemic was an unexpected and tragic event that offers no certainty of when it will end, how it will end, and what life will look like after it does finally end. Our pent-up, survival mode feelings need to come out in healthy ways and writing is one proven method to do just that.
• Our minds and hearts are full of the good and bad of this past year and we’ve been stuffing the feelings down just to survive, keep our jobs, recover from losing a job, stay safe, check in with elderly parents, make things seem ‘fine’ for our kids’ sake, etc. and it is wreaking havoc on our mental and physical health.
• In Alberta, fitness facilities are closed, restaurants are closed, and we cannot step into friends’ homes, so our go-to stress relieving methods have been taken from us and we’re suffering. Other provinces are suffering in similar ways.
• Writing down your experience since March 2020 can help you organize your thoughts. Honour your rollercoaster feelings without shame. And acknowledge your response to it all, as well as those around you, with a more empathetic and understanding lens.

Weekly Themes:

1. Feb. 9 - Session 1 - Intro. What to write?
2. Feb. 16 - Session 2 - All the feels. (Exploring emotion in writing)
3. Feb. 23 - Session 3 - Who are your people? (Discovering the other characters/people in your story)
4. Mar. 2 - Session 4 - What is your why? (exploring the idea Simon Sinek proposed of Start With Why & how it relates to your story in a pandemic)
5. Mar. 9 - Session 5 - Optional wrap-up (no instructional material provided, just a conclusion chat, farewells, feedback etc.)

Who should take the course?

• Anyone of any age, gender, location, profession, or writing ability.
• Anyone willing to try a bit of writing and feel that having a course will keep them accountable to do it.
• Anyone feeling a bit disconnected and wanting a group, although temporary, to join.
• Anyone willing to dedicate about 2.5 hrs/week for 4 weeks to a course (including our meeting times). If 20 min chunks of time are dedicated to this in the morning, during a lunch break, or before bed, 3-4 times throughout the week, that’s all you need to commit.

What is Write Here Write Now?

• A four-week mindful writing course.
• Open to 15 registrants. (If more want to register, I can create a second group and meet time).
• Once a week, all participants will meet together virtually for 60 mins or less (only “less”, if all items are covered, there are no questions, and participants want to get going. I just want everyone to feel their time is respected as some people have many virtual meetings a day/week, so adding one more feels painful regardless of how awesome these will be).
• You will choose & direct your writing style: journalistic, journaling/memoir-like, or fiction story telling based on real life, after I help explain what each style would look like.
• During each virtual meet, I’ll provide instructions for a writing-focused activity. Participants will briefly work through the activity during the meet but will delve deeper on their own afterwards. Meeting times will also be used to answer questions and recap the previous week’s assignment and participants’ writing progress.
• The course and writing focus will all be about the pandemic. What personal events and experiences the participants faced in 2020 and how those made them feel, react, and grow? The pre-pandemic and during surprises, disappointments, successes, etc. The expectations of 2021, and if any news-related events (e.g., U.S. election, schools closing, the vaccine becoming available) directly impacted your life.

What this course is NOT

• This is not exclusive to those who consider themselves “writers”, because really, what is that? This is meant for everyone of all abilities to explore the healing properties of writing.
• This is not a high school English course that is meant to improve your grammar, punctuation, or essay writing skills. It is more about mindful writing and emotion.
• This is not the course to take if you have a novel/book idea in mind that you want my help to write it or edit it.
• This is not a mode to get your work published in a newspaper or magazine. What you do with your final work created in this course is totally up to you, but I will not be sending work to publishers on your behalf.

When & how will the course run?

• Feb. 9-Mar. 9, 2021
• Tuesdays from 6-7 p.m. (MST) – you can be anywhere in the world, just need to meet at this time.
• First four meeting dates (Feb. 16, 23, Mar. 2) will be used for me to give instruction, directions, tips & new activities.
• The fifth meeting date (Mar. 9) is optional for participants for an online wrap up chat, feedback, next steps type of talk. But no new instructions or activities will be provided on this date.
• Participants will work towards completing one or two pieces of writing by the end of the course. Weekly assignments given will guide them to dig deeper into certain parts of their story: the people, the emotions, the reactions, and intentions.
• Participants will have time to work on their writing Tuesday night until Sunday night, when I’ll request they send me a Google Doc (or pdf or photo of handwritten work) they’re willing to share that pertains to that week’s activity. I’ll provide comments and basic edits to help draw out facts and feelings & send back before the next Tuesday meeting.

Where will the course run?

• I plan to use Microsoft Teams as the virtual meeting platform. If this platform gets wacky, as some like Zoom seem to be doing, I may jump over to Google Meets or Google Hangouts. I will keep it as simple as possible, so nobody needs IT tech support, but I want everyone to be able to see each other for a sense of connection. Times are hard and lonely!
• Please check out all these potential meeting platforms, if you haven’t already. I will not be able to be your tech support if connecting on your end is an issue.
• Links to online video meetings will be sent out to email addresses you register here with, so make sure they’re active emails that you check and use.