Come write with me!
The culmination of years of teaching memoir at the college level and in the community, the three signature workshops described below offer thought-provoking prompts in a warm, open-hearted group setting that will help you dive into and begin to explore your life story.
Perfect for memoirists, they’re also wonderful for anyone interested in using writing as a contemplative practice. By looking back over our life experience, we can better understand our present, and move more intentionally into the future we desire.
In 2019 I offered workshops at Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health, the Bioneers Conference, the Transformative Language Arts Network Power of Words Conference, the WriteAngles Conference at Mt. Holyoke College, the Writer’s Federation of Nova Scotia, and many more venues!
In 2020 I began offering my workshops in online formats, and found it a great way to connect and work together with a far-flung tribe of kindred spirits. Come join us!
Check my calendar to register for upcoming workshops and don’t hesitate to contact me if you have questions.
Join me on the journey!
Birth Your Truest Story…
By nourishing your most tender voice
A nine-month online writing workshop with monthly writer’s circle
co–led by Jennifer Browdy and Audrey Kalman
Writing a book has been compared to giving birth. With both writing and birthing, you are bringing something new and beautiful into the world, and to do this well requires a tremendous amount of creative energy, along with self-awareness about the fears that might hold you back, and the need for helpers and allies in the quest for success.
This workshop, offered in partnership with my longtime friend, the writer and birth doula Audrey Kalman, opens up a non-judgmental space where you will feel safe to discover your most tender voice, so that your truest stories can take root and blossom.
In our monthly sessions, we’ll introduce the tools you need to “birth” your next creative work and to sustain yourself for future projects. You will:
- Develop a powerful internal ally to walk with you on your writing journey.
- Discover the tender truths seeking to come through you, whether in fiction or memoir, prose or poetry.
- Enjoy the benefits of a stimulating, encouraging community, offering support to others and ourselves in finding the courage to step into the unknown.
Workshop schedule
One 90-minute class per month
We’ll meet monthly on Sundays from September – May, to write together to thoughtfully designed prompts, as well as to share our process and inspirations. The prompts are designed to cover stand-alone topics related to different parts of the writing process, from planning to generation of content to revising and exploring possibilities for publishing.
One 90-minute writer’s circle per month
Once a month, on another Sunday, we’ll open our writers’ circle for 90 minutes, offering an ongoing opportunity to share your work and receive feedback from your workshop leaders and (following carefully structured protocols) from your writing peers.
Two office hours per month.
Each instructor will offer a one-hour, drop-in virtual office hour, giving you twice-monthly opportunities to ask questions, explore the writing process, and receive group coaching.
New session starts September 2021!
Purposeful Memoir as a Quest for a Thriving Future
A contemplative journey for writers and seekers
Starting in September 2021, join me online for a series of deep dives into the transformative power of purposeful memoir.
In each fast-paced 90-minute online session, you’ll delve into your past in order to better understand the present, and to step more intentionally into the thriving future you desire.
My workshops offer unique, open-ended writing prompts designed to spark thoughtful explorations of your personal story as it is woven into the larger narratives of your time and place.
Forays into the deeper past of family history will also be part of this journey, as well the surprising alchemical gleams that come with playing with fiction in the context of memoir.
The Elemental Journey of Purposeful Memoir:
Writing the Journey of Your Life
My award-winning writer’s guide, The Elemental Journey of Purposeful Memoir, uses the four elements—Earth, Water, Fire and Air—as potent metaphors to help us structure and explore our life journeys.
- Earth represents the childhood ground of our being;
- Water the teenage and young adult years, when we enter the cultural stream of our time and place;
- Fire represents our passions as well as the trials and tribulations we all face;
- Air is the space of reflection and self-commentary.
In this popular memoir workshop, I offer inspiring, open-ended prompts that will get you thinking about your life story in stimulating new ways. Suitable for all writing levels, whether you’re just beginning to record the journey of your life, have a memoir in the works, or just want to engage in personal writing as a contemplative practice.
Recent presentations include: Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health, 2019; Writing/Angles Conference, Mt. Holyoke College, 2018; Norman Rockwell Museum, 2018; Writers Federation of Nova Scotia, Mahone Bay NS, 2018; American Association for the Study of Literature and the Environment (ASLE), 2015.
Aligning the Personal, Political and Planetary:
Purposeful Memoir as a Path to a Thriving Future
This ground-breaking workshop uses purposeful memoir as a technique for exploring the past, understanding the present, and envisioning the thriving future you want to live into—both individually and as a member of various communities. As we align our personal stories with the larger narratives of our time and place, we are able to more deeply understand the present moment as a springboard into a sustainable, thriving future for all life on Earth.
My transformational workshops in purposeful memoir are not just for writers—they will catalyze deep thinking and evocative sharing in anyone who seeks to awaken or deepen their practice of spiritually grounded activism and conscious leadership, in their own lives and in their communities.
Recent and upcoming presentations: Bioneers Conference, 2019; Transformative Language Arts Network Conference, 2019; Alliance for a Viable Future, 2019; Bascom Lodge, Mt Greylock State Reservation, 2019; Findhorn Foundation, Scotland, 2020 (postponed due to COVID-19).
The Alchemy of Purposeful Memoir:
Saluting the Positive and Transmuting the Negative in Your Life Story
Whether you are already embarked on a memoir project, or just want to spend some productive time writing about your life in good company, this transformative series of workshop sessions will give you new insights and entry points into your life story.
Each session offers open-ended writing prompts that will get you thinking more deeply about both the high points and the challenges of your life experience.
Optional sharing, using my time-tested protocol for positive, non-evaluative peer feedback, offers opportunities for deep listening to self and others, as we honor the commonalities and differences among those in our circle.
Recent presentations include: Writers Federation of Nova Scotia, Wolfville NS, 2019; Lunenburg Public Library, Lunenburg NS, 2019; on-going monthly series in Lenox, MA, 2019; and live online in 2020.
