Stay Tuned for Writing Workshops

*We are going to be hosting some free virtual writing workshops in the coming weeks! If you are interested, be sure to follow us on social media for all the details.*

This past weekend Nicole and I attended a virtual poetry workshop with Iowa City Poetry. It was a refreshing change of pace from the hum drum that has become everyday life during the pandemic. Something to look forward to after a week of working in pajamas and watching all of Big Little Lies (I’m speaking for myself here, but Nicole has probably watched her fair share of binge-worthy shows over the past several weeks, too.)

The workshop was unique in that it was dealing with how to write about loss. Specifically the losses that we are all going through right now–the little losses. It can be hard to hold space to grieve the loss of normalcy that we are all grappling with. This is especially hard when so many are dealing with what seems like much more heart-wrenching losses. Some have lost jobs and family members to COVID-19. But that doesn’t mean that the little losses don’t affect us all as we go about our day to day lives.

In this workshop, we focused on those little losses, listing the things that we’ve lost or are missing right now and contrasting them with where we are physically right now–at home at the kitchen table, at our messy desk, staring into a blue-lit computer screen.

I found this workshop to be a wonderful reminder of what it is to create and write. It was amazing to encounter other writers and creatives who were sad about not getting to go work everyday, musing about how the world seemed quieter and louder all at once, and ultimately taking an hour and half out of their Sunday to write and talk about it. I would up with three and a half pages of scribbles about all of this and a poem that somewhat reflects how I am feeling:

I miss knowing I don’t have to be alone.

Since Nicole and I both participated, she wanted to share her thoughts as well:

“What I learned from this writing workshop is two things: what writing can do in a crisis like this for people feeling lots of emotions, and how to write about a sense of where you are. I didn’t write anything like Addey did. I have no motivation to really write now as I am trying to deal with an over-whelming list of things to do. So, what I did learn is that writing can notice and name what you are dealing with, and the page you wrote those thoughts and feelings on is the space that can hold them. I never thought of a piece of paper as a structure to hold a story, it is a tool, a tiny monument. To write something on a page, you are building that tiny monument page by page.

“Second, inventory of where you are: your five senses, your gravity at the moment, the position of your body at the moment you are writing, or how you are sitting in a chair watching people in this workshop write what you cannot at the moment. I definitely lost the daily routine I had when I had to start working from home and had to create a new one.”

It’s Addey again, now. The other thing that this workshop left Nicole and I with is the desire to be involved in more workshops like this one. It was truly such an uplifting time getting together with other writers and talking about writing. It’s something we all might be lacking right now as we are not able to see physical writing partners and groups in person. So, because of this, and due to a small but mightily resounding “yes” to our inquiry on all of our social media pages, we have decided to have our own virtual writing workshop!

More details to come, so be sure to follow us everywhere to stay in the loop. We will be creating an event on Facebook so you can share and invite your friends. We are hoping this will be a time of restorative writing and a needed rest from the chaos of the global pandemic. Plus, if all goes well and there is a good turnout, this may be something we carry on into non-pandemic times, too.

Thanks for reading! We look forward to connecting via virtual workshops in the coming days.