PERSONALIZED CREATIVE WRITING COACHING

The words are purposes.

The words are maps.  

— Adrienne Rich, “Diving into the Wreck”

It was my own journey through creative writing and performance (creating my “personal myth”) that led me, unexpectedly, to a career as a therapist. If you feel called to write, or simply are interested in experimenting with writing, I can provide you a guiding structure and safe container for personal and creative growth. Drawing on nearly two decades of experience as a creative writing college professor and my extensive studies in depth psychology, I will work with you in either in-person or online meetings (or a combination thereof), and provide you with written and oral feedback, reading assignments, and writing experiments. In our first conversation, we will together determine goals and structure. Nonetheless, once we begin the work it is of utmost importance to  allow for the unfettered flow of ideas so that you may, as the poet Rainer Maria Rilke said, “give birth to your images.” And as author and Jungian analyst Susan Tiberghian reminds us, “With our words we give life to what we see, what we touch, what we hear. We bridge the visible world and the invisible world. We find the butterfly that speaks to us of the soul.” I would be truly honored to help you in this discovery.

 

ONLINE WRITING WORKSHOPS

** IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN ANY OF THE FOLLOWING WORKSHOPS, PLEASE CONTACT HOLLY TO FIND OUT THE NEXT TIME IT WILL RUN. You may email her at newmooncounseling1@gmail.com OR call (215) 394-0036. **

UNBLOCK

Jump-start your writing process!

Have an idea for a writing project? Want to get (back) into writing but aren’t sure how to begin? Or maybe you’ve started writing with a burst of energy but now feel stalled, or challenged by time or distractions. Yet it just keeps nagging at you, doesn’t it? Calling you, demanding to be written. But first, you must get unblocked!

This 8-session online writing group will help you get started or re-engaged with your own writing process. Through a combination of in-workshop writing time, sharing, feedback, creative exercises, and strategies to help you stay on track, this workshop will provide support to help you get your writing project off the ground. You will receive support in working through your blockages and learn how to transform your inner critic into an inner guiding companion.

The group is designed to support writing in any genre or combination of genres— fiction, non-fiction, memoir, poetry, even journaling. Rather than focusing on critique of content, as most writing workshops do, this one centers on process, support, and accountability within an intimate, non-judgmental and non-competitive environment. Special emphasis will be placed on working through psychological “complexes” that interfere with personal writing goals.

DATES AND FEE: To be determined. Contact Holly for details.

Finding the Healing Author Within

An Online Writing Group for Individuals on the Path of Healing

To be human is to struggle. We may feel trapped and helpless, at the mercy of overpowering circumstances. Yet another power is also always present, a vital creative force that flows within ourselves. This new writing group will show you how to harness what C.G. Jung calls the “innate drive” of creativity for personal transformation. In this online workshop, you will learn how to connect with your own creative drive through the written word, to evoke the healing capacity of the images within you. Although not a therapy group, this workshop is designed in a way that will supplement and enhance individual therapy. All of our work will be confidential in order to provide a safe, secure, and supportive environment in which to write, explore, and express freely. Our group will convene in 8 biweekly meetings and will remain small in order to provide adequate space for each participant to share. Come join us and discover your own inner healing voice, the one that is waiting for you to meet it and move forward with life!

DATES AND FEE: To be determined. Contact Holly for details.

The Well

A Weekly Writing Workshop for Women

You’ve got stories to tell.

But you still haven’t gotten around to writing them… Or maybe you started and then stopped. “Other things” got in the way. Work, school, kids, relationships, Netflix… Yet the stories are still waiting there, underneath it all, ready to emerge and be told. You’re feeling the urgency of them amidst the deluge of obligations and other “more pressing” concerns. And you are ready to begin again. To allow yourself— your deep truths— to speak. 

This workshop is designed to support you in doing so. You will gain the tools and confidence to use writing as an ongoing means of self-discovery, personal growth and expression throughout your life. Short readings will be incorporated for discussion and inspiration, by writers such as Audre Lorde, Clarissa Pinkola Estés, Amanda Gorman, Adrienne Rich, Virginia Woolf, and Emily Dickinson. Our focus will be on generativity and process rather than craft or technical skill. All levels of experience and all those who identify as women are welcome! Diversity is both valued and essential to our work at The Well.

The image of the well makes a frequent appearance in fairy tales and dreams as a symbol of the creative Source. Since ancient times, women went to the well not only to draw water for the sustenance of themselves and their families, but to gather with each other in shared experience. This online workshop is meant to be a virtual gathering place where women can convene and encourage each other in their own story-telling. Together we will dip into our individual, symbolic ink-wells to make our marks on the page and in our lives and communities.

Workshop Features

• Weekly 2-hour live meetings on Zoom over the course of 12 weeks
• Exclusive access to writing resources, tips and strategies throughout the duration of the workshop and afterward
• Short readings for inspiration by a variety of women writers of different races, time periods and genres
• In-meeting individual and collaborative writing activities
• Writing prompts and suggested exercises to complete between meetings
• Opportunities for participants to share their writing and receive feedback from the group and facilitator
• Membership in a closed Facebook group for more discussion, sharing and support

DATES AND FEE: To be determined. Contact Holly for details.