Why We Need to Write Together, Right Now.

What I learned from a month-long writing intensive with midlife women.

We recently wrapped up our first ever HerStories Project Incubator, a 30-day intensive writing experience with guest presentations, co-working sessions, and an online forum of midlife women writers. The intention was to kick-start the year for women who wanted to dive into writing projects, whether something big and specific like writing a novel, or more along the lines of creating a regular writing practice or Substack column. The idea was that, with presentations by guest instructors, lessons and exercises, and regular accountability by writing in community, writers would have more momentum and be more likely to stay the course.

I think that for many women, that happened: the inspiration and accountability, paired with some new skills, helped accelerate their goals and keep them on track. Which is fantastic! But meanwhile, January happened. All of it.

First there were the fires—both literal and the metaphorical dumpster variety. The news was terrifying and relentless, as was the Flu. While we rallied for Zoom meetings and virtual co-writing, the collective mood was also imbued with overwhelm, anger, and helplessness. In other words, not the ideal ingredients for diving joyfully and optimistically into one’s writing goals and projects.

And yet nevertheless, we persisted. “How are you?” we tentatively asked one another on Zoom meetings after our usual comparing of weather conditions around the globe. Nobody knew how to respond. “Good. . . I guess?” Everything felt colored by the world around us, and nearly everybody was sick at some point. But we kept showing up.

While the world burned, we continued writing. We continued learning from women who shared their expertise on everything from project organization to developing rituals that evoke creative flow to the importance of storytelling at midlife to confronting our saboteurs from a new angle. We learned so, so much. And as one dear participant commented during our wrap-up session, we have so much to learn from each other, and so much to teach.

At the risk of descending into cliche, we affirmed that yes, we are stronger together.

As we debriefed from a month of learning, goal-setting, and writing together, some themes emerged: Yes, we do need each other, for one. We want to continue to show up often to gather, to learn together, and to write together. To cheer each other on, and to share our beautiful, vulnerable, powerful words. We want to use our voices for advocacy and to effect change, to speak out about injustice and truths that need to be shared. But we also want permission to write about sunsets and falling in love and the loss of our pets and the change of the season and perimenopause and that hilarious thing that happened at the grocery store.

We want to keep writing. We need to keep writing. We will keep writing.

Presenting Our March Incubator

On the heels of these realizations and convictions, we are bringing you a new 30-day Incubator: Using Your Voice During Hard Times.

We have ten more guest presenters, more co-working sessions, and some new additions like freewriting together and sharing our work. Whether you want to gain new skills— learning to write a compelling Op-Ed, deepening your personal essay with craft-based workshops, exploring the complexities of writing about loved ones—or are simply hoping find inspiration, validation, and support, there is something for you in this Incubator. You can learn about the guest presenters and everything that is included here.

Our Incubator Schedule

Participate in as many or as few of the events that interest you and that work with your schedule. Or watch the recording and join the conversation later.

March 6: “Depth of View: The Voice of Experience and The Voice of Innocence in Memoir and Essays" with Ellyn Gelman at 12:30 p.m. ET

March 7: “Radical Love in a Time of Crisis” with Rev. Evelyn Bourne at 1 p.m. ET

March 10: “The Writer as Character: How to Craft Narrators Readers Trust” with Claire Polders at 11 a.m. ET

March 10: Night Owl Co-Writing Session at 9 p.m. ET

March 11: Co-working Session at 4:30 p.m. ET

March 12: Co-working Session at 1:30 p.m. ET

March 13: “Healing Through Story: Writing About Trauma Without Re-traumatizing Yourself” at 1 p.m. ET with Lisa Cooper Ellison

March 14: Free-write and Share at 12:30 p.m.

March 17: “The Power of Personal Narrative: Crafting Op-Eds That Spark Change" at 1 p.m. ET with Elizabeth Austin

March 18: Co-working Session at 11 a.m. ET

March 19: “Writing During Challenging Times" at 12 p.m. with Nancy O'Reddy

March 20: “Your Writing Year: Using Wintering as a Starting Point" with Alice Kuipers at 12 p.m. ET

March 21: Co-working Session at 1 p.m. ET

March 24: “Writing For Resilience and Healing" with Karen Wesley at 1 p.m. ET

March 26: Free-write and Share at 4 p.m. ET

March 27: “Truth or Dare: Writing about Family in Our Non-Fiction or Memoir Essays" with Aine Greaney at 2 p.m. ET

March 28: Co-working Session at 12:30 p.m. ET

March 31: Salon Experience at 11 a.m. ET

April 3: "Write for the Next Generation" with Jo-Ann Finkelstein, PhD at 2 p.m. ET

April 3: Night Owls Salon Experience at 9 p.m. ET

We would love to have you join us for another powerful and inspiring month of writing and learning together. Learn more and register here. We start next Thursday, March 6th!

XO,
Stephanie + Jessica