Jen’s writing groups are exercise-initiated, creative spaces in which writers are encouraged to play, risk, stretch and celebrate their complex, full, and fully-brilliant selves. We draw on the Amherst Writers & Artists method to create a space where we can write into stories that may have resisted telling. 

Current Offerings:

Joy Anyway – Monthly survivors writing circle –
What you are hungry for? At the intersection of desire and trauma, hunger – longing – can take many forms. So many of us are trained to starve ourselves. We are starved for the food we most want to taste, for the creative expression we want to release, for the sexual and sensory experiences that sing in our bellies and hands. Join us, pick up the pen, and share your fiercely hungry story. These monthly circles will be themed, and exercises will lean toward that theme, though every writer is always invited to write whatever they are drawn to write. Open to all survivors of sexual trauma. Online/Virtual

Writing the Flood – For anyone looking to prime the writing pump — write the page the stories, poems, essays, images and voices that have been stuck inside for too long. This is a time to work on a larger project, get started on new work, play on the page, or write yourself through a block and back into your writing voice. Unless otherwise noted, this workshop meets the third Saturday of the month. $25-50, sliding scale. Online/Virtual

Greenwood Ave Writers – Let’s come back together, play on the page, and  our stories. Meridian Writers is seeking writers who prefer a fun, generous and supportive atmosphere in which to write together and celebrate one another’s creative efforts. At the end of our nine weeks together, you will have a new creative community, and a strong body of original writing. Limited to 8 writers. In Person/Offline

Day-long retreats – Open to all writers, regardless of writing experience or previous participation in Jen’s writing groups. Treat yourself to a day of good writing, good food, and good community! For this day-long writing retreat, we gather for coffee or tea and some home-baked breakfast, and then write through the rest of the morning. After a break for lunch, we dive back into our work through the afternoon, and we close by 5:30pm. You’ll leave the retreat with a rich body of new creative writing, feedback about what’s already strong and powerful in your new writing, and inspiration to keep on writing. Give yourself a day to write in a beautiful, quiet, private home in close proximity to the beach. In Person/Offline

Week-long retreats – Open to writers who have previously participated in one of Jen’s writing groups. These retreats, currently in the planning stages, will be held for a small number of writers in beautiful retreat settings: the San Francisco Bay area, Maine, Portugal, and Germany. If you would like to be informed when a retreat is scheduled, please let me know! In Person/Offline