Mindful Writing Marathons
Stop thinking, write, read, write, read, repeat
“The online meeting space was held compassionately by Amanda. She gently nudged each of us to share, while encouraging and supporting us to do so without giving individual feedback. Now, that's a skill. I felt totally safe to express whatever idea sprung to mind and heart. Ultimately, I found this exercise — completely, new to me — deeply refreshing and fulfilling in ways I didn't expect.”
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One of the writing craft books that has been most influential in my life is Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within by Natalie Goldberg. I wrote about it here. In it, she talks of running writing marathons at the end of the courses she teaches to free ourselves of writing inhibitions and access our inner voices. I am now running my own version of these.
What is a mindful writing marathon?
My version is a 2-hour Zoom meeting where we have timed writing sprints. We start with 10 minutes of writing then we have 10 minutes of reading out what we’ve written. But we just listen and don’t give feedback. Reading out is optional and depending on how many people are at a session we’ll rotate who reads.
We keep alternating between writing and reading out for the entire time. For the first writing sprint I’ll provide a prompt to get you started and then in the following writing times you can either continue writing to that, respond to something that someone else has read out, or start something new from the next prompt.
“I must admit to being a bit nervous about a writing marathon, but from the start Amanda’s warm and friendly energy welcomed us all into a safe space to write and share our raw, unedited words and it was SO much fun. I loved it and can't wait for the next one”
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How much does a Mindful Writing Marathon cost?
FREE - to all paid members of The Mindful Writer.
£20 - for non-members. Book here.
When are they happening?
27th October / 14.00 - 16.00 GMT
16th November / 11.00 - 13.00 GMT
15th December / 15.00 - 17.00 GMT
19th January / 13.00 - 15.00 GMT
15th February / 14.00 - 16.00 GMT
16th March / 13.00 - 15.00 GMT
Further dates will be confirmed soon.
“The mindful writing marathon was a great way to get some words on the page and open up the mind to wider possibilities. Equally useful for creative writing or people who want to lean into creativity to support their wellbeing, the supportive environment and sprint style exercises are unique in the space of writing workshops and courses where people can easily become overwhelmed and reluctant to share their words.”
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I hope you can join me to make a deep and mindful connection to your writing practice, and have a lot of fun!
With love,
