Freshwater Writing: The Sustained Writer

Registration is full. please contact chelsea if you’d like to be added to the waitlist.

The sustained writer is a guided online writing circle designed to nourish your writing life.

Are you looking for a writing community? Dreaming of a regular writing practice, either to deepen your craft, piece by piece, or work on a larger project? The Sustained Writer is a guided online writing circle centered on five principles: attention, curiosity, grace, practice, and community. This writing circle is for all writers, of all levels—and especially poets.

Each week, we’ll come together to share our writing journey. Led by our five principles, we’ll talk about our practice and our work—including the logistics and fear that may be stepping into our path—and we’ll connect (and celebrate!) with one another. Next, we’ll read and discuss beautiful writing. Chelsea will offer thoughtful prompts, and then, with videos on or off, we’ll do the real work—we’ll write, every week, for at least 30 minutes. There’s no need to do anything else: as a member of The Sustained Writer, you will have community and a dedicated writing practice.

What’s more, each month we’ll hold an optional feedback circle, where we can share work with one another and receive feedback, including specific feedback from Chelsea. We’ll also be lucky to welcome incredible guest writers and creatives on occasion, who will share their work and practice, answer questions, and open our eyes to new ways of making art. Finally, The Sustained Writer will culminate in an optional reading celebration—one at a local venue and one online, so writers can join wherever they’re located—to share our work, listen to others read, kick back, and enjoy our time together. The readings will be open to anyone you’d like to invite.

The Sustained Writer will run in a three-month (12-week) session, to give us time to learn our writing cycles, nourish our practice, tend to our craft, and create a lot of new work. Meeting for 90 minutes, versus the traditional two hours, and spending a significant portion of our time writing will let us more easily fold a new practice into our lives. We’ll move organically, responding to the needs and interests of the group while prioritizing our five principles.

Ideally, The Sustained Writer will run several times a year, so that writers can join for one session or all—depending on their needs and writing life.

Details: Registration is currently full. Please contact Chelsea if you’d like to be added to the waitlist.

When: Mondays, 6:00-7:30pm CST, January 8 - March 25

Where: Zoom (you will receive Zoom information prior to the first meeting)

Investment: $425 (If you prefer a payment schedule, we’re happy to set one up! Simply contact Chelsea. Partial scholarship remaining: contact Chelsea to inquire—no need to apply or disclose any financial information.)