Writers Workshop: Becoming Mindful in Place-Begins June!

Registration closes May 30.

Session Runs June 1-August 23

Are you interested in slowing down and being more mindful of the world around you? Do you want to sink your roots somewhere, explore your surroundings, and create from that? This class is for you.

Class Description

Says Madeleine L’Engle, “When I am constantly running there is no time for being. When there is no time for being there is no time for listening. I will never understand the silent dying of the green pie-apple tree if I do not slow down and listen…”

We live in a world that seems more and more transitory. It’s easier than ever to pick up and move to a different place, or spend your life traveling the world. With the rise in technology, we’re also increasingly dedicated to focusing on our personal devices and the digital stream they feed us.

As Christian McEwen writes in World Enough & Time…

We live in a culture that is obsessed with speed, a culture wracked by strange illnesses and persistent low-level fatigue. ‘How are you?’ one friend asks another, and the answer is the same, across almost all categories of age and race and class and gender. ‘I’m just so busy, ‘ people tell each other, half proud, half overwhelmed.

Part of the problem within this trend is the loss of a sense of place and the feeling that we are no longer grounded in an actual locale. We become separated from geography and culture and live on the earth without necessarily being connected to it.

Workshop leader Chris Yokel realized this was happening in his own life, and he made the choice to start slowing down and becoming more mindful. He began making weekly visits to a local nature preserve and writing about his time there. The result was a personal poetry collection celebrating and remembering the experience, A Year In Weetamoo Woods.

Chris learned a lot through that experience and through this class he will guide you in slowing down, becoming mindful, and interacting with the special places around you—whether that’s living in the city or the country, your neighborhood, your backyard, or even your home. You’ll have the chance to develop a fresh sense of creativity and connection to your surroundings and let that take you to new places in your writing and life.

For You

Private online group setting and most class materials, including a free copy of Anne M. Doe Overstreet’s Delicate Machinery Suspended.

8 Week Version Includes

• Weekly prompts and exercises to get you writing, on topics such as:
– Developing observation and awareness
– People, places, and things
– Exploring the seasons
– Becoming mindful of the stories around us
– Literature and mythological connections
• Readings from writers such as Annie Dillard, Christian McEwen, Amy Leach, Rebecca Solnit, Wendell Berry and others, on developing the art of mindfulness and fostering a sense of place
• Ideas for how to plan mindfulness into your life and schedule
• Two live chats to discuss the readings and your writing journey
• A private online space in which to share and discuss your work with your classmates and the workshop leader
• Individualized feedback on your writing

12 Week Version Also Includes

• Additional exercises and prompts to further your writing
• Two more live chats to discuss the readings and your writing journey and share a time of reading our work to one another
• A personal consultation on how you might structure your work into a larger project and self-publish
• Additional individualized feedback on your writing

Your Workshop Leader

Chris Yokel currently teaches writing and literature to students at Johnson & Wales University and Bristol Community College, and has been teaching music, literature, writing, public speaking, and philosophy in some form for over 10 years. He has six self-published books of poetry and his work has appeared at places such as Curator Magazine, Tweetspeak Poetry, and The Rabbit Room. His latest poetry project, A Year In Weetamoo Woods, inspired him to teach classes like this one.

What Our Other Workshop Participants Have Said

Darrelyn Saloom: I signed up for the fiction class at a crazy/busy time. What was I thinking? With all the chaos in my life, I am so happy I did. I would NEVER have completed a 3-thousand word short story otherwise. It was wonderful to have Anthony’s guidance and feedback. And I am so pleased with the result.

Brad Grout: I am personally getting so much out of this memoir workshop…you people are AMAZING!

Lane Arnold: I struck gold. An afternoon session of writing poetry is good for the soul. Poetry Workshop is a catalyst to creativity.

Lexanne Leonard: The most important step I’ve taken is to join Tweetspeak’s Poetry Workshop with Anne Doe Overstreet. I cannot begin to thank Tweetspeak, Anne, and my fellow students for this journey.

Darlene S.: I don’t think I can put into words both the overall value of the lessons learned and the encouragement I got.

Michelle Ortega: Although I will most likely not pursue publishing a non-fiction title, I gained invaluable insights. It answered questions for me that I have been wrestling with for my business for the past few years, and coincides with my general philosophy of developing relationships with consumers as opposed to impersonal marketing strategies.

Sandra Heska King: This was absolutely the single best whim I’ve followed.

8 week class • Buy Now • $360 + $10 Late Registration Fee = $370

12 week class • Buy Now • $420 + $10 Late Registration Fee = $430

Photo by PsLee, Creative Commons, via Flickr.