On-line Men’ Wild Writing Session

Saturday, November 21 from 1-2:30 p.m. PST

$25— All proceeds go to the Union of Concerned Scientists

And now for something completely different. When was the last time you wrote wildly in a safe space with a group of men? I’m guessing “never”, which was true for me until I offered this for the first time last spring. I had never written with just fellas before. So, last spring, six of us wild wrote together for three sessions and it was fantastic. No, not always easy. But it felt good.

Here’s your chance to give it a try.  This will be on Zoom for an hour together with the option of staying on for an additional half hour. During the first hour, I’ll offer brief introductory remarks and then we’ll write to jump-off lines from two easily-understood poems. We write for fifteen minutes after each poem. While Wild Writing uses poems and lines from poems as prompts, we don’t write poetry. What Wild Writing offers is the chance to say yes to whatever arises, to keep your pen moving, to write as poorly as possible. Yep, this is a chance to lower the bar and let go of any ’should” about writing well.  What you write will be for you and you alone.  It won’t be spoken or shared unless you choose to stay for the extra half-hour.  There will be a brief time at the end of the hour for questions and reflections.

After the first hour, there will be the option to join a small breakout room with four other men.  This will be for those of us who are up for reading what we wrote to one of the two poems. During this time, we’ll each take a turn. And here’s the secret sauce of Wild Writing. When we read what we wrote, the rest of us will listen without any comment, critique or discussion.  We will simply witness and give each other attention. Once we have read, there will be time for brief check-ins.  Sharing what we write is a gift. It offers safety (because there is no commenting and we agree that what’s written in the room stays in the room), community and an opportunity to share our authentic voice.

Register by November 14th by emailing me at steveneuberger@jeffnet.org. 

Once you’ve signed up, I’ll send additional instructions.

Feel free to e-mail me with questions or call me at 541-941-8309.