Two Reasons for Writers to Consider Emotions

Plus a lot of offerings & announcements & business.

Inside This Newsletter:

Tiny Essay

Writing Prompt

Found & Available—A Few Copies

Missing 3 Folks

$$$ Workshop—Book Marketing

Hella Workshop—Plug Into the Mysterium

Memoir-Writing at Last

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Tiny Essay

Why Writers Need To Think About Emotion

I have just returned from a long weekend in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, where I was keynoting the Tennessee Mountain Writers 2025 conference. What a blast that was.

These conferences light me up. My passion for writing and writers and stories does not pale or dwindle but continues to flare and spark. It’s like an eternal flame that burns on something besides fossil fuels. I guess it burns on creativity.

After the keynote Raven, my partner, said, “That wasn’t just a talk. That was a masterclass.”

That made me feel great. I like giving as much as I can, even in a keynote.

I make it my business to sit in on other workshops. I took one with the Nashville-based spoken word poet and actor Cameron Mitchell. Cameron is a tall glass of water with an easy smile. You know from looking at him that he’s kind and really smart.

Cameron’s workshop was on emotion, as in how writers can use emotion in their work.

The first question Cameron asked was, “What emotion tells the most truth about you?” Great question, eh? Think about it.

Mine is longing. Which one for you?

That was followed by, “What emotion tells the most lies about you?”

(Jealousy.)

I knew I was in for a wild ride. Cameron had us personify emotions, which elicited some amazing reponses from folks in the group. “Confidence is my abuser.” “Pride is my father.” “Longing is my mother.” (That was not mine, by the way.)

In a brainstorm we named about thirty emotions, more than I’ve ever named, including the usual fear and love and anger but also

• loathing

• peace

• hopelessness

• bitterness

• expectation

• compassion

Then Cameron had us take a trip with an emotion and talk to it and then listen to it, and because he’s an actor, pretty soon he called volunteers to the front of the room to do dramatic outtakes, such as anxiety speaking to anger. Before the session was up, everyone in the room was against the wall, bouncing lines to each other around the room in a call and response.

Although I was super-charged by the workshop, I kept wondering why this kind of work would help a writer. Finally Cameron revealed two reasons to work with your emotions. I found this utterly fascinating, and I think you will too.

1. “People are always turning away,” he said, “from you and your work. What emotions do you use to pull them back?”

2. People are now writing using AI. AI, in fact, produces some pretty good poetry. “AI can repeat the literary devices,” Cameron said, “but what it can’t mimic are the emotions.” How are you going to be more human in the face of AI-assisted or even AI-generated writing?

Both of those are powerful questions to consider.

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Writing Prompt

What’s a fear you overcame that changed everything for you?

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Found: A Few Copies of the Special Edition Craft & Current

For the Kickstarter launch I ordered 100 special-edition copies of Craft & Current. However, joy of joys, the British printer sent a few extra copies, which I have discovered. I put them on offer today on my website. You are the first people to know this.

This is a limited-number, special-edition hardback of my writing manual. It is clothbound in blue, with a blue placeholder ribbon, and the book title is embossed in silver on the front cover.

Each book is signed and numbered (with date and place) and shipped to you in biodegradable, plastic-free packaging. These extra books are numbered between 100 and 113. These are perfect for collectors or folks who curate beautiful books.

The special edition sold for $44 on Kickstarter. Today it’s $44 (plus $6 postage) and you also get in this bundle a copy of the Companion Workbook, a spiral-bound workbook that extracts exercises from the book. The workbook is designed with space for you to write & list & think. ($15 value) Also included is the Audio version of Craft & Current so you can listen while you cook or weed or fold laundry. (Value $13)

You’ll receive all 3 items for the price of the Special Edition book. Limited availability, limited time.

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I’m Missing 3 Folks

Speaking of the Kickstarter, I’ve never been able to reach three folks to obtain mailing addresses. Perhaps their email changed or my messages keep going to spam. I have packages ready to mail to Robin Whitfield, Marguerite Madden, and Megan Bihn. If you’re friends, would you let them know I have their rewards?

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Rarely Offered—How to Market Your Book: Evening Workshop for Writers | Online via Zoom

Do you have a new book out? One in progress? A past release that didn’t go as far as you hoped?

I’m teaching a 2-hour book marketing workshop on Thursday evening, April 24, 2025, 6:30-8:30 pm Eastern Time. I’ll offer you tools, strategies, and mindset to get your book out into the world and help your book find its people. I’ll share lessons learned from 25+ years of promoting books.

Marketing isn’t about gimmicks or degrees—it’s about showing up for your work and your readers.

If you’re ready to move beyond the myth that books sell themselves and that selling is not the job of the writer, this workshop is for you.

How to Market Your Book | Workshop for Writers

Thursday, April 24, 2025, 6:30-8:30 pm Eastern Time

Online via Zoom

Cost is $44

For this you writers get

• an ebook on book marketing

• a simple template for a Marketing Plan

• a bibliography of resources I’ve used or that I recommend

• ideas for doing things differently

• how I published in the past & how I now publish

• behind-the-scenes look at my sales numbers

If you are unable to attend, the workshop will be recorded and you will be sent a link to access the recording.

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Also a Rarity—

Plug Into the Mysterium: Evening Workshop for Writers | Online via Zoom

At work in every piece of good writing is something beyond craft and technique.

That thing is Spirit. Invisibles. Magic. Mystery. Myth. The Imaginal Realm. Intuition. The Unconscious.

How does a writer access this mysterium?

For 2 hours I’ll be guiding you in how to plug into the mysterium. I’ll be talking about following golden strands, mantras, prayer, rewilding, divination, dreamwork, archetypes, psychedelics, and much more.

Plug Into the Mysterium: Workshop for Writers

Tuesday, April 29, 2025, 7-9 pm Eastern Time

Live via Zoom

Cost is $33

If you are unable to attend, the workshop will be recorded and you will be sent a link to access the recording.

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Tell Your Own Story: Register Now for a Summer Memoir Course | Online via Zoom | $300

Honestly, I thought I might never teach memoir again, since I want to focus on creative nonfiction. But I’ve decided to do it this summer, 1 hour mid-day on Wednesdays, June to August. Here are the deets.

• Level: Beginner to Mid-Level

• Weekly for 12 weeks

• Wednesdays 11 am-12 noon Eastern

• June 4-Aug. 20, 2025

• Live via Zoom

• Participant numbers not limited

• Open Mic Night

What you get–

• Twelve 1-hour sessions of guidance on writing structure, technique, and craft

• A lesson on memoir each session

• Time to write 30+ pieces by the end of the summer

• Pages of important, useful handouts in pdf form

• My honest, authentic interest in your story & my belief in you

• Opportunities to ask questions weekly

• Information on publishing

• Access to online Office Hours or Co-working Sessions

• A receipt to file with your taxes, if you have writing income

Your investment–

• $300 (it will never be this price again)

• willingness to put in at least 1 hour at your desk each week

• & a sincere desire to get your stories down on paper.

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Saito Book Going Out

Twenty-eight people purchased tickets for the current Sunday journaling sessions that included a copy of Madeleine Jubilee Saito’s debut book, You Are a Sacred Place. It consists of her signature poetry comix or what I began to call “Wisdom Quadrants” after I saw them in the anthology All We Can Save. The books have arrived, and I mailed the first packages out today. (The package contains my book The Seed Underground.) The final orders will go out tomorrow.

Speaking of, thanks to the guest artists and speakers in Journaling the Garden, namely

• Clare Walker Leslie

• Nina Veteto

• Rachel Michaud

• Jasmin Pittman

• Susan Loeb

• Jeanne Malmgren

• MK Creel

Thanks especially to Rachel Michaud for facilitating the online sessions. If you need a stellar facilitator for an online event, I highly recommend Rachel and will be glad to share her contact info.

If you would like to experience the Sunday journaling school, let me know and I’ll send you a link to attend a session at no charge.

Sunrise behind the wild azalea. I love conferences but it’s great to be home again.

Have a great week! May the muse sprinkle your writing space with pollen and glitter. See you next Tuesday.