Want to Expand Your Outlook?
Last 5 days to register for the Sunday evening journaling sessions.
In This Newsletter
5 days to sign up for Journaling Our Way Forward & why I hope you join.
Is a Kickstarter in your future? Final report coming up.
Where I’m going with this Substack.
Considering taking a course with me.
The fact that we cannot save everything does not mean we cannot save anything, and everything we can save is worth saving.
—Rebecca Solnit
Journaling Our Way Forward
This is a 5-week mini-course I am offering online starting next Sunday evening at 5 Eastern.
How To Register?
Registration is via Eventbrite and if you’re interested, you can get there via this button.
What Does the Journaling Series Cost?
You decide.
Sunday Sessions are by donation. When you sign up, you're signing up for 5 sessions, although that's not clear on Eventbrite. The Zoom link you receive will be the same for all 5 Sundays.
To be clear, make one donation for the entire series of workshops.
Where Are You?
Wanting to slow down?
Wanting to speed up?
Processing the past?
Needing a writing practice?
Tired of being distracted?
Refocusing your dreams?
Reinventing the future?
Desiring clarity?
Still believing in a better world?
Still believing that everybody counts?
Determined to save something?
What Do You Dream Of?
space in your life to rest
a pollinator garden off your back deck
an oak grove
a nonprofit or a center
a walking trail
a happier relationship
more friendships
a new product you want to bring to market
a new business
a book
a million dollars
a farm
The size or nature of your dream doesn't matter. Journaling Our Way Forward fits all makes & models.
Or Are You Not Sure What’s Next for You?
Open a space in your life for clarity and answers. I’ll be doing the same.
What You Get
a dedicated space to think about strategy.
5 sessions devoted to exploring our bigger dreams for ourselves and the world.
a path for moving forward every day toward a better tomorrow.
in other words, traction, and traction is progress.
gathering with others for sessions devoted to exploration and evolution.
the feeling of being inspired and enlivened and better equipped to answer the question, "Where am I going and what will I do to get there?"
a chance at some giveaways.
Questions We Ask
What can you save?
Where are you going?
What is your work in the world—not your job but your work?
What choice do you make next?
How can that choice be an elegant one?
Will you work inside or outside an existing system?
Who do you need with you?
Focus for One Hour
At 5 pm Eastern Time every Sunday afternoon for five weeks during January and February 2025 I offer you a space to envision our lives—the world and the life we want—how to appreciate where we are and how to make things even better.
These are the popular Sunday Sessions, 1 hour on Sunday evening devoted to you and your journal.
When you sign up, you sign up for all 5 sessions, although that's not clear on Eventbrite. The Zoom link you receive will be the same for all 5 sessions.
When
Sessions will take place from 5-6 pm Eastern Time on Sundays in Jan. & Feb. You can come for one session or all five.
Jan. 12, 2025 is the first session. Dates are
Jan. 12
Jan. 19
Jan. 26
Feb. 9
Feb. 16
There will be no session on Feb. 2.
How We Will Spend Our Time
flow-writes
journaling exercises
tiny PowerPoint presentations
short meditations
breathing
readings
visioning.
This is not a time for sharing work aloud. This is a powerful hour that you use for yourself, with me as your guide. You will be welcome to turn off your video. The level of participation is your decision, and participation is always optional.
The Vibe
Loving, inclusive, hopeful, and determined.
What You Need
You will need your journal and your sharpened pencils or pens. Bring your colored pencils or pens if you own some. That's it. A quiet space would be nice, but not necessary, and a cup of tea might work wonders.
Are Sessions Recorded?
Yes. Recordings will be available afterward, so no worries about missing a session.
Why Do It?
You are powerful. You can accomplish great things. Or small things, if that’s your mission.
All you need is support, encouragement, hope, and a plan of action.
You get an hour set aside in your busy life to strategize, process ideas and feelings, integrate the past, let your creativity flow, and maintain a centering practice.
Every exercise can be funneled into a larger project you are working on.
A lot of us are doing this together.
You determine the price you pay. These journaling sessions are completely by donation, based on the class's value to you.
The world needs your brilliance and genius, energy and time.
Who I Am
I am a writer and author of many books about the community of life. These include Ecology of a Cracker Childhood, The Seed Underground, and Wild Spectacle. My nature-forward Substack, Trackless Wild, has over 5K subscribers and my essays have appeared in more than 40 anthologies, most recently Solastalgia: An Anthology of Emotion in a Disappearing World (edited by Paul Bogard). I am a national speaker on issues of environmental wholeness and a better world. I live on an organic farm in the south where I’m passionate about trees, books, wildflowers, chocolate, and roots music. I believe 100% in the power of humans to make a better world, and I love helping people get there.
My Inspiration
I am inspired to do this journaling series because of Seth Godin’s latest book, This Is Strategy. I have 4 copies of the book to give away, which I will do during our sessions.
Our Community Guidelines
We honor the inherent dignity and beauty of all persons regardless of identity, nationality, ethnicity, belief, age, or any other divides. We agree to create a safe, inclusive, and welcoming space for all. We especially welcome members of historically underserved or excluded communities, understanding that in order to end the fragmentation of the earth's systems, we need every voice of every person to be as elevated and functional and unencumbered by oppressions as humanly possible. This is a safe space where all are welcome.
This course does not in any way substitute for or replace counseling with a certified mental health coach or therapist.
Why I Hope You Join
because the earth needs you
because human community needs you
because you have unique things to offer
because a strange presidency is coming
because democracy is a great system
because oppression is life-destroying
because no one benefits if you stay scared and small.
The Kickstarter is Done
In June I ran a Kickstarter to launch my writing manual, Craft & Current. This past week I finished recording the audiobook, and now every single product I offered is finished. Every order is fulfilled.
If you backed the Kickstarter and have not received a product you purchased, please be in touch as quickly as possible. I personally mailed books. Ebooks and audiobooks were fulfilled through BookFunnel. You should have received everything by now, and, if you haven’t, we’ll figure it out.
One note—I have not delivered all the coaching sessions. However, every writer who purchased one has received a voucher and knows that I’m on call for setting up a meeting.
In an upcoming Rhizosphere I’d like to offer you a final report on the Kickstarter—what I learned—my thoughts about what you need to know should you decide to run one.
New Thoughts on This Newsletter
A baby has arrived into my life, and I need to simplify my work.
I foresee big changes for The Rhizosphere. It is making sense to fold The Rhizosphere into Trackless Wild, where it could become what’s called a “section.”
Trackless Wild, via Substack, is my main newsletter. That’s the place I publish my own writing, offer courses, and help people pursue a nature-forward and more-meaningful life. Are you subscribed to it?
Rhizo is my newsletter for writers. I began it because I love writing, especially about nature, place, and the human community, and I love helping people become great writers.
The decision is not final, but I’m leaning toward closing Rhizo. I would harvest names of subscribers, load them into a section of Trackless Wild, and permanently delete Rhizosphere. Although subscribers transfer, paid subscriptions do not. If you are a paying subscriber and your subscription is cut short, I am assuming that Substack would refund your money.
I have lowered the subscription rate for Trackless Wild from $99/year to $33/year in order to make it more accessible, and also allow people to spread their funds around.
If you have any thoughts on this, please let me know.
Consider Taking a CNF Course With Me
This week I received a message that any writing teacher would adore.
It said that one of the writers I’ve taught has published an essay—not just published it, but won first place with it.
I wanted to say thanks again for all that you do and all that you so generously share. I have so enjoyed getting to know you a bit this past year starting with Sunday nature journaling, the yearlong Journey in Place, and most recently, the Magical Craft of Creative Nonfiction. I have been changed by these experiences—certainly, my writing practice has matured and strengthened, but my non-writing life has broadened with sharpened senses, an expanded outlook, and even greater gratitude for the grace and beauty that surrounds us. I wanted to let you know that an essay I recently submitted to a nature writing competition just won first place…
I get messages like this often.
Here’s another, and again, I’ve erased identifying words.
I wanted to let you know that my essay (titled "Squawk" when I was working on it in your workshop) came out this morning in an online journal. I have so much gratitude for your class, your writing, your encouragement, and feedback.
So.
If you are thinking about devoting time, energy, and attention to your writing craft, consider my course. I really do believe in it. It works. It doesn’t work quickly and it only works if YOU work. But the material I present can make all the difference in the world.
I am teaching one of the 8-week cohorts of Magical Craft starting Jan. 14, 2025. These take place on Tuesdays 7-9 pm Eastern Time.
Sessions will be
Jan. 14
Jan. 21
Jan. 28
Feb. 4
Feb. 11
Feb. 18
Feb. 25
Mar. 4
They are recorded if you can’t make an evening, and the recordings are posted in a private Google Drive.
Usually I hold a Social Hour starting at 6, which serves as a time to get to know other writers & ask questions, but that means that some of us are sitting at the computer for 3 hours. So I’m changing that up—Social Hour will be called Office Hours & will be held at another time during the week.
We also add an Open Mic to the course, so plan on 9 sessions.
I am asking for a completed essay. Finishing one is not essential, of course, but I think the course is more useful to you if you apply it to your work from the very first evening.
Please sign up for the course only if you are seriously committed to writing for a bit of time every day.
Also, the course is expensive. You may need to save up. Just know that I give you everything I have—handouts, feedback, live editing, PowerPoints, plenty of writing time, good prompts, poems, inspiration, new forms you haven’t tried, and more.
You can find out more information and register at my website.
You’ll have another chance to do Magical Craft in the fall, so for now if you want to check out my teaching style and your bodily response, you could register for the Sunday journaling sessions. Info here.
I am subscribed to both newsletters, so combing them would simplify my reading.
I agree with others here: Please do simplify your busy life, Janisse, and we'll all be fine if you combine the two newsletters. A grand idea! Also .... I'm signing up for the Sunday sessions because I miss your energy & need a good long soak. One last thing: Whenever you have the Open Mic sessions at the end of a CNF course, I urge everyone to show up as listeners. It feels great to support other writers and the content is always amazing.