You might think you have no story to tell, that your life is not that interesting and no one would want to read your story. Let me tell you right now. You are dead wrong.
So many women think our stories don’t matter, so we ignore and suppress them instead of expressing and celebrating them. The truth is, we need women’s stories more than ever.
It’s why I wrote Brave Women Write.
Women are sagacious story-tellers. Our stories reveal our innate wisdom. They connect us and unite us. They offer a refuge in a volatile and uncertain world. They are the portal for healing our private and collective sorrow so we might find hope again and take action.
Through sharing and examining our story we can start to write a new, more balanced account of our world. It’s never been more vital because we simply can’t allow his-story to continue to dominate the past and drive our future.
The best stories are born from the seed of your own life experiences, no matter if they become a work of fact or fiction. That’s why you must dig your stories up and use them as fuel for your writing projects.
In Brave Women Write, I share three practices I use to gather stories for stimulating my own projects: story-catching, story-boxing and story-time-lining.
Story-catching is about keeping your anecdote antenna turned on as you progress through the events of your daily life. It’s about being curious and inquisitive and asking yourself ‘is there a story in this?’ And it’s about finding a mechanism to capture these stories. A notebook. A notes file on your phone. A photo or video. A voice memo.
Story-boxing is about creating a very special box filled with special photo’s, mementos and memorabilia from your life. These items then become a source of inspiration for your stories. In the book, I share a story of Adam and Eve and Lilith (Adam’s first wife) which was motivated by a photo taken in 1976 at my Church confirmation at the age of twelve.
Story-time-lining is about collecting the stories of significant occasions from your birth to your current age. It’s a document to capture your life events that might one day turn into stories; births, deaths, marriages, divorces, house moves, job moves, travel, education, adventures and major achievements—and, of course, bereavements.
These are just a few writing practices of the thirty-three I share in the book. To transform grief through writing, you must do the work of writing, not just read about the process. That’s why Brave Women Write also offers thirty-three ‘Reflection and Action’ exercises to get you bringing your writing project to life as soon as you open the book.
Thanks for buying Brave Women Write and best wishes on your writing journey.
With love
Brave Women Write Book Orders
Australian Orders: $30 for a signed copy including postage.
International Orders: $37.27 for a signed copy including postage.
Brave Women Write Private Mentoring
Do you have a book or writing project to be brought to life in 2023?
If you need clarity and focus to get started and support to make it to the finish-line, I’m here to help.
Applying the practices in the book and through a unique combination of workshopping and mentoring over 90 days, I help turn your fledgling ideas into a tangible book.
I work with women who have a story to share through a memoir, biography, fiction or non-fiction book that will drive personal and planetary change for women and Mother Earth.
If you feel that it’s time to stop dreaming and start writing, make a time for a conversation to see if we are a good fit.
Interested? Connect with me for a conversation: Contact
