Writing/Witnessing

When: 1^st and 3^rd Wednesdays of the month

First day: July 17, then Aug 7 and 12, 2013

Where: Good Shepherd Center

What is writing/witnessing?

It’s actually not really about writing.

It’s about giving all of the stuff that lives below the surface of your mind and your life a chance to come out and run around a little. It’s a way to access your gut feelings, get at those niggling little half-glimpsed ideas, and to live your inner life a little on the outside. It’s a way to safely vent. It’s a way for your subconscious to combine and recombine old ideas and new ideas, and to discover ideas you never thought you held, at least not in that form.

It’s process-based; it’s not an intellectual exercise although some great insights come out of it. If you like to write, it’s a great opportunity to get a little practice in. And if you think you’re not a writer, no one will notice. The nature of the work allows all voices to have a chance, in a respectful place and in an equal and respectful way.

It's the chance to be heard and recognized, without interruption or judgment. How often does that happen?

How does it work?

A writing prompt is randomly chosen, and then everyone writes in longhand whatever comes up in stream-of-consciousness for 10 minutes. If you can’t find something to write, you write the prompt, over and over again if you need to, in order to spark the next thought. This becomes a music of its own, and it helps you to never get lost.

After the timer goes off, each person in turn reads their writing out loud. No comments or editorializing is allowed, no judgment or feedback is given, just focused listening and acknowledgement. Then we do another round. And then another.

This is where the alchemy happens. We do five or six rounds per session, and you will find things coming up and out of you that you might not have known were in you—“I had no idea I thought that!”—or you might find ideas and feelings recombining in new ways.

Not only will your writing bring something wonderful and new to you, but listening to others will too. As we read aloud our words, one after the other, they flow into our communal safe space and we start to reflect on each other. You hear how other women processed the same prompt, and their thoughts resonate with something in you. With each round, something deeper happens.

What do I need to do this?

The only things you need to bring are a notebook and a pen or pencil, and your willingness to let your own words emerge without censoring or judging yourself.  Writing experience is not required, and there is nothing to do in between sessions.

Please also bring a willingness to listen to each woman as she reads her work out loud, to hold space for her and to release all judgment (even that editorializing voice inside your head).