Are you looking for community, support, accountability, and fresh ideas?
Our Small Steps workshop can help you get motivated, find balance, and build meaningful connections with other writers .
Small Steps is our signature workshop for helping midlife women rediscover (or discover for the first time) the power of their writing.
But you struggle with finding the time to devote to that kind of writing.
But you can’t find a forum with women writers like you whom you can trust.
You want to write with a group of women who understand your stage of life, and you’re not sure where to look for it.
It’s hard to prioritize yourself and your writing when your job, your family, and other commitments sometimes feel like they overwhelm you.
You have a long to-do list, and your writing often doesn’t get the attention you know it deserves.
You know that consistency is critical to a writing practice, but that focus can feel impossible.
Since 2013 we’ve been building a community of midlife women who write. From all walks of life and all writing backgrounds.
Since the start of the pandemic, we’ve been leading small writing groups very different than the writing classes we usually teach.
We call these groups Small Steps in Uncertain Times.
In these groups, we post prompts and exercises as opportunities to inspire and get writing to flow. To try out a new writing strategy. To respond to a reading or a prompt. To explore a memory. To make sense of what you’re feeling right then, in the world today.
Something incredible has happened over the past 2.5 years. Each group formed its own tight-knit community of women learning and growing with each other. Some of these groups are still together, sharing their writing and lives.
Years later all of us are still living in uncertain times. We’re still adapting and overwhelmed. It’s more important than ever to share our stories.
Small Steps is a four-week online writing group for midlife women, with prompts, a private community, and personalized feedback.
“Small Steps from HerStories is the perfect writing group for a writer like me – someone who craves writing but doesn’t always have the time and/or discipline to sit and work. The group participants are warm, welcoming, encouraging and completely free of judgement. The prompts are accessible and inspirational, and Jessica and Stephanie encourage inclusivity and kindness – to each other and especially to ourselves!“
“Being accountable to a supportive group of writers got me out of my own way. With regular “deadlines” and a limited time commitment, I was forced to put my perfectionist tendencies aside and just explore some different things happening in my life in a creative way. Each writer’s take on the same prompt was unique, and reassured me that every writer has something important to say. Even if it never leaves the privacy of this uniquely honest and encouraging group.”
“Imagine a group of random women being thrown into an opportunity to write, splay themselves raw with words and thoughts, and not think twice about doing so. How easily a group of like minded creatives can come together with the right leadership, and a safe place. What a timely and important experience this has been for me.”
Join now and mark your calendar for September 26th!
Block out a little time each day (or at least a few times each week) during the weeks of Sept. 26-Oct. 22 to write and give feedback to others.
You’ll receive an email from us with more details about the workshop.
On September 26, you’ll receive another email giving you access to the workshop.
In our experience, Facebook as a platform doesn’t allow for the type of deep and meaningful exchange of ideas we want in our writing groups. We have our own private platform, off of Facebook. You can post questions, readings, and ideas there anytime, as well as your writing.
Jessica Smock and Stephanie Sprenger are the co-founders and co-editors of the HerStories Project, a publishing and writing community for midlife women.
We met online as “blogging friends” and then founded the HerStories Project in 2014. We’ve published four essay collections, edit our HerStories Project website, and have taught writing to hundreds of female writers over the past six years.
It’s been our joy to work with midlife writers just like you. Our lives of juggling family and jobs and writing are much like yours. We know what it’s like, as midlife women, to want to carve out space in our lives for just ourselves. We hope that you can join us in our HerStories community!
On Monday, Wednesday, and Friday you’ll receive a writing prompt from us. You can respond to the prompt that day, or anytime during that week. Or never! It’s entirely up to you if you want to write about each prompts.
At the start of the workshop we’ll review how to give feedback in our workshops. We (Jessica and Stephanie) and other classmates will give you encouragement, support, and feedback right inside the private forum.
There will be two (optional!) Zoom meetings: Friday, Sept. 30 at 1 p.m. (Eastern) and Friday, Oct. 14 at 1 p.m. (Eastern). These meetings are entirely optional and are just an informal opportunity to chat and discuss writing.
It is impossible to get behind. This is not that kind of workshop. You respond to the prompts that you want and share what you want.
We’ll give you a full refund before the end of the first week if you are not satisfied.
For this month, the prompts will include a variety of exercises on voice, craft, and mindset.
Please reach out to us to discuss a discount or waiver based on financial circumstances.
Please reach out. Email jessica@herstoriesproject.com
© HerStories Project, LLC
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