Welcome! I’m Deborah Bayer, writer and workshop facilitator.
I am (mostly) retired from the practice of Infectious Disease and Palliative Care. I write poems and personal essays, and I’m working on a memoir about the need for emotional support in the workplace.
I facilitate writing groups via Zoom. These groups blend the Amherst Writers & Artists (AWA) methodology with the Narrative Medicine workshop format.
Visit my Shop to see the upcoming workshops.
A Rope Made of Bandages
Poems by Deborah Bayer
AWA Workshops
The supportive approach of the AWA method lends itself to healing from all kinds of trauma, including the trauma of medical training.
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My Substack newsletter, Healers Write, Writers Heal is published biweekly.
Blog Archive
Writing a Memoir Is Iterative
Last week, I began working my way through Jennie Nash’s new book, Blueprint for a Memoir. I have long been a fan of Jennie’s, and I read her first two books in this series, Blueprint for a Book (for fiction) and Blueprint for a Nonfiction Book. Since I am revising a...
To Be Astonished
Yesterday on our walk, my husband pointed out a large bush with shiny green leaves, growing by the side of the road. “This plant used to grow out in the swamp near the lake,” he said. He meant his family vacation cottage on Webster Lake in Massachusetts. “I saw it a...
Writing Sorrow and Solace
In September 2021, just three weeks before I stopped seeing patients in the clinic, I wrote in response to a poem titled “Things That Can Be Lost.” I wasn’t consciously thinking about the imminent loss of relationships with my patients. At first, I wrote about my...