by Deborah Bayer | Aug 10, 2023 | Writing Tools
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...
by Deborah Bayer | Aug 3, 2023 | Creativity, Writing Tools
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...
by Deborah Bayer | Jul 27, 2023 | Therapeutic Writing
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...
by Deborah Bayer | Jul 20, 2023 | Creativity, Therapeutic Writing
This week I shared a piece with my writing group that didn’t feel successful. I wrote a response to a prompt that was full of false starts and repeated attempts to begin. I finally stumbled on a topic but then ran out of time. The feedback I got was still valuable....
by Deborah Bayer | Jul 13, 2023 | Therapeutic Writing
In September 2021, I met with my memoir group. We had been meeting together for a year to get our first drafts written. The prompt was a familiar William Stafford poem, “The Way It Is.” My writing that day gave me insight into what my memoir was about....
