We’ll Be Waiting
When I started Dissociative Writers in March 2021 and began inviting people to join me in writers’ workshops, I had a great response. Many people signed up during the first year of service. There were almost always fifty people on our list, probably 150 total who cycled in and out. Curiously, at any given workshop, only 6, 8, or ten showed up.
Just Not Ready
Every so often I would send out an email with the header STAY OR GO, asking people if they’d like to stay on the email list or be removed. This has been a good way to keep our list clean but there were always a few people who replied, “Yes, please keep me on the list. I want to come but I’m just not ready.”
Since we went on subscription basis over the summer, we cleaned our list once again and have fifty subscribers with an average of 14 attending our workshops. We have not yet tried to “clean” our new subscription list but I’m sure that many of those we haven’t seen in workshops would say, “Please keep me on the list. I’m just not ready.”
Take Your Time
If that’s you, don’t worry. Take your time. It takes courage to show up and meet new people. It takes risk assessment to reveal oneself as DID. It takes grounding to listen to someone else’s writing/story and even more so to share your own. You may not have the courage, risk assessment, and grounding now but, you will, someday.
Community
Dissociative Writers (DW) is becoming a community of people-present and people-not-present who share their writing in a safe space where others understand, feel compassion, and share feedback. Through our sharing, we have gotten to know each other. We have similarities and we have differences. We have different stories to tell and different writing styles with which to tell them. Similarly, we are all human, vulnerable, victims, survivors, thrivers, frightened, and brave. Sometimes, as you well know, we are all of these and more at the same time since we have many parts to carry these personas.
We are first and foremost a writers group. As we share our writing, we reveal parts of our lives not shared with anyone else but our therapists. To be sure, we are not a therapy group but we are a place where you can test your wings with other people.
If you are a member-of-our-community-not-present, feel free to stay there as long as you need to, knowing you will be welcome when you dip your toe into the waters of relationship.
We’ll Be Waiting
To be honest, I have never met a group of more caring and compassionate people than Dissociative Writers friends. Yes, I call them friends because we slowly but surely enter the friend-zone when we become witnesses to each other as we walk through our own wildernesses together.
We’ll be waiting for you.
Self-Care
Keep a journal of your writing. Invite all your parts to participate in your journal. Listen to your parts through your writing. Love your parts and write back.
Share your writing, when you are ready, at DW writers workshops. If you’re not ready, stay connected with us through this newsletter and through Groupeasy.
No writing is too simple, too complex, too depressing, too happy, too anything for DW writers workshops. When you decide to join us, bring all of yourselves.
Social Hangout This Week!
Join us for fun, games, and getting to know each other with JJ facilitating on Wednesday, October 19th at Social Hangout from 2:00 - 3:00 pm Eastern (1:00 pm Central, 12 noon Mountain, 11:00 am Pacific). You can find the link on the calendar when you click on Social Hangout, or use the link you have been using all along for workshops. If you’re a subscriber and still on the fence about coming to workshops, why not try social hangout first :-). BTW you can send JJ ideas for social activities by sending them a message on Groupeasy (it’s easy, I promise!)
Welcome to Sharon in Writing-in-Place!
Beginning on November 1st, Sharon will be our new writing-in-place facilitator. As always, this workshop will meet every other week with trials and triumphs in writing breakout groups, Littles quick share, and two prompts to respond to in writing. Those who wish can share their writing with the group. Thank you to Sharon for stepping up. We know you’ll do a great job!
Calling All Conference Goers
Are you planning to attend An Infinite Mind Healing Together on February 17-19, 2022 in Orlando, FL? Lyn is presenting a workshop called Confronting the F-word and Gabby is presenting a workshop called Grief: Managing Loss Through Art & Music. If you are attending and leading a workshop, let us know so that we can include you when we announce our DW participation. If you are attending and not leading a workshop, let us know that too. Perhaps we can have a DW reunion of some kind when we’re there. We plan to have a table for Dissociative Writers that will promote Creative Healing Anthology I and II as well as Lyn’s memoir, Crazy: Reclaiming Life from the Shadow of Traumatic Memory.
My Dear Friend
My dear friend, Rhoda, now from Missoula, MT and formerly from southeast PA, will be visiting me for ten days beginning this Friday. That means I will not publish a blog or send out a newsletter next week. Rhoda is my spiritual mother. Think of us next week.
🕊
You can't stay in your corner of the forest waiting for others to come to you. You have to go to them sometimes.
~ A. A. Milne (author of Winnie the Pooh)
Lyn