Writing Together Apart: Pandemic Pages

The pandemic of 2020 has changed our lives in ways we could never have imagined. Not only are we reluctant to do many of the things we used to do: travel, dine in restaurants, go to the movies, go to the office, hug our friends, hug our elders. We are also inclined to do things differently: we wear face masks in public, buy groceries on Instacart, run errands on Amazon, exercise on Zoom, vote by mail, homeschool our kids. Like all life-changing events, the pandemic is a time of story making. Join author Lisa Garrigues for a “writing together apart” workshop that promises to uplift, inspire, and connect. Part writing class, part restorative retreat, Pandemic Pages will ease your heart, spark your imagination, and jumpstart your pen.

Through playful warm-ups (postcards from home, “remember whens,” pandemic dictionaries), evocative free-writes (on topics ranging from face masks and fear to finding refuge at home), and guided mindfulness practices (short sitting, standing, and moving meditations), we will reclaim the everyday things we used to take for granted, and we will honor life as it is now. We will use published essays, poems, songs, and art as inspiration for our own writing, and we will share our writing in weekly breakouts and a final informal reading. In just five weeks, you will produce your very own “Pandemic Notebook” — a day-to-day chronicle of what it is like to live at this extraordinary moment in time. Although you will come away with pages and pages of story-starts you can later revisit and revise, our goal is not to produce polished pieces but rather to cultivate the practice of daily writing for self-discovery and self-expression. By sharing our collective stories, we will heal ourselves, one another, the earth. 

Open to writers of every age and stage. Beginning writers are welcome.

This class will occur live in the Zoom virtual classroom. You will receive a link to join the live session in your registration confirmation email, following registration.