Sometimes the universe sends you a sign. Sometimes you simply interpret coincidence to mean something you need to hear. I believe both perspectives are true and right.
I’ve been hesitating to let people know about my new business until every single thing was done, every box ticked, every adjustment to the website made. But a friend emailed this morning to say I should just launch, and then I got the wonderful poet Maggie Smith’s newsletter in my inbox with the sub-heading, “On Not Waiting.”
So here it is! I’m now offering writing workshops and one-on-one mentoring for grief support. I provide writing prompts, guidance, and encouragement so people can process their grief and make meaning from their experiences.
My business is called No Feeling Is Final LLC, a line taken from Rainer Maria Rilke’s poem, “Go to the Limits of Your Longing.” I want to emphasize that, while grief can be very, very hard, feelings will change. That’s what it means to be human. I’m not saying, “time heals all ills,” but that we will have a lot of different feelings, and that’s ok. Naming those feelings and writing about them can help us see that we are not our feelings. We are the essential part of ourselves—mind, spirit, whatever you wish to call it—that can notice our feelings and thoughts.
Why write poetry or life writing (creative nonfiction) about our losses, our grief, our sorrow and pain and anger?
1. to notice and process those feelings
2. to make meaning from our experiences
3. to gain insight into ourselves, our lives, and the world around us
I am, of course, on this journey of meaning-making too. I wrote a whole book about my sister, her death, and my grief (forthcoming summer 2025), and yet I am still writing about that loss, and others.
After teaching writing at various colleges and running workshops for adults for over 30 years, and publishing dozens of poems and several books, I have come to understand that one thing most of us seek is the feeling that we matter. The way I know how to help you feel you matter is by encouraging you to write—whether or not you have any training at all in writing—and responding to your writing in a thoughtful, supportive way.
Will I teach you a bit about writing along the way? Yes, because I believe we learn the most about ourselves and the world when we push beyond what’s easy or accepted to write the poems and essays only we can write. So we’ll talk about metaphors and images, fresh language and surprising points of view. I’ll ask you to dig deep to find the authenticity of your own voice and your own perspective. But the focus will always be on understanding what you’ve written and voicing what’s beautiful and insightful and, yes, painful about your writing.
And if you’re not interested in or ready for a small group workshop of folks reading your writing, I’ll work with you individually, meeting to hear and discuss what you’ve written and talk about what you might write next.
So welcome to this new adventure with me. I hope that no matter what you’re grieving, whether it’s a human loved one or a pet, a career or a relationship, you’ll consider reaching out to me. I’d love to hear from you.