Becoming a worldwright
There has never been a more important moment to contribute your voice and vision to the grand tapestry of Life
In my most recent book, Purposeful Memoir as a Quest for a Thriving Future, I coined the term "worldwright" as a take-off on the word "playwright": playwrights write plays, worldwrights write to right the world.
In this historic Year of Dragon, 2024, worldwrights are being forcefully called upon to put our pens, our creative energies, in the service of making the world better.
Inevitably, there will be differences of opinion on what constitutes a better world.
All the more reason to put your pen to paper or your cursor to screen, articulate YOUR vision, and share it with the world.
Each of us is a single thread in the grand tapestry of our time. All we can ask of ourselves is to hold the warp and woof of our thread strongly—show up, don't slack.
There are a million different ways to show up, of course, and all of them are important.
Some of the ways I'll be showing up include:
Offering classes and workshops in purposeful memoir, in which we look back in time to better understand how we got to the present moment, individually and collectively, so that we can step with greater clarity and intention into the future we want for ourselves and our world. My next online memoir class, in Ancestral Archeology, is coming up on September 9—find out more and register here.
Hosting a 5-day Humanity Rising summit in December on Writing to Right the World, featuring outstanding women worldwrights including Nina Simons, Cynthia Jurs, Osprey Orielle Lake and Manda Scott—registration information coming soon.
Publishing books by worldwrights with Green Fire Press, including Nature, Culture & the Sacred by Nina Simons, and our most recent title, Ley Lines of Love: Adventures Along the Spiritual Path by Olivia Ames Hoblitzelle.
Creating a new generative space this fall at Birth Your Truest Story, the online community for writers I co-host with Audrey Kalman: 10 weeks of positive creative nourishment designed to encourage and support writers to do our essential work of writing/righting the world. More info on that coming soon!
Starting a new column, Writing/Righting the Future, a place for commentary on current events, with a forward-thinking ethos of acting now for the welfare of future generations.
Friends, we live in a time when people no longer agree on the meaning of familiar words like truth, justice, freedom.
For this reason, it's essential for each of us to spell out our own vision of what a just world would look like—a world, let's say, where all living beings on Earth are free to pursue happiness.
What would what YOUR vision of justice, freedom, and happiness look, feel and sound like?
You become a worldwright when you write your vision and share it widely, sending your message out via all the channels you can access, in person and online.
It may feel like launching a message in a bottle on the wide open sea, but it will find its recipients—you can't know who you'll inspire, what ripples will go out from your action.
Every thread of the tapestry of Life matters; we each contribute to the overall design of the future.
You have the power, as worldwright Frances Moore Lappe memorably reminded us.
Make your thread a golden one.
Mark your calendars….
I have a couple of online events coming up that might interest you:
Scaffolding the Academic Writing Process
This Tuesday, August 6 at 8 am Eastern, I’ll be sharing my 30+ years of experience in helping students to write academic papers. Things have changed a lot in the AI age, and the step-by-step process that we academics call “scaffolding” is more important than ever—for writers of every age and genre.
Register here for this free online event, sponsored by the Liberal Arts & Sciences Collaborative of the Bard Open Society University Network.
Exploring the Keys to Purposeful Memoir: Ancestral Archeology
Monday, September 9 at 10 am Eastern, explore how your ancestors’ lives impacted the way your own life has unfolded in a lively online workshop. What legacies are you proud to continue, and what would you prefer to jettison as you move towards a thriving future for yourself, your community and our world?
Sponsored by Berkshire Osher Institute for Lifelong Learning (OLLI) at Berkshire Community College. Berkshire OLLI members $15, non-members $20.
Come Riding & Writing in Portugal with me!
My next Riding & Writing trip will be to Portugal, January 5 - 11, 2025, at the beautiful Monte Velho Equo-Resort in the dramatic hills and cork groves of the Alentejo region.
Get away from it all in a treat for mind, body and spirit: contemplative writing in good company, and outstanding riding instruction on magnificent, well-trained Lusitano horses, with both arena dressage lessons and trail riding into the countryside.
Space is limited—reserve your spot now to avoid disappointment!
More info (and many beautiful photos of last year’s R&W trip) here; registration form here.
COMING SOON:
Dates for my June 2025 Riding & Writing trip to Hestaland in Iceland, and October 2025 Memoir Writing Retreat in Tuscany with Il Chiostro will be finalized soon.
Friends, it’s my pleasure and my passion to support you as we stretch towards living our lives creatively and to the fullest.
The motto of my author consulting business is “Writing to Right the World,” and the motto of my book publishing business, Green Fire Press, is “Books that Make the World Better.”
If these intentions resonate with you and you are working on a book, or have one in mind, don’t hesitate to get in touch!
Supporting creative people bring their work more strongly out into the world is one way I try to make the world better.
I'm writing my memoir now, Jennifer. I've 43K words down, but it's a vomit draft and all over the place right now. ;-)