Catch the shooting star...
Making good creative use of peak experiences!
On the plane ride home from my Riding & Writing week in Portugal, while the passengers around me dozed or watched movies, I spent the entire 6+ hours writing furiously in my notebook.
Not so much journaling about what had transpired during that marvelous week at the Monte Velho Equo-Resort, but rather taking all the energy I had stirred up there and channeling it into ideas for the future. Although my time in Portugal was busy, the activity was restorative, stimulating and generative rather than depleting.
Indeed, the week at Monte Velho was like a happy dream:
Riding magnificent, well-trained Lusitano horses under the guidance of gifted instructors;
Basking in the verdant landscape of great boulders, resilient cork trees and abundant wildflowers, on foot or on horseback;
Meeting the pregnant mares and the spirited stallions of the carefully managed breeding program, as well as the curious, sweet youngsters;
Sinking into the comfortable couches in the living room by the pool for writing sessions aimed at juicing up our creativity, helping us get to know one another better, and taking us deeper into our own creative wells;
And gathering with other guests, from various countries, for hearty meals and lively conversation that often continued over bottles of wine late into the night.
It was the kind of peak experience that is of necessity brief, like a shooting star or a burst of fireworks—you can't prolong it, but you can replay it in your memory whenever you need a flash of animation, a creative reboot.
Since I've been back home in cold, snowy New England, even with the jet lag, I've been full of good energy: planning the online and in-person classes I'll be teaching in the coming months; sketching the novel I am determined to put more time into during this Year of the Dragon; and dreaming into the upcoming writing retreats I'll be leading in northern California, Tuscany and Iceland.
In my nighttime dreams, I've found myself back on the beautiful Lusitanos of Monte Velho, replaying the dressage moves I learned there in anticipation of trying them out on Vivian, the mare I ride at my local barn.
I've been pondering why riding and writing seem to go so well together, and I think it comes down to three things: balance, grounding, and risk.
To ride well, you need to:
balance your right and left brain, and don't overthink it—riding is as much about intuition as it is about knowledge;
ground yourself on the horse's back and communicate subtly, so that the horse becomes a powerful extension of your own body;
and accept the risk that is present every time you mount and go for it anyway.
This is also true for writing.
We take a risk every time we share what's in our hearts and minds with others.
We have to relax our inner censor and open the channels of communication, so that our intuition can flow into words without overthinking.
When we are writing well, the story takes on its own momentum and carries us along, allowing us to extend ourselves far beyond the confines of ordinary life.
No matter where you are with your riding and writing—a beginning rider and journal keeper, or an advanced rider and a published author—putting the two practices together seems to help both take off, especially when combined with travel to beautiful places in good company.
If you're a rider-writer, consider coming with me to Iceland this June, or to Monte Velho next January!
And if you're a writer but not a rider, come with me to California or Tuscany this spring, for a creative immersion nourished by magnificent surroundings and the stimulating company of kindred creative spirits.
In the meantime, as we hunker down to let winter run its course, I would love to write with you online.
In February I'll be offering a three-session series on transformational travel writing with Il Chiostro and four sessions on writing love stories with the Writers' Federation of Nova Scotia.
In March I'll be offering four sessions on Speaking your Truth with Bioneers Learning: learning how to write and speak with precision and passion about the social or environmental issues you care about.
If you're looking for inspiration for writing on your own, you can check out all the writing prompts in my books The Elemental Journey of Purposeful Memoir, Purposeful Memoir as a Quest for a Thriving Future, and my card deck, which you can use like an oracle deck to get your creative juices flowing.
I've found that these prompts, though aimed at memoirists, can also be useful for fiction writers—just have your characters respond, instead of yourself!
Please keep in touch and let me know how your writing is going, and how I can be of help.
Yours in the thrill of creative exploration,
Jennifer
Come Write With Me Online!
1. The Things We Carry: Writing Transformational Travel Stories
Four Fridays in February starting Feb. 2, 9-10:30 am Eastern.
Hosted by Il Chiostro, $120 for all four sessions.
Find out more and register here.
2. Exploring the Many Faces of Love
Four Mondays, February 5, 12, 26, & March 4, 6 - 8 pm Eastern.
Hosted by the Writers Federation of Nova Scotia; $169 for WFNS members, $234 for non-members (includes membership).
Find out more and register here.
3. Speak Your Truth! Leadership, Writing & Public Speaking for Social and Environmental Justice
Four Fridays in March starting March 1, 12-1:30 pm Eastern.
Hosted by Bioneers Learning; $349 includes discount pass to the 35th Annual Bioneers Conference in Berkeley CA!
Find out more and register here.
Join me for a Californian writing retreat by the sea!
With my lifelong friend Audrey Kalman, I’ll be leading a three-day Birth Your Truest Story Writing & Hiking Retreat in northern California, March 25 - 28, 2024—and YOU are invited!
We’ll stay together at a cozy retreat center, sharing meals, writing sessions and hot tubs, interspersed with invigorating hikes on the nearby beach and up in the hills along the coast.
This will be the perfect idyll to get your creative juices flowing in good company!
Check out all the details here and if you’d like to come along, don’t delay—space is limited and will go fast!
Come with me to Tuscany next spring!
I’ll be leading another fabulous Il Chiostro writing workshop May 25 - June 1, 2024 at the luxurious Borgo San Fedele, a meticulously restored monastery set in exquisite gardens amid a classic Tuscan landscape of olive groves and vineyards.
Our days will unfold in a perfect balance of guided writing and productive sharing; excursions guided by our Il Chiostro hosts to nearby picturesque medieval towns; coming home to San Fedele to relax by the pools and gardens, eat delicious meals and visit with new friends; and taking time for your own contemplative writing and thinking.
You’ll come away from this magical sojourn simultaneously enlivened and relaxed, with a deeper understanding of your purpose in writing memoir, along with many pages of new writing providing a plethora of potential doorways into the story of your life.
More information (and beautiful photos) here.
Ready to book? Click here.
Come Riding & Writing with me in Iceland next June!
Come along with me for an all-inclusive week of RIDING and WRITING in the spectacular Icelandic countryside, in the height of the bright summer season, June 10 – 16, 2024.
Every day we’ll ride out on sturdy, sweet Icelandic horses through the expansive rolling vistas of western Iceland, led by our experienced guides from Hestaland. Once you’ve experienced the exhilaration of the fast, smooth tolt, a gait unique to Icelandic horses, you may not want to go back to the trot!
We’ll eat delicious meals together at the beautiful Hestaland Guesthouse and participate in thoughtful, open-hearted guided writing sessions.
There will also be plenty of time for sharing and discussing your writing projects and visiting the nearby hot spring spa at Krauma.
Learn more about costs and accommodations on the application form.Â
Whether you’ve been to Iceland many times, or this will be your first experience there, this trip is sure to be transformative!
More information (and beautiful photos) here. Email me with any questions!
Friends, it’s my pleasure and my passion to support you as we stretch towards living our lives creatively and to the fullest.
Are you ready? Let’s go!
Sounds like you had a wonderful experience!
" like a shooting star or a burst of fireworks—you can't prolong it, but you can replay it in your memory whenever you need a flash of animation, a creative reboot"
Lovely - well done!