Registration is open for writing groups starting in January! Writing groups can support us in many ways—from holding creative space to building community with other writers.

I’m excited about a few new things:

1. There are now options to join the weekly group on Tuesdays, Fridays, or both days.
2. Dr. Candace Epps-Robertson is joining as a facilitator.
3. There are expanded sliding-scale registration options.
4. Registration includes a one-day writing retreat for every two-month period.

Beyond these updates, I’m excited to continue with the weekly writing groups because they are a space for nourishing our full selves. In addition to dedicating time and space for writing, we build and strengthen relationships with writers across distance. In doing so, we co-create a life-giving writing environment that can support us well beyond the context of our writing.

This post shares this excitement and introduces Candace Epps-Robertson because I’m sure that you, like me, will want to work with Candace!

Introducing Candace Epps-Robertson, Ph.D.

Candace Epps-Robertson, Ph.D. is a writer, researcher, and educator with deep commitments to justice and more than twenty years of experience in literacy education.

Together, we’ve been in writing groups since early 2020: co-learning and co-creating groups along with other writers. Over this time, we’ve recognized that we share a lot of commitments and both value a relational approach to writing spaces. We also share histories of working in and out of higher education, and we share the disciplinary home of writing studies.

I hope you’ll navigate over to Candace’s website to learn more about her research in social justice, cultural rhetorics, literacy, and writing. This research includes her first book, Resisting Brown: Race, Literacy, and Citizenship in the Heart of Virginia, which won the 2019 Coalition for Community Writing Book Award. And her current work is teaching me about BTS, the renowned Korean band; their global fandom, ARMY; and the importance of joy being part of pursuing social justice. Candace brings together many positionalities and commitments in her writing, which weave together personal and family stories with questions about literacy, education, and citizenship. I love the questions that drive her (citing from her website):

How do communities teach, practice, and understand what it means to be a citizen? How do we use language to build communities, resist oppression, and seek joy? How does this learning occur across different spaces and throughout our lives?”

I’ll also share that Candace is one of the people I trust most with my own writing. I’ve appreciated writing feedback, questions, and prompts she’s offered me over the past few years. She’s curious about what writing can do in the world and how we can honor each other as writers. I see how she interrupts injustice and shows up with deep integrity. I trust her deeply, and I feel honored to be facilitating writing groups with her now.

Specifically, this winter-spring (January-April), we’ll both participate in Tuesday and Friday writing groups. Candace will facilitate Tuesdays. I will facilitate Fridays. And we’ll stand in as sub facilitators for each other from time to time.

After this period, we’ll see where writing groups might go. Candace is considering how to offer more support for writers with offerings designed for caregivers, graduate students, and BIPOC writers in mind. We’re both in a period of dreaming and invite requests because this work is always collaborative—based on feedback, real-time learning, and co-creation.

Read more about Candace here. And read more about the upcoming writing groups here.

Why Sliding Scale Registration?

In addition to collaborating with Candace and offering multiple writing groups (Tuesdays and Fridays), I’m excited that writing group registration now includes more sliding-scale options.

These options reflect commitments to accessibility and community care. It’s important both that Candace and I are resourced to do this work and that no one is priced out of participating. I share more about this approach to pricing on my subscription web page:

My commitment to striving toward justice includes ongoing attention to money and business practices. I take a multi-tiered approach to “participating in capitalism under duress” (with credit to Monique Liston for this language) while striving toward anticapitalism and relational, regenerative economics. My multi-tiered approach includes tithing, sliding scales, payment plans, and registration options that re-route access and resources. I am always learning and unlearning and appreciate suggestions for where and how to do more.

I don’t want anyone to be priced out of offerings. I also want to be sure this business model is financially sustaining so that I am resourced to keep doing this work …

Capitalism teaches us all that we don’t have enough. It teaches us to maximize personal gain and get the “biggest bang for the buck.” It teaches us not to think about ourselves in relation to others or to question how our relationships with money impact our relationships with ourselves and each other.

As I strive to unlearn capitalism, I’m striving to break practices rooted in exploitation, extraction, and scarcity. I’m asking you, too, to do things differently. What you can pay? How can you support the commitment to accessibility?”

Review the sliding-scale options for writing groups. Share with others who are seeking writing support. Invite others to participate in writing groups.

Learn More about Writing Groups

Navigate over to the registration page. Read about the weekly writing groups and what others have said about participating. And reach out with any questions, concerns, or accessibility considerations.

We (Candace and I) hope you consider joining for the new year.

Truly, if you’re seeking accountability and support for a current writing project, this weekly writing group is for you. Begin the new year with a writing group.

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This post is written by Beth Godbee, Ph.D. for Heart-Head-Hands.com. Subscribe to the newsletter for upcoming announcements. These announcements include: 

• Gift Cards Are Now Available! 🙂
• Heading into 2023: New Subscription Options
• Blog Post: Contemplative Practices for Setting Intentions and Welcoming the New Year