Re-Writers
For women ready to write their truths and make big life changes
There comes a time in life (for me it was hitting my 40’s) where you suddenly start to question everything.
You’re not sure about the work you’re doing but feel entirely unqualified to do anything else. You worry you’ve left it too late to start again (no is the answer, btw). You feel like there must be something else, but you can’t quite put your finger on what, or why. You feel disconnected, from the world around you, from your wider community AND yourself; then end up scrolling Instagram which only makes you feel worse. You feel this longing and desire inside of you, and then guilty for even noticing the longing, because you should be grateful for what you’ve got.
And TBH, you’re too tired / overwhelmed / busy to do anything about it anyway. And then you set all of this against a backdrop of living in a Patriarchal society, potentially Peri-menopause and the raging (teenage-like) hormones (yeah, thanks for that and thanks to Patriarchal society for not taking it seriously enough), shitty men threatening to blow up the whole planet (and the rest). I mean, it’s no wonder a lot of women are wondering WHAT THE FUCK.
And I am not here to tell you that a six week course can fix these things (I know, I know, marketing is my strength).
Firstly, because that would be absolute bollocks and I am sick of women being sold stuff they don’t need. Secondly, because then I’d probably also have to tell you that you’ll walk into a job that makes you six figures in six weeks - which would be based on nothing at all AND assume that money was the sole purpose for doing anything (which is largely why we are in this mess in the first place). And lastly because YOU ARE NOT BROKEN. And a solution would make ME the guru / expert and that is not the truth. The truth is that YOU are the expert on your own life. YOU have the answers. You likely just need a quiet space, some hand-holding / cheerleading (I’m really good at that) and a bit of gentle structure to help you figure things out.
A chance to ask some new questions, open up some possibilities, a chance to write yourself someplace new.
A course that will allow you to do the inner, deeper work that is so much longer lasting and intensely powerful. I’m talking about understanding our multitudes, cultivating self-compassion, allowing ourselves to be fully seen. Can you imagine?!
A course that helps us to cultivate strength and humility, fierceness and softness, sensuality and deep wisdom. We are all so much more than one thing. Well, I am anyway. I’m like a walking contradiction, the very opposite of what I’m told my ‘brand’ should be or my niche. We should all have the freedom to shift and change and evolve and decide to do something different, or not. Without apology, without permission, without explanation.
We get to choose. We get to be. We get to hold ourselves. And that genuinely feels wild to me. I guess it shouldn’t feel wild, because it is the most natural thing in the world. And yet it does, because I’m not sure how ‘natural’ modern society is. You know? It’s a wildness that we might not have felt for far too long. And yes, there is also an element of ‘making shit happen’ and there are goals and there is discipline and focus and there is how to put this learning into practise with what we’ve got, currently. The practical, real, “yeah, but I do need to get a new job because this one is making me miserable.”
But we start by exploring what lies within. There is both. I hope that we can delve into both.
I want to find out what you’re going to do, in the words of Mary Oliver, with “your one wild and precious life.”
I’ve designed something that might just help you find out.
It’s called Re-Writers.
We get started on Sunday 19th April. Are you ready for it?
What does it involve?
At it’s most fundamental level, Re-Writers is a course. A course with six modules that is designed to be done over 6-12 weeks but can actually be done over whatever time period works (I just think momentum is a really under-rated thing).
I also hope that it becomes more than that. I hope it becomes a community. A place to come and hang out with other women who are feeling the same and on a similar journey. A reminder that we do not do this alone.
Within this course I am going to share and guide you through the prompts, the creations, the practical exercises that have helped me, and are still helping me to move closer to being my full self and living my fullest, wildest life. Which might sound a bit soulful and intangible, and it is soulful, but don’t doubt that I am also about setting ourselves up with the goals, the systems and the actions too.
Because, especially right now with everything going on in the world, we need to make some (good) shit happen.
This is a course that is going to get you VERY clear on what your values and strengths are, what makes your heart sing and what you wanna be doing with this next chapter in your life.
It is going to have you asking questions about wanting and desire that you might never have asked yourself before. It’s a course that recognises and celebrates that as women we are cyclical beings - we’ll be working WITH the seasons and cycles and rhythms of our lives not against them. A course that doesn’t sugar coat reality - that helps to identify blocks and obstacles and work through them from a very grounded, bodily place. It is a course that holds you while you figure some of this out; signposts and cheerleads and creates space to think things through. It is a course that knows that when we are able to work from a place of wholeness and knowing, our lives can transform, the lives of people around us can transform, the whole world can transform into something different...and better.
To say that I am excited about running it would be an understatement.
“My favourite form of self care is remembering who the fuck I am”
– Regena Thomashauer
You would be booking on a BETA version:
Which is reflected in the price AND what you will receive. In return all I ask is that you go easy on me with any tech issues and give some feedback along the way / at the end around what you found most helpful.
From experience, the BETA version of a course ends up having a very special group of attendees. There’s something cool about being the first ones to try something out.
Because this is a BETA version, the course will be drip-fed to you each week, starting on Sunday 19th April. This is so that I can be tinkering and updating and adding in as we go.
The course will be available to anyone on the RE-WRITERS tier of this Substack, you can upgrade below:
Here’s some more detail:
There are six different modules that you can work through at your own pace:
Presence. Creativity. Vision. Body. Voice. Soul.
The sixth module pulls everything together and looks at what next. Each module draws from some of the kick-ass, fierce female writers who have gone before us in the form of poems, quotes, essays and ideas; using these as launch points, for inspiration. Saying that, you definitely don’t need to be a writer. You definitely don’t need to have done ANY writing before. You just need to have an open-mind, be willing to ask some new questions and let yourself have a play.
Each module will contain:
Journal prompts - structured ‘reflection’ questions
Creative writing invitations - open prompts to let your imagination run wild
Make it real - practical exercises that turns the inner work into tangible action
Between session practise - ideas, nudges and suggestions for how to keep momentum each week
We will also be trying out new ‘journaling techniques’ as we go, which will continue to serve you well beyond the course.
On this first run through I’ll be holding RE-WRITERS JOURNAL CIRCLES - a sort of study group for you to work through the course with others, ask questions, gain some accountability etc. These won’t be to ‘teach’ the content, so they are 100% not necessary if that’s not your thing. I’m not sure if they will feature going forward (maybe I’ll do them monthly), so this is one of the extras for this first run through.
Here are the live circle dates:
Thursday 23rd April - 8-9pm
Thursday 30th April - 8-9pm
Thursday 7th May - 8-9pm
The CHAT function on Substack will allow us to support each other and discuss topics between sessions. Like a WhatsApp group, but very much not on WhatsApp so not as noisy! Again, optional, but available.
As part of the price you also have the option to book an hour long 1-2-1 session:
You can book this in once the course has begun and will need to be used within three months.
I will be led by what you want to cover. You could use it at the end to help pull together your ‘what next’. Or you could have a reiki / healing session (if you’re that way inclined). Or you might want to discuss a specific idea in more detail to gain clarity. I will be your thought-partner, your idea-sparker, your intuitive guide.
Eeeek, I flaming LOVE working with people 1-2-1.
You will also be able to purchase additional 1-2-1 sessions / mentoring once we get started.
By the time you’re finished you will have:
A ‘journal’ and workbook full of notes / musings / noticings / ideas which will serve as YOUR OWN personal, intentional, creative, heart-centred guide for what next. You are reclaiming the driving seat when it comes to your own life.
A sort of ‘personal compass’ - which you can use for decision making and exploring new options and strengthening your self-belief.
Tons of writing exercises and practical activities that you can return to and use for as long as you need them.
A ‘First 90 Days’ practical plan for when the course finishes, including having identified your main priorities and goals when it comes to any changes you hope to make.
Hopefully a renewed outlook and so many other shifts and lightbulb moments that we can’t even begin to try and guess right now!!! This is my favourite part. You just don’t know what might happen.
This is a self-study course, so you’re welcome to work through it as slowly, or as quickly as you like. You’ll keep access to all the materials for a full twelve months as a founding member.
Can I be honest with you, the tech side can get in my way. I’m an analogue girl. I like journals and writing and paper and pens and stickers. So, this is likely not the best place to ‘host’ this course in future. There were other options I started exploring but we all know where that leads to…six more months before actually getting people involved in DOING the thing.
So, by signing up to a RE-WRITERS Membership (here on Substack) you’ll get a full year of access to the course. If at any point I end up moving it elsewhere, you can come too (if you want to). You’ll need to be on a desktop to upgrade (apparently…one reason why I need to host it elsewhere in future, groan).
You ALSO get all the benefits of the other tiers of membership - so the live journaling sessions that are held on each Wheel of the Year pause point (see dates here) and additional journaling prompts and ideas.
Are you up for it?
I am so excited about this. I am excited about surrounding ourselves with positive and hopeful messaging, figuring out our truths and how to stay aligned with them, refusing to let other people write our stories. This isn’t a course that suggests you can tick a box and have all the answers, that is going to drill you with productivity hacks and quick fixes or that feels boring and uninspiring to complete. This course goes deeper than that. I’m interested in what lies beneath all the expectations and restrictions placed upon us as women. I’m interested in what happens when we become the main character. Because, we are not broken. The system is broken (actually it is working exactly as it was designed to work, THAT’S the problem). And it’s about time we started noticing what really matters. It’s about time we listened to our bodies, our needs, our inner calling. It’s about time we stopped trying to paper across the cracks and started a whole re-design.
It’s going to be a wild ride.
To access the course you’ll need to move onto the RE-Writers membership tier.
This will give you twelve months of access to the materials. If you are currently an annual subscriber then the price you’ve already paid will be pro-rated and taken off the new figure (hopefully that makes sense).
When we begin (SUNDAY 19th APRIL) you’ll receive your first post (by email and on Substack) which will contain a workbook and video for Module One.
Module One = Learning / Remembering who we are. Presence.
We’ll be considering the difference between existing and living. Giving ourselves permission to want more, and different. And the radical act of taking our own inner lives seriously.
If you want to hear me talk a bit more about the course and the background to it, I recorded a video…
And before Sunday 19th April, all you’ll need to do is get yourself a paper-based journal ready!!!
Any questions whatsoever let me know.
Otherwise, hopefully see you then?
Nelly xxx