Returning to Our Archives

A workshop to reconnect with our past writing selves

Do you have a huge pile of notebooks filled with writing?

If you’ve been writing for any amount of time, you have a body of work. Even if you’d never call it a “writing project.” Even if there isn’t a throughline you can see. Even if it feels messy and hard to look at. All of those lists, letters, journal entries, and snippets on your phone add up to something. 

And, if you can pause and pay attention, you’ll find treasures.

This workshop is for anyone who wants to step back into things they’ve scribbled, to see them newly. It might be a pile of papers from school, letters to a friend, or story drafts you can hardly remember writing. It might be anything.

Together we’ll gather our vision and creativity, use the momentum and support of the group, and journey into our work to create something new. We’ll also explore practical ways to let go of the material that we no longer need, knowing that this will look different for everyone.  

Here’s how it works:

Before the class starts, each person will be invited to start exploring. Open those files or journals or old emails. Start to read. Get into the glorious mess of it.

In our first session, we’ll talk about what we found, and what we want to make with it. Through writing and discussion, we’ll lift up a vision. And then we’ll start to play, exploring different tools and techniques to grow something new out of the compost.

Everyone will leave each session with homework — find one more theme or draft or idea you want to follow, and make it into something new. As we move forward, we’ll share what we’re creating, and explore what the past is teaching us about the present. 

We’ll also read our work, get deep feedback, and write towards greater wisdom and perspective about what we’re finding and where we want to go.