A Special Announcement
I’m bubbling with excitement—today I get to offer you a gift! After decades of dreaming, years of planning, and months of hard work, I’d like to present you with not one but TWO offerings:
The Gifts of Writing Micro-Course
I’ve had a complete overhaul in my thinking about creativity, and this free online class describes it in a nutshell. When we write, we open ourselves to a flow of gifts that come as inspiration, longing, drive, curiosity, insight, and infinite other forms. As writers we give back—with dedication, effort, a willingness to revise and be revised, and at times also with consideration of and generosity toward our readers. Creativity thrives when we understand the writing process as a vast gift exchange:
When we return to our original delight in writing, we tap into a wellspring of creative energy.
We can learn to read the inflow of gifts as providing direction and guidance for our writing.
We can free ourselves from the burdens of seeking validation and measuring worth, instead forming the habits of mind, heart, and body that support creative flourishing.
By framing writing within a gift economy, we extract ourselves from the product-oriented, market-driven orientation most of us unconsciously assume. It’s a simple internal shift with enormous ramifications!
The free online course takes about 1½ hours. I hope you enjoy it! And please spread the word.
And…
An online writing community!
After taking the microcourse, you’re invited to participate in a free community space dedicated to nurturing the gift. “To name the world as gift,” Robin Wall Kimmerer writes, “is to feel one’s membership in the web of reciprocity. It makes you happy, and it makes you accountable.” Here’s a space where together we can name the world as gift. We can support one another as we participate in creativity’s flow of giving and receiving. We can be companions on the writing journey. We can hold one another accountable.
For as long as I can remember I’ve been on a quest to find like-minded writers for whom creativity and spirituality are intertwined, who understand writing as central to their growth as human beings, and who seek meaningful, collegial relationships. I’m thrilled beyond belief to welcome you into a virtual space where we can have real conversations, exchange stories, ask probing questions, share resources, and support one another as we deepen our writing—and our very selves.
The Gifts of Writing microcourse is a prerequisite for the writing community; it will get us all on the same page, so to speak. Both are free of charge. You can enter here.
I’d like to acknowledge two authors who introduced me to the theory behind these offerings: Robin Wall Kimmerer, essayist, environmental biologist, and enrolled member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, for her book Braiding Sweetgrass and her essay, “The Serviceberry: An Economy of Abundance,” and Lewis Hyde for his seminal text, The Gift: How the Creative Spirit Transforms the World. Both are my teachers. I’m immensely grateful for their gifts.
As I am to YOU! Thank you for being among the first to gather around Eye of the Heart’s vision. We are buoyed by your support as we take this huge organizational leap online. I hope to see you in the community!
Warmly,
Elizabeth Jarrett Andrew
