The One-year Reset

Do you need a life reset?

Jessica LoureyMarch 4, 2019Comment

Real Self-care

I sometimes get paralyzed by the thought that I can’t do everything and so shouldn’t do anything, or even worse (to my mind), that I’m not allowed to enjoy the good when there is so much bad

Jessica LoureyFebruary 25, 2019Comment

Claim Your Voice, Claim Your Bravery

Claim your voice, claim your bravery, and look for the gifts that will start flowing in.

Jessica LoureyFebruary 18, 2019Comment

Learn How to Write a Book

If you've never written creatively before, this course include supplements to orient you to the basics. If you're an experienced creative writer, this course will show you how to deepen your writing by infusing it with transformative personal experience.

Jessica LoureyFebruary 11, 2019Comment

We're In This Together

There is power in telling our stories, either in memoir, or fiction, or even writing them onto a piece of paper that we burn up immediately after.

Jessica LoureyFebruary 4, 2019authentic writing, autobiographical novelsComment

Luck: A Bird's Eye View

Here's something they don't cover in driver's ed: what do you do when you find yourself on a lonely country road with a live wild bird magically trapped in an inaccessible part of your vehicle?

Jessica LoureyJanuary 31, 2019rewrite your life, what is luck, how to write a book, best writing retreats, pheasantComment

A Shortcut to Great Writing AND Personal Evolution

"If you do not tell the truth about yourself you cannot tell it about other people." –Virginia Woolf

In his book, Opening Up: The Healing Power of Expressing Emotions, expressive therapy pioneer Dr. James Pennebaker devotes several chapters to the history and power of personal honesty. Per his extensive studies, all humans have inappropriate thoughts, fears, and uncomfortable memories. The best way to move past them is to travel through them.

In other words, you must confess.

Jessica LoureyJanuary 28, 2019Comment

The Gift of Writing

Writing is one of the most amazing things out there. Where else can you watch a free movie in your head? Writing has also put me in touch with forgotten emotions and healing insights. Honestly, I'm not sure why this free therapy isn't hyped more often—writing is so cathartic.

Don't Let Shame Win

I imagine that I'll wrestle with Shame at the beginning of every new project I write (he loses his seat at the table around page 100, dunno why), and I'll have to fight myself back to this place each time. But here’s what *I* know, and what I forget with each book I write: there is only one cure for the shame, and it is this: word count.

Jessica LoureyJanuary 21, 2019Comment

Two Things I Never Write Without

It takes a village to raise a writer, which is why I’m passing on the two best pieces of writing advice I’ve ever heard, one from Carolyn Hart and the other from Elizabeth Gilbert.

Write Like a Video Game?

To reach and fix the foundation, you must start from the outside and work your way in.

Jessica LoureyJanuary 17, 2019tetris, write to heal, writing hacks, creative writing for beginnersComment

This Year's Retreats - special video message

Here is our own Allison Quaid telling you about our retreat lineup for 2019. We have some amazing experiences in store this year, don’t miss out!

Jessica LoureyJanuary 15, 2019Comment

Read Like a Writer

Reading like a writer requires you to figure out what in a piece of fiction moves you and what turns you off. I'm calling that self-awareness your narrative detective—its job is to solve the mystery of the narrative, looking at the ways it is and isn't succeeding—and I'm going to encourage you to feed it PIE every time you read anything: a menu, a short story, the interpretive plaque next to the world's biggest redwood tree, a book.

Jessica LoureyJanuary 14, 2019writing hacks, writing retreats, learn how to write a book, read like a writerComment

Write Your Story in France

I’ve been a tenured writing professor for twenty years, published 18 books, and have taught creative writing workshops all over the world, but I’ve never been as excited for a retreat as I am for our June 2-8 retreat in the French countryside.

Jessica LoureyJanuary 12, 2019Comment

Why I Care about You

I joined forces with the esteemed healing writing author, Jessie Lourey, to start a women’s wellness retreat company to empower women to claim their voices, express their stories, and live an energizing and meaningful life. Why? Because I wish someone would have told me important they are to being healthy in this life.

Jessica LoureyJanuary 9, 2019healing writing, why write, live your best life, writing retreats, writing retreats for womenComment