Inside a Community Writing Workshop

It’s been a while since I’ve been in the classroom, so when I went into the Pendleton Public Library the first week of March, I was nervous and excited - like the first day of a new semester.

 

While I wasn’t teaching a class, I was leading workshops, for teens no less! Would they engage with the material? Would I be able to talk to them on their level? Would they…like it? Or find it helpful?

The first group was middle schoolers, grades 6-8, and the second group was high schoolers grades 9-12. I don’t typically work with teens, but I figured if they were interested in creative writing at the library, they would probably be students like I was at that age.

They didn’t disappoint!

Both workshops were about stories in movies. For the middle schoolers (which I call the “youngers” in my head), we analyzed the Shrek trailer and looked at how much you could tell about a story just from the 2 1/2 minutes. To my great surprise, Shrek is still popular with middle schoolers!

The girls who attended were cheerful and ready to get into it. They were so fun and more confident than many adults I work with. It very much reminded me of a time when I was handwriting my first novels on lined notebook paper. They really dug into the exercises and were ready to learn and participate. A far cry from the trepidation I had when I first arrived.

Two short days later, I was back in the library with the high schoolers. We did similar activities but focused on more of the nuances of writing using the original Ghostbusters trailer from 1984 and the newer remake with a female cast from 2016.

What I think I look like during writing workshops.

Photo credits: Chaz T Photography

 

Personally, I enjoy both so I was excited to hear what they thought. My main participant hadn’t seen either version, so it was kind of perfect - a way to see how much you can really tell from a trailer.

After all, movie trailers are just summaries of movies just like you read a summary of a book.

She, too, caught on quickly and remained engaged. I wondered if I was talking too much, but she asked if I would keep going and sharing more information. I don’t think I’ve ever been asked to talk MORE outside of clarifying questions.

 

What I actually look like - we have fun!

It was pretty cool, and I can’t wait to do the second round of workshops at the end of March. We’re going to be talking about fan fiction, which should be fun. I’ll have to brush up on what’s popular, as I’m sure it’s changed since I was young, and writing fan fiction myself!

A Few Logistics

This is my first foray into community workshops, and thus far it has been a great experience. I’m a big fan of the library, always have been, and always will be, so this opportunity immediately jumped out as something I had to take.

My librarian contact has made the process easy!

I created the flyer, the workbooks for each age group (same foundation, different activities), and a super simple PowerPoint for the workshop itself. If you’ve been around for a bit, you probably know that I love cute and visually engaging materials because I get so jazzed about writing.

I’m working on figuring out how to repurpose them because truly, the basics are the same no matter what level of writing you’re starting with. You can see a preview of some of the pages below - what do you think?

The workshops lasted about an hour each, and although they were small groups, both were fun and engaging for all of us. Although my passion is working with adults, it’s safe to say the kids are a-okay in my book.

 

 

Interested in Hosting or Attending a Workshop?

One of my goals for 2023 is to get out in the community and interact with writers from all walks of life. It’s okay if you don’t think of yourself as a writer, too! I’d be happy to talk about setting up a workshop even if you just want to see what it’s all about.

If you want to learn more about my philosophy of writing first, you can grab a copy of my book Storytelling for Everyday People: A feel-good, no bullsh*t guide to telling the story in your heart.

If you want to get to know me a little before we connect, I totally get it - there are many great successful writers I don’t vibe with. Happy to connect and just have a chat, too. The best place to find me is on LinkedIn, Instagram, or through the Contact form.

 

 

 

 

6 Simple Ways to Build Creative Confidence

Doing creative work requires some semblance of confidence, whether to help get you started, or to keep you going. Without confidence, you can run into problems like writer's block, imposter syndrome, and overall fear and anxiety about your work. 

Having confidence in your own writing takes it to a whole new level. When you feel confident in your own work, other people will feel more confident about it, too. 

What is Confidence?

In the most basic sense, confidence is the “quality of being certain of your abilities or of having trust in people, plans, or the future.” 

Confidence has everything to do with how we feel about the actions we take (or could take) to be successful. When we’re confident, we feel sure we can accomplish what we need to serve others and ourselves, as well as succeed in the future. 

In other words, confidence helps you on your road to success. (If you want to read more about confidence, we did a mini-series about it.)

Why Do Some Writers Lack Confidence? 

It feels like it should be easy to stay confident in yourself, but it’s often hard to do. You’ve probably wondered whether your writing is “good enough” - and so it is with many writers. We’ve all been there. It’s a human thing to question yourself - and completely normal. 

When you tell other people you're a writer, they ask questions, too. Some questions seem harmless, like “What do you write?” Other questions, such as “When are you going to get published?” can create a sneaking doubt in your mind and make you wonder if you’re good enough to get published. And if so, what will people think? Will people want to read it? And what if they do and they don’t like it? 

Then there’s the ever-famous bad experience that seems to happen to all writers at one point or another. For those of us who love writing and have been doing it since we were young, we often started out full of confidence - of course our ideas were good! Then, we have a moment or an encounter where someone gives us negative criticism we don’t know what to do with that alters the course of our writing lives. It sometimes takes years for confidence to grow (and for some it never quite comes back in the same gleeful way). 

So what do you do about these doubts? And how the heck do you gain confidence in yourself and your writing when it feels impossible?

6 Ways to Build Creative Confidence

These are some of the ways we (and our clients!), here at Capturing Your Confidence that work - writer to writer.

Journaling

Journaling is great because you never have to show it to anyone, so you never have to worry about whether people will enjoy it. Journaling is all for you. It’s a safe space where you can write about anything you want.

It can be a daily routine (like Rachel’s morning pages practice); a place to write out all your story ideas; a place to vent all your fears, successes, or memories you want to remember; or, you can use it for all of the above. 

If you need multiple journals, that’s okay! Journaling is meant to help you, whatever that might look like.

Start Small

If you want to write, but it seems too daunting, start small. You can always work your way up to your longer term goal. For instance, say you want to write a book, but you’re not sure if you can (because it is a lot), you can start with a short story or essay.

It doesn’t have to have anything to do with what you want to write your book about. The process of writing that shorter piece will help you figure out things like how quickly or slowly you write, what style and genres you prefer, and whether or not you actually want to write something longer.

If you’re thinking about writing professionally for readers online, you can start small by writing guest posts on someone else’s blog. Doing this helps you test the waters before you make the commitment to building your own blog. You can also publish on sites like Medium, where you don’t have to pay to post, but you can see if what you’re writing about is something people are looking for. 

No matter what you want to write, there are ways to work your way up to that end goal. 

Read Your Writing & Find Things You Like (On Purpose)

One of the best things you can do for your writing confidence is to read your writing. Be intentional about it - find your favorite parts and best lines. Ignore the pieces that you feel aren’t up to par (let’s be honest, it can’t all be gold), and really feel the pieces you’re proud of.

Whenever you’re feeling self-doubt or just need some inspiration to keep writing, go back and read those pieces you picked out. Remind yourself that you are good enough, no matter what anyone else says. It’s easy to forget your own capabilities when you aren’t looking back at your work.

Writing is a constant growth & learning process and it’s important to look back to see how far you’ve come.

Share Your Writing with One Person

When you’re ready to share your writing with someone, choose one person you trust to start with. Tell them exactly what you want from them, whether it’s honesty, or simply to hype you up. It’s okay to want someone who will point out the good pieces of your writing for your first outside perspective.

Eventually you’ll need them to tell you what needs work, but if you’re not ready for that, don’t feel pressure to ask for that on your first share. The worst feeling is giving someone your work and having them tear it apart when it wasn’t ready for that type of criticism yet. Don’t ask for the brutal honesty until you you’ve edited and worked to make your draft as strong as it can be without an outside eye.

DO NOT CHOOSE SOCIAL MEDIA AS YOUR ONE PERSON.

Let me repeat that: when you select the first person to read your work, DO NOT share it publicly on any type of social media platform. This is a recipe for a shitstorm of criticism, which is not what this first person share is about.

Take a Break from Social Media

First, a note: we’re not anti-social media here. You can make connections with fellow writers, and run effective marketing for your book on social media. It’s a great opportunity to meet people you probably wouldn’t in real life!

But it’s a double-edged sword. If you’re scrolling through Insta or TikTok for hours on end, you have less time for your own creative work. It’s easy to fall into the trap of comparing yourself to others, which saps creativity, sometimes without you even knowing it’s happening. Imposter syndrome anyone?

Much of what you see on social media isn’t real anyway.

Someone may say they write for five hours everyday, or read twenty books every month, but you don’t know that’s actually the case. Even if it is, they’re not you. Everyone is different. Everyone writes and reads at a different pace, and everyone experiences self-doubt sometimes (even the loudest people). 

So, make sure to take a break from social media every once in a while. Even if it’s only for a day, take a step back and remind yourself of who you are and why you’re writing. Take a day to explore and inspire yourself, or to rest and relax. Whatever you need to do, allow yourself those moments to rejuvenate yourself. 

Keep Practicing, Even When You’re Not Feeling Confident

Even when you’re not feeling confident, write anyway. It doesn’t have to be your best work. In fact, if it’s something that feels like garbage, that’s okay, too. We all do it, words don’t come out perfect, even for the best of us. That’s what editing is for.

You don’t even have to do anything with it. All the time you spend writing is making you a better writer. Practicing even when you’re not confident can sometimes (inadvertently) lead to some of the best work, which is sure to restore at least a little confidence. Remember - all you have to do is write. Everything else is peripheral.

My challenge to you is to try these tips when you need a confidence boost and let us know what works best for you!