Announcements & Upcoming Events:

TODAY: Sunday, 4/7: Thoughtful Readers Gathering with Jose Diaz Hernandez and Magic City Poetry Festival; Free, Book available for purchase (I’m sending out the Zoom link and other info to registered participants by noon CT. Anyone who registers after noon will receive it within a few minutes of registration.)

—Sunday, 4/21/2024: Thoughtful Readers Gathering with Anna Gazmarian

—Back by Popular Demand: Narrative Writing with Tanya Davis is back for another four weeks this spring. The Friday Cohort begins on Friday, 4/19. The Saturday BIPOC Cohort begins on 4/20. $49 for four sessions.

—AND our Four-Hour Retreats are back this month to help you write more often, improve your writing skills, and feel nourished by your writing practice. The Four-Hour group retreats will also help you have greater integration between your writing life and other areas of life so you can establish a more sustainable writing practice that works for you.

I’m thrilled to offer retreats in my home on Thursday, April 25th and Saturday April 27th and additional retreats online via Zoom on Friday, April 26th and Sunday, April 28th.

SDW Members: You are eligible for a Four-Hour Retreat discount equal to your monthly membership rate. Please email me at charlotte@charlottedonlon.com for your discount code.

**SDW Co-Writing Update**

—Co-Writing: I’m thrilled to announce that Holly Porter Phillips will be leading Co-Writing Sessions in the coming weeks and months. She’s currently doing the Spiritual Direction for Writers® Training with me because she will be offering similar services in the fall. Holly will use the SDW Co-Writing Liturgy for every SDW Co-Writing Session so everyone knows what to expect.

Also. Some of our Co-Writing Sessions are two hours instead of four hours. This is a change for April that we might extend into the rest of the year. All SDW Co-Writing participants are welcome to come for one hour, two hours, etc. A new round of liturgy starts at the top of every hour.

PLEASE NOTE: When Holly is leading a 2-hour session alone, without my presence at all, she will use her own Zoom link. So, there will be a few times in the coming days and weeks where Co-Writing participants will use a different Zoom link than the one they’re used to using. I will add Holly’s Zoom link in the appropriate spots on the private SDW Google calendar and make this announcement often to those who participate in SDW Co-Writing. This Tuesday, April 9th will be Holly’s first session while I’m traveling to Grand Rapids.

Here’s more about Holly: Holly Porter Phillips is a pastor, writer, and trained spiritual director (Anam Cara), walking alongside others (literally and figuratively) bearing witness to their sacred lives. She lives in Austin, Texas with her musician husband, their three kids, and a backyard full of birds. You can get to know her more through her substack.

And you can learn more about our SDW Co-Writing Sessions and see the April schedule here.

An Imperfect Note That’s Not Edited and May Have Typos and Whatnot but It’s Fine:

Good morning,

I have several things I’d love to tell you about but there are so many words up there. I’ll pick three quick things.

1. The Spiritual Direction for Writers book is in such good shape and I kind of can’t believe it. Such a relief. I began a round of revisions yesterday and I continue to fall more in love with this book every time I return to it.

2. All kinds of birds and a couple of squirrels are using the new bird feeders that I added to our living room windows. The one male Eastern Towhee is still ramming into the window to protect his territory from his reflection. A female Eastern Towhee sometimes hangs out and has snacks while he flexes his protective muscles. (Photos of the male are below. I’ll try to get a photo of his lady friend soon.)

3. I’m really enjoying my two April Instagram projects so far. I create the posts kind of spur of the moment which makes it more fun and more of a contemplative practice. I’m doing The Belonging through Poetry Project over at @thegreatbelonging and The Why We Write project at @spiritualdirectionforwriters.

Much love to everyone navigating difficult things right now. Life can be a lot.

Until next time,

Charlotte

*Please help us protect our intellectual property, our creative process, and the integrity of our work. Spiritual Direction for Writers® Daily Nourishment is covered under the Spiritual Direction for Writers® trademark. You are welcome to forward this email to others, but any other use (written or spoken) is prohibited without written permission from Charlotte Donlon.