The Spiritual Direction for Writers Regular and Silent Co-Writing Liturgies
Please Note: The Spiritual Direction for Writers™ Co-Writing Sessions Liturgy is covered under the Spiritual Direction for Writers® trademark. Please don’t share the Spiritual Direction for Writers® Co-Writing Sessions Method without Charlotte Donlon’s written permission. Please help Charlotte protect her intellectual property, her creative process, and her work as a spiritual director for writers.
You are welcome to use the Spiritual Direction for Writers® Co-Writing Sessions Liturgy for your own personal writing practice or as inspiration for your own co-writing gatherings. Please mention Spiritual Direction for Writers® and add the link to spiritualdirectionforwriters.com if you use or share a modified version of this method.
Spiritual Direction for Writers Co-Writing Sessions can be purchased here. All SDW Co-Writing Blocks are four hours long with a checkin and new session starting at the top of every hour. All participants are welcome to attend any portion of the four-hour session. We follow the liturgy below for each SDW Co-Writing Session during the four-hour blocks.
*Please scroll down for more information about the Silent Co-Writing Liturgy that we use on occasion.
Here’s the REGULAR SDW Co-Writing Liturgy.
1. Gather in Silence
When you log in and join the Spiritual Direction for Writers™ Co-Writing Session, take a few minutes to think about your intention for this co-writing session.
What do you hope to write about or explore during this session? Since all of life is the writing life, you are welcome to do whatever you like during this time. You can clean out your email inbox or write a letter to a friend or journal. You can also work on a new poem or revise an essay or start a short story.
Take a few minutes in silence to consider how you’d like to use this time. Do you even need to write right now? Maybe you need to sit in silence or read or take a nap. Please feel free to use this time how you want to use it.
2. Introduce Yourself and Share Your Intention
Charlotte will invite each participant to unmute, introduce themselves, and share their intentions. Anyone who doesn’t want to speak during this time, should keep their camera off so Charlotte knows they’d like to pass.
3. Breathe
Charlotte will ask you to take six deep breaths with a six-count inhale and a six-count exhale. She has her reasons! Learn why during the first five or so minutes of this IG Live from 2021.
4. Invocation
Charlotte will share a brief prayer, blessing, quote, or poem. Charlotte is a Christian and sometimes shares prayers rooted in the Christian tradition. If you have different beliefs, feel free to mute this portion of the co-writing session, if you like.
5. Write (Or do something else you need or want to do!)
Charlotte will start the timer for the writing portion of the co-writing session. All participants are welcome to stay on camera or off camera during this time. Charlotte will stay on camera but will mute her mic to make sure she doesn’t disturb anyone’s writing practice.
6. Take Notes
After the timed writing portion, Charlotte will sometimes invite you to take notes. Charlotte will set the timer for three or four minutes. Write down as many notes as you can about how you used your time during this co-writing session, any new ideas that came to mind, frustrations, new writing goals, etc.
You can also respond to the following statements while you’re taking notes or immediately after the co-writing session.
Based on everything you’ve experienced during this Spiritual Direction for Writers™ Co-Writing Session, write down:
—One thing you want to do TODAY that will help you move toward (or maintain) the writing life you want, the life you want.
—One thing you want to do TOMORROW that will help you move toward (or maintain) the writing life you want, the life you want.
—One thing you want to do THIS WEEK that will help you move toward (or maintain) the writing life you want, the life you want.
—One thing you want to do THIS MONTH that will help you move toward (or maintain) the writing life you want, the life you want.
7. Share Your Progress
After we take notes, Charlotte will invite everyone to share how their writing (or other activity!) went during this co-writing session.
8. Writing Life Discussions
There will be a brief conversation about the writing life and opportunities for everyone to share about their own writing and their writing practice.
9. Blessing
Charlotte will share a brief prayer, blessing, quote, or poem. Charlotte is a Christian and sometimes shares prayers rooted in the Christian tradition. If you have different beliefs, feel free to mute this portion of the co-writing session if you prefer.
Here’s what you can expect during the SDW Silent Co-Writing Liturgy:
1. Gather in Silence
Please Note: The silent sessions at 7 a.m. during Advent will be recorded and available for active co-writing participants to access for 24 hours
When you log in and join the Spiritual Direction for Writers™ Co-Writing Session, take a few minutes to think about your intention for this co-writing session.
What do you hope to write about or explore during this session? Since all of life is the writing life, you are welcome to do whatever you like during this time. You can clean out your email inbox or write a letter to a friend or journal. You can also work on a new poem or revise an essay or start a short story.
Take a few minutes in silence to consider how you’d like to use this time. Do you even need to write right now? Maybe you need to sit in silence or read or take a nap. Please feel free to use this time how you want to use it.
Write down your intention for yourself and this time.
(All participants will be off camera and muted for the entire co-writing session.)
2. Introduce Yourself and Share Your Intention
If you’d like to introduce yourself to others when you arrive, please type your name (and state? or country?) in the chat box during the first few minutes of silence while we gather. You can also add your intention to the chat box, if you’d like to share.
3. Breathe
Charlotte will ask you to take six deep breaths with a six-count inhale and a six-count exhale. She has her reasons! Learn why during the first five or so minutes of this IG Live from 2021.
4. Invocation
Charlotte will share a brief prayer, blessing, quote, or poem. Charlotte is a Christian and sometimes shares prayers rooted in the Christian tradition. If you have different beliefs, feel free to mute this portion of the co-writing session if you like.
5. Write (Or do something else you need or want to do!)
Charlotte will start the timer for the writing portion of the co-writing session. She will stay on camera but will mute her mic to make sure she doesn’t disturb anyone’s writing practice.
6. Take Notes
This step is really important, and Charlotte encourages everyone to do it. Even if you didn’t write during the writing portion of the co-writing session, still take some notes!
Charlotte will set the timer for four or five minutes. Write down as many notes as you can about how you used your time during this co-writing session, any new ideas that came to mind, frustrations, new writing goals, etc.
You can also respond to the following statements while you’re taking notes or immediately after the co-writing session.
Based on everything you’ve experienced during this Spiritual Direction for Writers™ Co-Writing Session, write down:
—One thing you want to do TODAY that will help you move toward (or maintain) the writing life you want, the life you want.
—One thing you want to do TOMORROW that will help you move toward (or maintain) the writing life you want, the life you want.
—One thing you want to do THIS WEEK that will help you move toward (or maintain) the writing life you want, the life you want.
—One thing you want to do THIS MONTH that will help you move toward (or maintain) the writing life you want, the life you want.
7. Share Your Progress
After the time is up, you are invited to add a sentence to the chat box describing how your writing (or other activity!) went during this co-writing session.
8. Blessing
Charlotte will share a brief prayer, blessing, quote, or poem. Charlotte is a Christian and sometimes shares prayers rooted in the Christian tradition. If you have different beliefs, feel free to mute this portion of the co-writing session if you prefer.
Please Note: The Spiritual Direction for Writers™ Co-Writing Sessions Liturgy is covered under the Spiritual Direction for Writers® trademark. Please don’t share the Spiritual Direction for Writers® Co-Writing Sessions Method without Charlotte Donlon’s written permission. Please help Charlotte protect her intellectual property, her creative process, and her work as a spiritual director for writers.
You are welcome to use the Spiritual Direction for Writers® Co-Writing Sessions Liturgy for your own personal writing practice or as inspiration for your own co-writing gatherings. Please mention Spiritual Direction for Writers® and add the link to spiritualdirectionforwriters.com if you use or share a modified version of this method.
Thanks for participating and happy writing!
Charlotte Donlon helps her readers and clients notice how they belong to themselves, others, God, and the world. Charlotte is a writer, a spiritual director, and the founder of Thoughtful Books Etc.™, Spiritual Direction for Writers®, Spiritual Direction for Belonging™, and Parenting with Art™. Her essays have appeared in The Washington Post, The Curator, The Christian Century, Christianity Today, Catapult, The Millions, Mockingbird, and elsewhere. Her first book is The Great Belonging: How Loneliness Leads Us to Each Other. She’s currently writing her next book, Spiritual Direction for Writers, which will be published by Eerdmans in 2024.