Your Luminous Present: 4 Weeks of Waking Up to Your Life in Writing
A Daily Journal Practice in Writing, Noticing, and Doodling with a Weekly Workshop Deepening Process.
(Hard copy journal provided).
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Instructions for living a life.
Pay attention.
Be astonished.
Tell about it.
~ Mary Oliver
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Dates:
- 4 Thursdays in October 2025, 3:30 to 5:30 EASTERN TIME. Begins October 9 OR
- 4 Thursdays in November 2025, 3:30 to 5:30 EASTERN TIME. Begins November 6
Registration fee:
(includes hardcopy of the book arriving by mail): $195 CDN plus HST (total: $220.35 CDN)
Approximately $156 US as of August 20 2025 – click here for up to date currency conversion.
Click here for registration form
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About the Practice and the Workshop:
Even in the most challenging seasons of life, there are marvelous and magical moments every day and this is a daily (and weekly) practice for noticing and engaging with them.
I (Sue) encountered this practice first in the creativity teachings of Lynda Barry, and discovered it again in a course with Dani Shapiro. As I periodically worked with it, I marveled at the way it deepened and enriched my experience of being more aware and alive to the luminous gifts of every single day.
As time went by I found I periodically wanted an opportunity for more thoughtful engagement in a writerly way, so I added a weekly time for review and development of my observations into essays and poetry.
Through this intentional attention, ordinary days become extraordinary. Fleeting moments of delight were no longer lost but were captured and carried forward. Doodling opened a new channel of awareness. Writing brought meaning and clarity.
Two years ago, for Christmas, I printed 100 of these 4 week journals for my writer friends. It was such a pleasure sharing this practice that had brought so much delight and engagement into my life.
For this fall, I wanted to share it with a wider audience. And, because so much of my best work gets done in community, I decided to offer it as a 4 week workshop.
When you register for this course, I will mail you a hard copy of this journal. It’s 5 1/2 by 8 1/2 inches, and lightweight – small enough to carry around in your bag or backpack so it’s available to you the moment you see, do, or experience something you want to capture.
For four weeks, you will spend a few minutes every day listing the details of that day in short sentences or sentence fragments. Once a week in workshop (Thursdays at 3:30 Eastern time) you’ll take time to go deeper—exploring a detail that caught your attention, expanding it into writing, and refining it also with a poetic focus. There will also be a chance to share and receive witnessing and feedback.
These practices are not necessarily about “producing” a finished piece of writing for publication (although that may happen); these practices are about being engaged and present with your own life every day
By the end of the course, you’ll have a richer awareness of your days, a collection of words and images uniquely your own, and a practice you can carry with you long after the workshop ends.
Come join us in this luminous way of paying attention to the world—one detail, one doodle, one story at a time.
Click here for registration form
“The world will freely offer itself to you to be unmasked.
It has no choice, it will roll in ecstasy at your feet.”
~ Franz Kafka
