What to do when things are uncertain.
Wherever you are in the world, I hope you, your family, and your neighbours are feeling well and are prepared for self-isolation. My wish is that we all work together, slow this pandemic, and that our public health workers will be able to take care of the sick without being overwhelmed by need.
We don’t know what the new normal will be, yet — nobody knows.
It’s not unreasonable to feel alarmed when there is so much uncertainty.
Unprecedented times call for us to be creative, so we can do things differently while making things better. But if we don’t feel grounded, it’s hard to be creative.
We need to digest this big change before we can know what to do next.
If you’re feeling disorganized and anxious, try to find the still place in yourself. Once you’ve found your balance, you can use it to help stabilize others.
We’re writers, and we have an important skill: we know how to feel fear and calm at the same time.
That’s often what writing is all about: we write through uncertainty.
We’re living through an unknown stage in our collective story right now. It isn’t easy, but we know how to do it. If you’re part of the Sarah Selecky Writing School writing community, you know this: you’ve been practicing this already.
Now is a good time to write, digest, and reflect.
To help writers practice that skill, I am doing four things:
1. I am opening a free Writing Through Uncertainty space for the next four weeks.
This is so we can feel centred even as everything around us changes.
This space is for us to meet for writing practice. I will provide a simple, short writing exercise every day. This isn’t a course, and there are no prerequisites or homework assignments. It’s for reflection, it’s open to everyone who needs it, and it’s suitable for families to do together.
Show up when you can. Join us.
2. For the first time, I am offering the Story Course on a significant sliding scale pricing model for the next four weeks.
I want the course to be affordable for those who feel ready to take a deeper dive into their writing right now.
Tier 1: $275 USD (regular price)
Tier 2: $200 USD (limited quantity available; suggested for writers who have been wanting to do the Story Course for some time and would appreciate a financial break)
Tier 3: $150 USD (limited quantity available; suggested for beginner writers and those who have been impacted financially by the COVID–19 crisis)
3. The rest of my regularly scheduled online writing programs are continuing as planned, including the fall semester of the Story Intensive. If you’re on that mailing list, you will continue to receive emails and updates about the Intensive as usual. However, if you need a more flexible payment plan for the Intensive, please let us know.
4. I am considering offering a Young Writers program for teens and tweens who are stuck at home and would like to learn more about creative writing. If this is something you or someone you know would be interested in, please send me an email.
If this will be your first time taking an online course, you will be happy to know that I have been leading beautiful, inspiring, and engaging online classes for more than 10 years. A lot of schools and continuing education courses have moved online for the first time recently, and students are feeling the effects of a bumpy learning curve. I know what that feels like — it wasn’t easy at first, but over the years we learned how to make online education feel good.
I have of course postponed all of my upcoming in-person retreats for now.
I don’t have any other solid plans yet, other than staying quiet, doing what I need to do to feel centred, and paying close attention to what our writers need.
If you have any special requests, please reach out to support@sarahselecky.com.
We are here for you.
Love,
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