Writing, Creativity, and Soul, Pt. 1

It may be Restaurant Week, but Charleston’s dining establishments aren’t the only decadent deal in town this weekend.

On Friday and Saturday, the Sophia Institute serves up a low-fat, high-fiber, and definitely heart healthy smorgasbord of local writing talent for its annual Writing, Creativity, and Soul workshop. Soul work is at the core of almost all Sophia Institute programs, and it’s also at the core of good writing—in my opinion at least. Gifted writers illuminate the nuances and mysteries of the human spirit through poetry or prose. The opportunity to hear how they do it, how they take raw ingredients of daily life and simmer them into chapter and verse, is like sampling Jeremiah Bacon’s latest pork-inspired entrée. It’s good stuff. Chew on it, be fueled for your own writing practice, then go get dessert somewhere.

Sue Monk Kidd, Natalie Goldberg, and Josephine Humphreys have been Writing, Creativity, and Soul keynoters in the past, and this year Jo Humphreys returns along with best-selling novelist Mary Alice Monroe and writer Debra Moffitt, who will share insight Friday night in "The Writer’s Life: Creativity, Soul, and Survival."

Then on Saturday, feast on several courses: Mary Alice leads a morning session on structure and tools for would-be novelists, a midday reflective repast with Jo on “How Writing Transforms the Novelist,” a lunch chat on e-publishing by Nina Bruhns, then afternoon breakout sessions on various genres with yours truly and poets Susan Meyers and Susan Finch Stevens.

“I'm always curious about how other writers meet the demands of their career—time management, edits, inspiration, and burn out. It's such an ever changing, evolving career,” says Mary Alice Monroe, who just finished her most recent manuscript—a novel about dolphins—last week. “We'll open up with reflections on personal aspects of a writer's career in an honest discussion on Friday night.  My teaching session on Saturday is strictly about craft. No fooling around here; I plan to share solid tips that writers can take home and bring to their work.”

“I do hope local writers who need that extra something to help them either begin the project that's been in their mind, or finish that project that is stalled, will come and avail themselves to this intimate and intense weekend,” Monroe adds.

And I hope to see you, as well. You can get full workshop details and register here.

Check back in tomorrow—we'll hear from award-winning novelist, Josephine Humphreys.