Teaching & Retreats
Writing to Feed the Soul
Carolyn has taught ongoing writing groups, residential retreats and writing intensives called Writing to Feed the Soul since September 1997. The focus of her work is the generation of new writing drawn from deep within the soul and psyche.
Her teaching themes include an imaginative mix of poetry and prose, evoking dreams, the elements, ancestors, the earth and nature, animals, spirit guides, sacred geometry, tarot, qabbalah, and myth – all with the intention to allow archetypal, mythic and shamanic themes to provide seed and sacred ground for new and enlivened writing. Writers often find that a new voice emerges, and that their work goes deeper, exploring vital themes and profound hidden stories.
Carolyn brings people together in order to write in a unique atmosphere of deep listening, profound witness and feedback, with an eye to the continued unfolding of the writer and the truest spirit of her work.
Ongoing Writing Groups
The Writing Groups are on a summer break and will begin the 2010/2011 season in October 2010. Registration is currently underway.
BI-MONTHLY The regular writing groups meet twice a month, the first and third full weeks of the month (except October 2010, when the groups will meet the last two weeks of the month). Three different groups will meet on Monday afternoons, Tuesday evenings and Wednesday afternoons. During these groups, there is time for members to bring in writing for witness and feedback. In addition, Carolyn introduces a new writing theme each meeting, and the members write, and then read together in a vibrant and safe environment.
During teaching weeks, three writing groups meet regularly:
Monday, 2-5:30 pm
Tuesday, 6-9:30 pm
Wednesday , 2-5:30 pm
2010-2011 Dates (first and third full weeks of the month, except Oct 2010):
October 18-20 and 25-27 (please note, last two weeks of month)
November 1-3 and 15-17
December 6-8 and 20-22
January 3-5 and 17-19
February 7-9 and 21-23
March 7-9 and 21-23
April 4-6 and 18-20
May 2-4 and 16-18
June 6-8 and 20-22
MONTHLY GROUP There is also a monthly writing group, which meets the second Saturday of the month. Time is 10-2:30 pm. This monthly writing group meets for a longer time, and is akin to a regular mini-rereat.
Location All groups meet in the Live Oak area of Santa Cruz.
Cost Cost for the Bi-Monthly Groups is $240 per three-month session (or $80 monthly payment). Cost for the Monthly Group is $180 per three-month session.
For more information or to sign up, please email carolynflynn@cruzio.com.
Individual Conferences
Carolyn offers a limited number of individual conferences with writers and those seeking to pursue questions of life and spirit. She works directly with writing and editing, as well as with dreams, tarot, art, and the ancestors—always seeking to name and acknowledge the spirits who are feeding our lives and making requests of us. Please contact her at carolynflynn@cruzio.com if you would like to inquire about this.
Writing Intensives and Retreats
Carolyn will offer one-day Writing Intensives and three-day Writing Deepening Retreats periodically throughout the 2010-2011 year. These retreats allow the writer to leave ordinary life for a time and enter the soul of nature and their work. Most intensives include a period of silence, spirit work, writing and witness.
The retreat schedule for 2010-2011 will be announced late August 2010.