Dear Writers

A short introduction to the Empty Writers Club

"A writer is a person who cares what words mean, what they say, how they say it. Writers know words are their way towards truth and freedom, and so they use them with care, with thought, with fear, with delight. By using words well they strengthen their souls. Story-tellers and poets spend their lives learning that skill and art of using words well. And their words make the souls of their readers stronger, brighter, deeper." ― Ursula K. Le Guin

For the last month, a handful of friends and I have met weekly to sit in silence and write.

In doing so, we’ve accidentally created a writing club and it’s fast become the most rewarding hour of my working week. If you consider yourself a writer, you are very lucky. And yet, with that identity, you also likely feel you don't write enough. Do you beat yourself up? I want us all to have the necessary space to practice our art. So, if you are a writer, I'd like to invite you to the Empty Writers Club; just reply to this email to join us. More below!

---

To my dear friends who are writers:

The last few months have not been easy. As my therapist said, "So, you want to be a writer…. and now you're doing XYZ?!" — I obviously cringed when he pointed this out. I spat out my tea.

While travelling, I learned to trust my intuition, and I discovered that, when ignored, the way intuition expresses itself is often by a sort of emotional abduction. It captures us by the ankle or throat — it gags us — and never tells us exactly what it wants. We are left guessing. “Why do I feel miserable?!” Recently, I have felt stressed and panicked and I haven’t understood why.

All the while, intuitively, I have found sitting among friends and writing feels correct. True to me, at least. In these moments, the grip loosens.

I feel an intuitive guilt, almost a shame, when a long time passes between writing sessions. When I don't publish here, or when I fail to work on my book, I let the embers of my creativity dwindle. Returning to the blank page gets more difficult. I feel like I am wasting something important. What might I be wasting?

Writing is a passion that is simultaneously invigorating and enlightening whilst entirely free to do. This cosmic gift shouldn't be overlooked, and it often is.

Only a few of us discover writing as an outlet, a source of expression or, at other times, therapy. Writing can be a way of existing, a livelihood, or a thing to fill winter evenings. It's a lens with which we look into the world, and when we look we always find ourselves. Ah! — to be able to meet oneself in the mirror of the page!

Those of us who feel our pull to write invariably feel we're not living up to our creative potential when not doing it.

We love the practice and process; we treat it as a ritual, but sometimes, a month goes by, and the ritual is not carried out— nothing is sacrificed at the altar of our creative pursuits. As such (we ponder at 3 a.m.), might a lifetime whistle by while our dreams of being an eminent writer, or at the very least a passable one, set like the sun after a long day of lost opportunities?

Sadly I am not alone in feeling these doubts. You may also feel them. But hell, we won't allow our lives to turn out as a creative disappointment! If even part of you wants to write, we will create the space to do so with inspirational people.

The Empty Writers Club is a group of writers who don't expect anything from themselves aside from simply sitting down with their empty selves in front of an empty page. We are empty of expectations! Simply, we take the time to capture that stream of consciousness that flows unceasingly from deep within us.

We support one another's various writing pursuits: Some of us are writing books. Others are launching newsletters. Others use journaling as a way to understand themselves. Some join to draft a letter to an estranged aunt. One writes about an ex-boyfriend in livid red ink, only to burn the page in fire ceremonies. No - there is no judgement here!

Nothing written can ever be wrong. It’s a perspective, an opinion, an observation.

What is wrong, however, is ignoring our divinely gifted practice; what's wrong is failing to take up the opportunity to develop a writing ritual. It's our responsibility. Truly!

We write together once a week. We meet for an hour in silence. This creative hour stimulates the elusive creative nerve, somewhere (perhaps) at the base of the neocortex, so we lean into more writing opportunities throughout our week. Soon after, the act of writing — and by that I mean manifesting creativity — shifts to the front of our lives. We carry ourselves differently for at least the rest of the day (and, more often, the whole week) because we've honoured our deepest desire. Writing begets writing as surely as night follows day.

Our Empty Writers Clubs comprises:

• Weekly writing calls (no yapping)

• Unlimited feedback & edits (share your Google doc, get comments)

• Inclusion in our Empty Writers Club monthly updates (we circulate the members's writing)

I want to share this experiment as it cooks on the hob, so I'll intermittently update you here.

We will make the most of our creative potential by feeding ourselves a little quiet writing time and spending it lost among words. Selfishly, I want to write more and encourage those in the same position as me to do the same.

The club is free, of course, so reply to this email and get involved! x

---

“Better to write for yourself and have no public, than to write for the public and have no self." ― Cyril Connolly