Moon Muse: a monthly writing meetup starting in January
New apprentice associate is a Moon-lover who wants to share her passion for our beautiful and powerful Earthly satallite in a new monthly creative writing meetup, Moonwrite. Join her for the first session, exploring the Wolf Moon of January! We asked Coco to tell us more about this lovely addition to our programme.
When I was a little girl, after my parents divorced, my father told me that when I missed him and he was far away, I could look at the Moon and know he was looking back. I would sit on the deck of the barge, where I lived with my mother on the outskirts of town, and look up into the night sky, believing with my whole heart he was too. As I grew, and life changed, this lunar link dissipated. Until I became a mother, when during those long sleepless nights, I found the Moon again.
Our Moon, which has inspired mythology, literature, religion, philosophy, and science; a moon that directs migrations, tides, the movement of leaves, and perhaps even the blood in our veins (see Boyle’s Our Moon: A Human History). You will be hard pressed to find an artist untouched by the Moon: from a paleolithic hunter-gatherer painting the phases of the moon onto cave walls to Enheduanna, the world’s first known author, a poet and high priestess of the Moon. Now, with Moonwrite, you can be inspired by the very same moon that they looked upon.
When I was offered the opportunity to run my first set of workshops for The Writers Workshop, I knew exactly what I wanted to do: give in to the lunacy, get together, share, write.
The workshops are first and foremost about inspiration. I will bring poems, extracts, art, stories, myths, maps, materials, and we will use them as prompts, as jumping off points into our own writing. My hope is you will leave with words on the page, resources to explore and, perhaps, even a little moonstruck.
The first workshop will take place on Sunday January 12th, 1-3pm, the day before the night of the first full moon of the new year. The January Moon goes by many names, including Wolf Moon, Ice Moon, Quiet Moon, who will this moon be to you?
Suitable for every level of writing and every genre, whether you’re a dedicated moon-worshipper or someone who enjoys the simple awe of looking up into a night sky and finding light.
Note: Please join the wait list if a session has sold out so that I can arrange additional sessions if demand is there. If you’re interested and can’t join for the first one, the following will be on Sundays February 9th, March 9th, and April 14th, all 2-4pm (all can be found on Eventbrite). If Sundays don’t work for you, and you’d be interested in a weekday or evening, please do let me know.
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Coco Lone Neal is a mother to two small children, an apprentice associate at the Writers Workshop, and she is studying for an MA in Nature and Travel Writing. In a previous life she was a researcher on rivers, and you cannot look to water without also turning to the Moon. Insta: @cocolonewalks