Valerie Harms

Anais was a "mother" of mine. I loved her diaries on writing, art, relationships -- all my major concerns.

A lovely group of women attended my Soul Writing workshop on Sunday. They were all so eager for tools for deepening their spirituality. I love to relate to people on that level and am grateful for their energy.

Let's do writing in response to pictures of paintings or sculpture or places. I spent an hour "being with" several images and wrote prose poems about them. It's a good way to find your experience of the artwork, not just saying "I like it". I invite you to share your paintings and words.

I'm offering 5 publishing or writing tips free. Just ask. See my home page.
Also, if you want consulting, the first half-hour is free.

See my Events page for new information about designing a course for what you need in writing and publishing for children and writing memoirs or family histories.

For writers Sue Monk Kidd has some excellent tips. See www.suemonkkidd.com/reflections.
For anyone who's wanted to write memoir or fiction, she's a great mentor.
I just finished reading Traveling with Pomegranates, a book she wrote with her daughter about travels they took together. They went to my favorite sacred places--in Greece and France.  Read More 

I am more and more eager to offer a class on what movies have to teach us about good writing. I am a huge movie fan, mostly independents, but in my town the only theater offers mostly movies for juveniles. A weekly frustration. Thank heavens for Netflix.

This year I will be offering courses in nature, writing, and psychology. Other words that describe what I want to offer are: ecoliteracy, soul journeys, web of life, nurturance, kinship, fields of light, waters of life, deep writing whether fiction or non.
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As Stanley Kunitz says in a poem, "We are partners in this land/co-signers of a covenant.

Let me know if this resonates with you... Read More 

1. Do more research
2. Get out your special pen and paper
3. Free writing for 5 minutes, no stopping or editing
4. Write as if a letter to a friend.
5. Make yourself do it.
6. Understand your structure.
7. Make a list of characters and situations, cut into strips of paper and put in separate bags; pull out 2 characters and situation and construct a story. (Play.)  Read More