Sometimes the best way to get your creative writing juices flowing is to attend a writing workshop. That’s what I did this weekend. Author Gail B. Balden of Creative Journeys taught, “Leave a Trace” workshop. Creative Journeys is an organization whose sole purpose is to encourage women to honor their creative and spiritual nature through writing. Balden lives in a little town of 200 people on the Pacific coast in Oregon and writes a monthly column there on “Small Town Living.” Balden is no stranger to the world of publishing as she has had numerous works published.

“Sweet Hankies” was recently published in Oregon Writers Colony anthology, In Our Own Voices. Other essays have been published in anthologies produced by Beyond Words Publishing, Inc., including Our Turn, Our Time - Women Truly Coming of Age and Midlife Clarity - Epiphanies for Grown-Up Girls. Her essay, "Can We Go Home Again?" was published in The Rocking Chair Reader collection, Coming Home, and her essay, "A Christmas Box" was published in A Cup of Comfort for Women by Adams Media Corporation. Other work has been published in Poetry and Prose Annual, Oregon Coast Magazine, RAIN and Pelican Post, as well as local magazines.

It’s a real treat to attend a workshop by an accomplished writer because her experience takes all the guess work out of the do’s and don’ts of writing. Actually, from Balden’s point of view, there are very few don’ts other than not to write at all. The number one recommendation on her list for getting ordinary everyday things down on paper is - always keep a small journal with you. She says it’s fine to compose on computers, but there are too many conversations and events happening around you all the time that make great little stories that you have to get down on paper right away. Number two – keep your eyes and ears open at all times no matter where you are. Example: What’s being said in line behind you at the grocery store or at the airport? There are stories everywhere you go.

When our intimate little 8-person group talked about our lives Balden reminded us that when we are writing non-fiction we must always remember to write fictional non-fiction. According to Balden that means that you have to write your non-fiction with the same story-telling qualities that you would tell a fictional story. You have to use strong imagery, build up your characters, and describe your scenes with lots of adjectives and adverbs. Don’t just say, “the car” say, “the old rust covered 1958 hand-me-down Chevrolet convertible.” Remember the rule “show – don’t tell.” In other words, make your story so vividly interesting to the reader, they won’t dream of putting it down.

When you attend one of Balden’s workshops, expect to do a lot of writing. One of the writing assignments you can expect to write about would include the following questions?

What inspires me?
What do I feel passionate about?
What kind of people do I like to talk to?
If I went back to school, what would I study?
Does nature influence my creativity, how?
What do I like to do creatively?
Who am I?

Following each writing assignment you get to read whatever you like to other workshop participants. If you’ve never published anything before, by sharing your work at the workshop, you are essentially publishing your work by reading your work out loud. It’s a very empowering experience. It gets easier each time you read and you learn to trust and open up to others.

One assignment we worked on we actually found out after a long process when our life began. No, not when we were born into this world as a baby. We divided our paper up into three columns with various years in our lives, places and people. From that paper we were able to whittle the process down to “when our life began.” That’s all I’m going to tell you because I don’t want to spoil it for you if you take one of her workshops. For me it was right on the money. It indicated that my life began when I had a life threatening surgery and survived it. I was able to write about my fears surrounding that time that I never acknowledged before, in her workshop. Oddly enough I was paired off with another woman who almost died from a life-threatening illness and she read her journal entry to me. We had a big laugh afterward.

I think what I was most impressed with about Balden was her ability to bring women out of their comfort zone to engage them to participate openly and to motivate them to want to go home and continue to write. Balden also brings an array of samples of different writer’s tips to the workshop. She quoted author after author out of various books and handouts, reading inspirational poems and bits of chapters from inspirational writers. We really got a smorgasbord of writing tips. Two authors on her suggested reading list that stood out were:

Albert, Susan Wittig, Writing from Life, Telling Your Soul’s Story
McClanahan, Rebecca, Write Your Heart Out

Lastly, Balden suggests that every writer sit down at a scheduled time and place each day or week as a regular practice in order to stimulate the creative juices. Even reading some other people’s work can sometimes stimulate your own writing. She also suggested a spiritual practice such as a morning meditation, prayer or lighting a candle to help trigger your focus. She said to always remember when you are writing, ask yourself, who are you writing for – who is your reader?

Journaling is therapeutic because it almost always has you as the reader. Balden told the class that two themes tend to surface in journal writing. We either “Engage in Life” or “Hold Back from Life.” When our class talked about journal writing many participants admitted that they’ve burned or shredded journals before. Balden said that is all a matter of personal choice and that the process of putting down feelings to begin with was what was essential to the process, not keeping the journal. Balden wrote in her journal after 9/11 about her anguish. There was a call for submissions for journal entries for publication. She submitted her entry and it was accepted. She was asked to read it in front of a large audience. When she did someone near the front gasped and blurted out, “Yes!” Balden said, “That is why you publish, for that affirmation that your audience feels what you felt when you wrote it.”


To arrange a workshop with Gail Balden please email her at gail@creativejourneys.net