You sense something glowing inside you...

...An event that calls to be recorded, or a story that keeps nudging you, or just the glimmer of a feeling that you want to explore.

But you haven't written it yet.

You don't know where to start. Or you feel intimidated about writing. Perhaps you're not sure your story is worth telling—or you wonder if you even have a story to tell at all.

We're Ashmae and Kathy, and we want you to know that your intuitive sense is spot on that something is ready to be told.

We know personally that writing is a portal to a deeper understanding of yourself and the world around you. It is a tool that allows you access to your story in surprising and vibrant ways. The craft of writing helps you know who you are as you do it. Maybe this sounds intimidating, or maybe it sounds exciting. Either way, we made this writing course for you—both for the part of you that is scared and the part of you that is excited.

Mine to Tell is a 12-week guided writing course designed to help you face your writing fears and tell the story that is glowing inside you.

Together, we'll explore and overcome your writing fears, practice writing together, and talk deeply about your work, so that you'll finish with confidence in your own voice and story.

Allowing your story space and time to teach you can be an illuminating, even spiritual journey. It's not a journey that comes without work, or even frustration, but over the years, we've put in the work to face fear and doubt head on, and not just write in spite of fears, but with them.

The concepts and exercises we guide you through in this course have helped us successfully create small, personal writing projects for people close to us, as well as bigger creative projects and published books.

We've both spent over a dozen years navigating both the doubt and the exhilaration of writing our own story and ideas. We want you to know it is worth the work and time it takes to write your story.

If you feel like now is your time to write, trust that urge.

This course is a space free of judgement, where you learn to write first and foremost for yourself, and to love yourself in the doing of it.

We're honored and excited to guide you through the process.

12 weekly live video lessons

Once a week, we gather online as a group, using a video webinar platform called Zoom. In each lesson, we guide you through writing techniques and exercises that open up your story and give you greater confidence to tell it.

Each class is broadcast live for 90 minutes on Thursday evenings: 6:00–7:30 pm PT / 9:00–10:30 pm ET.

(Lessons are recorded and available to watch later on your own time if you can't join us live.)

Personal instructor feedback on your writing

Two times during this course, you will be able to submit two pages of your writing to us (your instructors), and we'll send back personal notes, insights, and suggestions on your work.

We'll share our personal encouragement about your writing and ask questions to spark revision. Even writers who have felt nervous about showing their work to anyone have said these two feedback sessions helped them appreciate and understand their own writing.

60+ pages of writing workbook prompts and info

Along with weekly video lessons, you receive workbook pages that will help you write. A few highlights include:

• Ways to Publish: Links to resources and helpful tips to submit your work for publication.

• A guide to workshopping: Useful steps to giving and receiving feedback on writing, so that you can get the kind of feedback you're looking for from readers, even after this course is done.

Your own personal workshop group

From the beginning of the course, we facilitate connections between fellow students who want to be part of a smaller writing group.

Three times during the course, you and your group of 2-3 other writers will have dedicated time to read each other's work. We walk everyone through the process of giving good feedback so that your small writing group can be a supportive space.

The connections you make here can last beyond the course itself. Several workshop groups from past sessions have continued to meet and support each other in their writing after the course is over.

A reading list of relevant, contemporary personal writing

Reading is one of the most important activities to help you write. Each week of the course, we share an essay, article, or book chapter as an example of creative nonfiction. The selections vary in voice and subject matter to help you see the possibilities available to you when you write.

Private online writing community

In the private Mine to Tell Facebook group, you'll get to meet fellow writers. We'll share thoughts, ideas, and updates beyond our weekly lessons.

The group includes all students from the previous session of Mine to Tell, so you'll be connected to a larger community of people doing the kind of creative work that you are.

Participation in an online reading of your work at the end of this course

After all the writing you do in this course, you get the chance to celebrate the results. We host a live online reading on Zoom, where you can read a short piece you've written during our time together. You can invite friends and family, even if they're far away. And you'll get to hear work from your fellow writers. Not every student choose to read (so there's no pressure), but Mine to Tell writers who shared in previous readings said they felt glad they did.

I'm Ashmae Hoiland. I could write many details here to convince you of myself as a teacher, writer and artist: I have an MFA, I've taught for over a decade both in university settings, traveling with my writing and art, in journals and conferences, as a writing coach. I wrote a book that was nominated for a national prize, and I recently published a memoir about my experience being diagnosed with MS. I've run successful Kickstarter campaigns and a small business. But above all, I want you to know that the underpinnings to any project I've taken on is my unequivocal belief in the beauty of each person's story. All my work is pointed in the direction of helping people grab onto the belief in their own story and then run with it.

I'm Kathy West and I teach this course alongside Ashmae. I also have an MFA, my writing has been published online and in literary journals, and I've shared my stories on stage for various reading series performances (which is one of my favorite ways to share stories). Most importantly, though, I believe that individual stories are a path to peace in a world of deep divides. We need your story! For a long time, I doubted my voice, but over many years, I learned how to move through hesitation and self-doubt. I would be honored to help you become more confident in your own writing voice, so that you can write the story that only you can tell.