Dear Reader, I'm so excited to be teaching my first in-person writing retreat in a long time...and this is going to be a really special one! I speak from experience when I say that group retreats, like this one, can be truly transformative. Several years ago, I was feeling I'd hit a plateau; I wasn't sure what was next— I cleared my schedule and set up a solitary writing retreat—but not much happened. Then, I went away with some friends to a group writing retreat, and something magical...
about 2 months ago • 5 min read
Dear Reader, Outside my window, as I'm writing to you, the birds are singing! Sometimes, we forget all the wonder that's in the world. But writing can be a space to remember, to put ourselves back together, to center, to re-orient. Join me tomorrow, live, for a FREE restorative, generative pop-up workshop with the wonderful teacher Elena Brower. Tuesday, March 19th, 11:30am EDT | Virtual (Online via Zoom) Writing as Practice:A Free Class with Nadia Colburn and Elena Brower Nourish your...
4 months ago • 3 min read
Dear Reader, Happy Friday! Today, I want to share a companion piece to the Make Your Story a Gift essay that I shared earlier this week. In "Make Your Story a Gift," I traced my journey to understand, make peace with, and share my own story—and to support other women in their writing and healing journeys. Today's essay, "The Wrong I Needed to Write," is about how my journey involved not only my mind but also my body. To accompany the essay, I've included a free 5-minute grounding meditation...
5 months ago • 5 min read
Dear Reader, After a wonderful few weeks of traveling on my book tour, I'm now back home in Cambridge, where the days are getting longer and I can begin to see and feel the Earth moving ever so slowly towards spring. Over the next few weeks, in anticipation of the launch of my upcoming spring course, Align Your Story, I’ll be sharing a few essays I’ve written about how I came to understand and make peace with my own difficult story and why I created this distinctive writing class with...
5 months ago • 10 min read
Dear Reader,I’m writing from Colorado where Eric has flown out to meet me. It has been really great visiting our daughter, Simone, and spending time with friends new and old in a number of cities where I've been giving readings. There's much I've been enjoying and relishing–including the snow-capped mountains and clear Colorado skies. I've also been noticing that many of my conversations have been turning to really difficult topics. Many people are feeling uneasy around the political...
5 months ago • 3 min read
Dear Reader, I hope this finds you well! Yesterday was Valentine's Day, so I wanted to send you a note of love and share some thoughts on love– I also have a poem, a writing prompt, and an announcement about some upcoming classes and events at the bottom of this email :) On Love Several years ago, when I came out of a silent retreat, I had a very clear understanding that all the complexities of the world—the knots, the twists and turns, the difficult decisions, the blocks and anguish–were...
5 months ago • 5 min read
Dear Reader, I invite you to take a breath! Almost everyone I talk to these days feels the need to slow down, to take a breath. I know I often do. Recently I’ve been thinking a lot about interdependence; as a writer and a person, remembering our interconnections keeps me focused on what's important. So today I want to share: A little reminder about some upcoming events, in the hopes we might connect with one another in person! I'm something of an introvert, but it's been so wonderful...
6 months ago • 4 min read
Dear Reader! I hope this finds you well as we move into the final week of January. Since I’ve been talking a lot recently about the publication of my new book, I Say the Sky, I want to share some (free) resources with you about how to get published as well as some thoughts on how publication (or the decision not to publish traditionally) fits into an aligned writing life. In particular, I thought I'd discuss–and break down–the two biggest myths around publication and how you can cultivate...
6 months ago • 5 min read
Dear Reader, One of the things I really appreciate about this time of year is the way it can inspire us to connect (or reconnect) with our communities: loved ones, old friends, spiritual circles, extended family, and more. This got me thinking about what "community" means to a writer and how community shapes the life and work of a writer. Many people think of writing as a solitary activity, but for me it’s a deeply communal one. Not only is language itself a historic, collective medium, but...
7 months ago • 9 min read
