WRITERLY DELIGHT IN THE MORE-THAN-HUMAN WORLD

“It didn’t take me long to learn that the discipline or practice of writing these essays occasioned a kind of delight radar. Or maybe it was more like the development of a delight muscle. Something that implies that the more you study delight, the more delight there is to study.” (Ross Gay, The Book of Delights)

In this class, we'll read and discuss the works of writers who engage unabashedly with their sense of delight in the natural world. We'll do some exercises designed to help us discover ways in which the more-than-human world offers us invitations into moments of delight and awe--and discuss how to develop a practice of accepting these invitations when they come. Then, we'll practice writing about these delights in fresh, original, and unapologetic ways. Led by mindful creative writing professor, Melissa Jean, Ph.D.

$22 to Be inspired to Write Now! Register to receive your Zoom link. All levels welcome. 

Be Well Be Here here offers scholarships and subsidies thanks to our generous donors. Apply HERE!

Melissa Jean is an Assistant Professor in the Mindfulness Studies masters’ program at Lesley University. She teaches courses in academic writing, creative writing, research methods, and mindfulness and the environment. She received an MFA in Fiction Writing from Lesley, and a PhD in Human Dimensions of Ecosystem Science and Management from Utah State University. She is trained as a mindfulness facilitator and a naturalist, and is currently working toward becoming a forest therapy guide. Her writing has appeared in The Colorado Review and the 2020 Reckoning anthology, as well a variety of online journals, including most recently The Hopper, Waxing and Waning, and Causeway Lit.

Write Now!

Writing About Art

It can be wonderful to visit a museum and contemplate visual art, but we can also rely on this same experience as a jumping-off place for our practice as writers. This online class will explore how to reflect on visual images and create written narratives that open new directions, both as writers and art-lovers. We will look at several different works of art, some modern installations and other more traditional paintings, before delving into our own imaginative realms. This invitation to look again, to absorb an image and its complexities, is a contemplative practice in itself. Writing offers another level of delight to our inquiry and the chance to become dynamic observers of the world around us.

$22 to Be inspired and Write Now! All levels welcome. Register to receive your Zoom link.

Be Well Be Here here offers scholarships and subsidies thanks to our generous donors. Apply HERE!

About Julia

Julia Napier was born in the United States but has spent most of her adult life in Argentina. As a dedicated writer, translator and yoga practitioner, she has worked in the worlds of publishing and contemplative practice. Julia has studied with many senior yoga teachers and is a personal student of Richard Freeman and Mary Taylor. She also studies Tibetan Buddhism with Dr. Jules Levinson and Dr. Robert Thurman. As a writer, Julia edited the successful anthology Mujeres Argentinas in 2012 and again in 2014. In 2014, she co-authored The Ordinary? with the renowned artist Leandro Erlich and has collaborated with him as a writer over a decade. In 2016, she became the founding editor of La Colección Ananta, a collection of books in translation about contemplative traditions, for the distinguished Spanish-language publishing house El Hilo de Ariadna. In addition to her duties as editor, Julia has also translated many of Ananta’s books, including work by Richard Freeman, TKV Desikachar, Dr. Christine Caldwell, Eddie Stern, Tim Parks, Sharon Salzberg and Pattabhi Jois. Her book En la práctica, a collection of essays about the intersection of daily life and yoga practice, was published in Latin America and Spain in 2021. She currently lives Concord with her husband Juan and their two children, Oliverio and Justina.

Flowery Poetics: Creative Writing With and About Flowers

Event Description: Flowers have always been a favorite subject of poets, and it's no wonder--flowers are the epitome of impermanent beauty. Flowers have a mystical relationship to time and seasons, and their unpredictable brilliance shocks us into states of awe. In this online workshop, we will read poems about flowers and discuss what makes these poems feel fresh and surprising. Participants will bring at least one flower with them to the class, and we will do a mindfulness exercise with the flowers to bring us into a state of deeper noticing that can give rise to fresh, original writing about these timeless beauties.

$22 to Be inspired and Write Now! All levels welcome. 

Be Well Be Here here offers scholarships and subsidies thanks to our generous donors. Apply HERE!

Melissa Jean is an Assistant Professor in the Mindfulness Studies masters’ program at Lesley University. She teaches courses in academic writing, creative writing, research methods, and mindfulness and the environment. She received an MFA in Fiction Writing from Lesley, and a PhD in Human Dimensions of Ecosystem Science and Management from Utah State University. She is trained as a mindfulness facilitator and a naturalist, and is currently working toward becoming a forest therapy guide. Her writing has appeared in The Colorado Review and the 2020 Reckoning anthology, as well a variety of online journals, including most recently The Hopper, Waxing and Waning, and Causeway Lit.

Turning Fact into Fiction

Historical novels based on real people or real events abound, but incorporating historical events and figures into a narrative can be complicated and confusing. Writers wonder: how much research do I have to do? How can I successfully write about a place and time that feels utterly different from my own life? What are the rules for fictionalizing the life of a real person? The truth is that there’s no one right way to write fiction about the past, but there are tools and guidelines you can use to be comfortable with your choices. In this interactive talk, we’ll discuss the purpose of historical fiction, take a look at some examples of successful projects, discuss research techniques, and more.

Write Now! is a series of online monthly Mindful Writing Workshop exploring essential elements of craft that lead to memorable storytelling. Experiment with writing exercises that engage your creative flow state and discover new ways to celebrate your storytelling skills.

$22 to Be inspired and Write Now! All levels welcome. 

Be Well Be Here here offers scholarships and subsidies thanks to our generous donors. Apply HERE!

Whitney Scharer (BWBH VP) holds a BA in English Literature from Wesleyan University and an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Washington. Her short fiction, essays, and interviews have appeared in numerous publications including Vogue, The Telegraph, The Tatler, and Bellevue Literary Review. Her first novel, The Age of Light, based on the life of pioneering photographer Lee Miller, was published by Little, Brown (US) and Picador (UK) in February, 2019, and was a Boston Globe and IndieNext bestseller and named one of the best books of 2019 by Parade, Glamour Magazine, Real Simple, Refinery 29, Booklist and Yahoo. Internationally, The Age of Light won Le prix Rive Gauche à Paris, was a coups de couer selection from the American Library in Paris, and has been published or is forthcoming from over a dozen other countries. Whitney has been awarded residencies at the Virginia Center for the Arts and Ragdale, a St. Botolph Emerging Artists Grant, and a Somerville Arts Council Artists Fellowship. She teaches fiction in the Boston area and is a co-founder of the Arlington Author Salon, a quarterly reading series.

Strategizing for Publication Success

Ready to find a home for your manuscript and keep writing in the process? Join award-winning author and master writing instructor Virginia Pye for this online clinic-style writing seminar to discover mindful strategies for every stage of the process, including creative ways to:

• share drafts and with whom

• set up a reliable system for magazine submissions

• strategize about and take steps toward getting a literary agent

• learn how and when to apply to writer’s colonies, conferences, and fellowship programs

• generate more than one writing project at a time without undermining your efforts

With these and other concrete suggestions, find your way to set up professional writing practices and increase chances for success - even before receiving that first acceptance letter!

Write Now! is a series of monthly Mindful Writing Workshop exploring essential elements of craft that lead to memorable storytelling. Experiment with writing exercises that engage your creative flow state and discover new ways to celebrate your storytelling skills.

$22 to Be inspired and Write Now! All levels welcome. 

Be Well Be Here here offers scholarships and subsidies thanks to our generous donors. Apply HERE!

Virginia Pye’s collection, Shelf Life of Happiness, won the 2019 IPPY Gold Medal for Short Fiction and her two historical novels, Dreams of the Red Phoenix and River of Dust, also received literary awards. Her essays have appeared in Literary Hub, The New York Times, Huffington Post, Cleveland Plain-Dealer, and elsewhere. She is Fiction Editor of Pangyrus, and a board member of the Women’s National Book Association, Boston Chapter. Virginia holds an MFA from Sarah Lawrence, was a Tin House Workshop Scholar, and a repeat fellow at the VCCA. Virginia has taught writing at NYU, and UPenn, and most recently, at GrubStreet’s Muse and Marketplace conference. Her forthcoming novel, The Book Lovers, will be published by Regal House Publishing in the fall of 2023. www.virginiapye.com

Ready to revise? Let’s do it anyway! Revision is a mindful part of the writing process that allows us to reflect and reframe our initial narrative. Join master writing instructor and BWBH founder, Lara Wilson, to find more ease on the road to revision. For decades, Lara has helped countless esteemed writers more fully comprehend the essence of their work, write with enthusiasm on the journey to publication and experience literary satisfaction.

Write Now! is a series of monthly Mindful Writing Workshop exploring essential elements of craft that lead to memorable storytelling. Experiment with writing exercises that engage your creative flow state and discover new ways to celebrate your storytelling skills.

$22 to Be inspired and Write Now! All levels welcome. 

Be Well Be Here here offers scholarships and subsidies thanks to our generous donors. Apply HERE!

Lara Wilson, MA, GCMS, founder of Be Well Be Here and curator of the Concord Festival of Authors, devotes her life to exploring the intersection of personal narrative and mindful wellBEing. Her short stories have been published in The Kenyon Review, StoryQuarterly, American Fiction, Confrontation, Indiana Review, and the Chicago Tribune Book Section, among others, as well as anthologized in Printers Row and Hacks: 10 Years on Grub Street. She received an 2010 Massachusetts Cultural Council  Fellowship in Fiction, and scholarships from the Sewanee and BreadLoaf Writers’ Conferences. A recent essay about her breast cancer journey was published on WBUR's Cognoscenti. A lifelong meditator, Lara established 501c3 non-profit Be Well Be Here, a mindful wellness educational collaborative in Concord, MA, whose mission is to equitably build compassionate connection and caring community through creative experiential well-being practices. Lara also serves on the Corporation Board of Louisa May Alcott’s Orchard House. For more information, please visit BeWellBeHere.org

IGNITE YOUR WRITING in 2022! Need some encouragement to streamline the story that only you can tell? Join master writing instructor and BWBH founder, Lara Wilson, for this Mindful Writing Workshop to explore essential elements of craft that lead to memorable storytelling. For decades, Lara has helped countless esteemed writers more fully comprehend the essence of their work, write with enthusiasm on the journey to publication and experience literary satisfaction. Experiment with writing exercises that engage your creative flow state and discover new ways to celebrate your storytelling skills.

$22 to Be inspired and Write Now! All levels welcome. 

Be Well Be Here here offers scholarships and subsidies thanks to our generous donors. Apply HERE!

Lara Wilson, MA, GCMS, founder of Be Well Be Here and curator of the Concord Festival of Authors, devotes her life to exploring the intersection of personal narrative and mindful wellBEing. Her short stories have been published in The Kenyon Review, StoryQuarterly, American Fiction, Confrontation, Indiana Review, and the Chicago Tribune Book Section, among others, as well as anthologized in Printers Row and Hacks: 10 Years on Grub Street. She received an 2010 Massachusetts Cultural Council  Fellowship in Fiction, and scholarships from the Sewanee and BreadLoaf Writers’ Conferences. A recent essay about her breast cancer journey was published on WBUR's Cognoscenti. A lifelong meditator, Lara established 501c3 non-profit Be Well Be Here, a mindful wellness educational collaborative in Concord, MA, whose mission is to equitably build compassionate connection and caring community through creative experiential well-being practices. Lara also serves on the Corporation Board of Louisa May Alcott’s Orchard House. For more information, please visit BeWellBeHere.org

Be Well Be Here presents our seasonal online literary event :

Be Brave Book Group: Debut Memoirists

BWBH’s Be Brave Book Group features celebrated authors sharing mindful conversation about their personal journeys as writers and the risks taken to craft authentic, meaningful narratives.

On Sunday, December 13 at 4:30 pm, we feature the work of memoirists E. Dolores Johnson, author of Say I’m Dead, and Grace Talusan, author ofThe Body Papers. While a portion of the evening will be spent discussing their work, Dolores and Grace will also discuss the pitfalls of writing about personal events, their experiences sharing stories with controversial themes, and how memoir writers stay creative and engaged during times of crisis. Come with your questions and leave inspired!  

Please DONATE to Be Well Be Here to support mindful wellness programming for ALL.

Say I’m Dead, a memoir of secrets, separation and transformation, chronicles four generations who overturned forbidden race-mixing norms amid America’s persistent bigotry. In 1942, Dolores Johnson’s black father and white mother fled Indiana’s Klan and anti-miscegenation laws to legally marry in New York, twenty-four years before the Supreme Court made mixed-race marriage legal.

Dolores was born in Buffalo, NY. She earned degrees from Howard University and Harvard Graduate School of Business. After a career in tech, she took an MFA equivalent course to learn creative writing. Johnson is a published essayist focused on inter-racialism. Johnson lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

The Body Papers, Grace Talusan’s acclaimed memoir-in-essays exploring the immigrant experience, is a New York Times Editors’ Choice selection, a Must-Read and winner of the Massachusetts Book Award, a Foreword INDIES Finalist, and winner of the Restless Books Prize for New Immigrant Writing.

Grace was born in the Philippines and raised in New England. She graduated from Tufts University and the MFA Program in Writing at UC Irvine. She is the recipient of a U.S. Fulbright Fellowship to the Philippines and an Artist Fellowship Award from the Massachusetts Cultural Council. She taught writing for many years at Tufts University and Grub Street. Currently, Grace is the Fannie Hurst Writer-in-Residence at Brandeis University.

Sponsored by the Friends of the Concord Free Public Library

Mystery Night

Casting Call: How We Find Our Characters

Saturday, October 31

at 7:00 pm

REGISTER

Register TODAY to discover how celebrated mystery writers create memorable characters!

Be Well Be Here presents our inaugural online literary event :

BWBH’s Be Brave Book Group

Each season, BWBH’s Be Brave Book Group features celebrated authors sharing conversation about their personal journeys as writers and the risks taken to craft authentic, meaningful narratives.

This summer, on Tuesday, August 25 at 7:30 pm, we feature the work of two historical novelists: Marjan Kamali (The Stationery Shop) and Whitney Scharer (The Age of Light). While a portion of the evening will be spent discussing the novels, Marjan and Whitney will also delve into their personal stories and discuss their journeys to becoming writers, the pitfalls they encountered while writing about real historical figures and events, and how to stay creative and engaged during times of crisis. Come with your questions and leave inspired!  

Please DONATE to Be Well Be Here to support mindful wellness programming for ALL.

About THE STATIONERY SHOP: Roya, a dreamy, idealistic teenager living amid the political upheaval of 1953 Tehran, finds a literary oasis in Mr. Fakhri’s neighborhood stationery shop, stocked with books and pens and bottles of jewel-colored ink.When Mr. Fakhri, with a keen instinct for a budding romance, introduces Roya to his other favorite customer—handsome Bahman, who has a burning passion for justice and a love for Rumi’s poetry—and she loses her heart at once. Their romance blossoms, and the little stationery shop remains their favorite place in all of Tehran. A few short months later, on the eve of their marriage, Roya agrees to meet Bahman at the town square when violence erupts—a result of the coup d’etat that forever changes their country. In the chaos, Bahman never shows. For weeks, Roya tries desperately to contact him, but her efforts are fruitless. Resigned, she moves on—to college in California, to another man, to a life in New England—until, more than sixty years later, an accident of fate leads her back to Bahman and offers her a chance to ask him the questions that have haunted her for more than half a century.

About THE AGE OF LIGHT: "I'd rather take a photograph than be one," Lee Miller declares after she arrives in Paris in 1929, where she soon catches the eye of the famous Surrealist Man Ray. Though he wants to use her only as a model, Lee convinces him to take her on as his assistant and teach her everything he knows. As they work together in the darkroom, their personal and professional lives become intimately entwined, changing the course of Lee's life forever.
Lee's journey of self-discovery takes her from the cabarets of bohemian Paris to the battlefields of war-torn Europe during WWII, from inventing radical new photography techniques to documenting the liberation of the concentration camps as one of the first female war correspondents. Through it all, Lee must grapple with the question of whether it's possible to stay true to herself while also fulfilling her artistic ambition--and what she will have to sacrifice to do so.