Reflecting on My Progress
Gaining Confidence as a Writing Facilitator
I’m featured on the latest episode of The Last Word podcast. Listen to me read some poems from Rope Made of Bandages.
This week, I am away visiting family in Florida, so I’m reprising a post from last June, when I was finding my way as a writing group facilitator. I’m now another year along the path. I feel more relaxed and confident, more willing to follow my intuition.
See the information below the post for an opportunity to write with me and raise money for Amherst Writers & Artists social justice programs.
Here’s a picture of a visit from 2019:
The members of the writing groups I facilitate have been together for six months. And the safety of the group is up to me. I no longer consider myself a freshman facilitator. I am a sophomore, or as my father called them, wise morons. The word sophomore derives from the Greek, sophos meaning wise and moros meaning foolish, as in moron.
Some aspects of facilitation have become easier, like time management. Some are getting harder because I failed to set and maintain expectations from the very beginning. To be honest, I didn’t fully understand what it meant to mix two different models. I’m struggling now. My group has strayed from strict adherence to the AWA method. The feedback is supposed to be about the writing, not about how it affects the reader, nor about the person who wrote it.
Why I Went Astray
There are two reasons why I strayed from the AWA guidelines. One, I knew almost everyone in my group. I had written with them in other groups before. There was already a feeling of safety, at least for me. Two, I was creating something new within the AWA world. The I Ching Hexagram #3 warns about the difficulty of combining two things to create something new.
I’m combining Narrative Medicine pedagogy with my AWA groups. In the Narrative Medicine model, the participants are encouraged to be introspective and to describe how a piece of art or writing affects them. I love this part of the workshop. I want to hear the story of what the writing has set off for them.
But that deep discussion is not what is expected for each other’s writing. For each other’s writing, we limit our feedback to what stays with us, what’s strong and working well in a piece of writing. It wasn’t until I sat down to write out my thoughts for this blog that this difference became clear.
Why I Need to Get Back on Track
And there are two reasons why I need to get back on the AWA path. First and foremost is safety for the group. The writing will go deep if the members feel safe. I need to take on the role of a gentle sheepdog. Each time a workshop member says “you” instead of “the narrator” while giving feedback, I need to call it out.
The second reason to return to the AWA method is that I want to be impeccable with my word. If I promised AWA method workshops, that is what I will provide. The first step is the awareness that I am not keeping my promise; I have created my own problem through my lack of clarity.
I still want to combine the AWA method with Narrative Medicine workshop pedagogy. The methods enhance each other. But now, I know how much more clarity and skill it takes to do both in the same setting.
With good instincts and intuition, I will get to model to my group how to get back on the path of safety. I just need to warn my workshop members that sheepdogs can be very persistent.
Click on the heart if you liked this post.
During May, I will be participating in an Amherst Writers & Artists fundraiser called Write Around the World.
For the calendar of events and more information, click here.
If you’re interested in participating in one of the events I’m facilitating, the registration links are below. This is a great opportunity to learn more about writing with the AWA method of supportive feedback while helping to fund AWA social justice programs.
Friday, May 17, 12-2 pm EDT (only 2 spots left)
Wednesday, May 22, 12-2 pm EDT
My Chapbook, Rope Made of Bandages, is available for sale at:
Finishinglinepress.com
Bookshop.org
Barnesandnoble.com
Amazon.com
Signed copies are available on my website. If you already own a copy, free signed bookplates are also available.
I love this, Deborah. Thank you for the deep, honest introspection. Your group is fortunate to have you... and I love sheepdogs!
This is so honest and insightful. Thank you for sharing your struggle. I can see how difficult it is to want to create a group in which both methods are working together. The narrator and you! A very slippery thing. Easy to let go of the distinction between them. I notice when it happens though, and I think you are totally right that it comes from established trust and safety but it also simultaneously erodes trust and safety. I think you got this though. Trust your wise and wonderful inner sheepdog.