Two years ago, Bend-based writer Sarah Cyr picked up author Natalie Goldberg’s Writing Down the Bones, a seminal book about writing that’s often found in the curriculum of high school and college writing classes. “I had the urge to write but was having trouble finding my voice,” says Cyr. “Natalie’s approach cracked my writing wide open.”
That sensation inspired the title of the writing group Cyr will lead in Bend beginning in January –
Cracking Open, A Writing Group. The group will meet at local yoga studio Sol Alchemy for eight Monday evenings beginning January 4 from 7-8:30pm.
Each meeting will include stream of conscious timed writing sessions and meditation, two tools Natalie Goldberg teaches about in her books, including most recently The True Secret of Writing: Connecting Life with Language, which the group will read in preparation for meeting.
Much of the curriculum for the writing group consists of what Cyr learned in a writer’s retreat she went on with Natalie Goldberg in Santa Fe this fall. “This style of writing encourages a lot of self-reflection. The prompts I give encourage non-fiction, memoir-style writing. You end up digging deep into who you are, what drives you, what are your obsessions. By looking at these closely you grow, and so does your writing.”
Cyr, a former journalist, has published work in national and regional media including Newsweek, Boston Magazine, The Boston Globe and ARTnews.
“No professional writing experience is necessary to join the writing group, just a desire to put pen to paper.”