Shine!
August 5-7, 2022
Visioning Your Journey to Publishing & Leadership
with Tanya & the Somatic Writing Team, Tim McKee of North Atlantic Books, and Other Special Guests
An Author Identity Summer Retreat
Beloved Writer,
We’re already halfway through 2022. Have you written your book this year?
Are you writing your first draft or deep in the work of editing and rewrites?
Or maybe you’re getting ready to finally break through and get started?
Wherever you are in the process, what you’re doing is about more than just writing your story. It’s the magic of liberating your voice and stepping fully into your power, your leadership. It’s about opening and allowing your wisdom and gifts to come through so you can shine in this world and in this life, so you can serve and be in your purpose.
At Somatic Writing, of course we emphasize getting that deep, soul-based book written. But, unlike many other programs out there, we understand that as challenging, meaningful, and profound as that process is, the writing is really only half of the process.
In alchemy, there are always two complementary, but often disparate, elements required to make the magic of transformation happen. It’s the same with living fully into your Author Identity. Way back in the year 2000, when I published The Cancer Monologue Project, I got to live this out in a huge way.
The book itself was powerful. But it was the work I did behind the scenes that allowed me to get featured in national media–including Oprah magazine, the CBS Morning Show, and NPR–and to leverage the book as the centerpiece of my business ever since.
In this exciting retreat, you’ll spend two and a half days with me and my amazing co-teacher, Courtney Reed-Marsh, MFA, ormer acquisitions editor and developmental editor for a major New York publisher, plus special guests who are joining us to support you in breaking through whatever obstacles are standing in the way of you truly shining as an author and a leader.
What You’ll Get
One of the things we teach at Somatic Writing is how important it is to build not just a platform, but a holistic Author’s Identity, while you're writing your book. But how does one actually do that?
In this weekend retreat, we’ll support you in identifying and building on your Big Why for writing this book and getting it into the world so you can really serve.
We’ll get you connected (or re-connected) to your own personal and professional desires–because it's one thing to be a world changer and maverick with a big vision for everybody else, but it's another thing entirely to leverage that vision for greater impact and a thriving, financially sustainable life.
And we’ll give you practical tips and tools for walking the path to publication and beyond in alignment with your deepest truth and most empowered potential.
Topics will include:
Demystifying the Book Proposal
with Tim McKee, Publisher at North Atlantic Books and former Managing Editor at The Sun magazine
In this session, you’ll hear from an industry insider with exciting vision, impeccable integrity, and deep experience in the transformational nonfiction market. Find out what publishers today are really looking for in a project and in the authors they invest in, and learn how to write a book proposal that sells.
North Atlantic Books is an independent nonprofit press based in Berkeley, California, distributed by Penguin Random House. Since 1974, their books have offered transformative, intersectional, and practical ways of healing individuals, communities, and the planet, and amplifying traditionally underrepresented voices. Through the books they publish and their own work as an organization, they center racial justice and actively strive to dismantle systemic racism and all forms of discrimination against Black people, Indigenous people, and people of color.
Short-form Publishing to Build Your Platform
with Candace Walsh, Author and Editor
So many authors, including our students and friends here at Somatic Writing, have gotten a book deal by establishing their voices through shorter pieces that make an impact. Learn from one of the best in the field how to step into your Author's Identity by writing and publishing articles online and in print.
Candace Walsh is a doctoral student in Creative Writing (Fiction) at Ohio University. She has edited three essay anthologies including Dear John, I love Jane and wrote the memoir, Licking the Spoon (Seal Press). She received her MFA in Fiction from Warren Wilson College and has been a freelance writer for almost fifteen years. She has written for Blender, New York Magazine, Mademoiselle, Newsday, Sunset, Travel & Leisure, Mothering, German Vogue, Huffington Post, Food & Wine, and more.
Energetics of Your Author Identity
Melissa Kaplan, Somatic Therapist and faculty intern at the Institute of Core Energetics
In this experiential session, you’ll learn how to dissolve the blocks, fears, old beliefs, and trauma that prevent us from fully stepping into our light and shining.
Melissa Kaplan is the CEO and Founder of EmBody the Revolution, a somatic therapist and the author of Unguarded. She guides women to use the awakening force of eros to dissolve their defenses and cultivate greater intimacy with themselves, others and nature.
And of course, Courtney and I will be there teaching and taking you deep, as always, into your body and your connection to land, ancestors, and the spirit of your book to catalyze your purpose and keep you moving toward completing your book and making a powerful impact in the world.
