All The Details

You’ll start the journey with a one-on-one session (50 min) with Ann or Jade. We will help you get a handle on your stuckness and begin to envision a way forward. This will prepare you for our weekly real-time workshop and group writing session (1.5 hours). You’ll also have a smaller cohort to keep you committed to weekly solo writing sessions (1 hour). You’ll be working on your project at least two days a week, not just reimagining what it could be, but actually reshaping it. 

Along the way, you’ll get considered prompts, expert guidance, and personalized accountability from the Midwives. We have a conscious framework for small-group work that cultivates meaningful interactions with your fellow writers. You will exchange honest feedback, give each other space to be more ambitious, and cheer each other on. By the end of the 6 weeks, you’ll know how to read your own creative compass. You’ll be in a regular writing flow with direction and purpose. And you’ll have a bespoke work plan so you can actually follow through after the workshop ends.

Writers have called our past offerings “a transformative experience,” “a game changer,” and “the best professional workshop I've ever attended.” (And if you recognize your words here, you can still sign up for this Unstuck workshop! This is a brand new offering and will refer to some of our core Ideas Development concepts, but will not repeat any previous material.)

You are the mother of invention. We are your midwives.

A special offer only for UNSTUCK writers: Add on our one-day IDEAS INTENSIVE (Apr 19, remote) for just $100! (Regular price, $289.) Kick-start your commitment with a deep dive into our methodology. To redeem this offer, register for UNSTUCK and you’ll see an option to add the Ideas Intensive at the deep-discounted rate.

Schedule:

• Whole-group sessions: Saturdays, 9:30-11am PT / 12:30-2pm ET, live in real time via zoom, with Jade, Ann, other participants, and Guest Writers (April 26, May 3, 10, 17, 24, 31)

• Solo writing sessions: You pick the date/time but commit to an hour of solo writing each week.

• One-on-one session with either Ann or Jade: A 50-minute session in early May, to be scheduled individually.

Who is this workshop for?

You’re a writer with a project you just can’t abandon but also can’t seem to finish. You like concrete instruction and guidance, and deadlines can motivate you, but this particular project doesn’t have an accountability structure. Maybe it’s more ambitious in size, maybe the topic is daunting, maybe it’s experimental in a way that makes you uncomfortable (but also compelled!), maybe it’s a memoir and everyone you’re writing about is still inconveniently alive. For whatever reason, you’re having a hard time pushinfg through and finishing it. And you’re ready for a breakthrough.

Who are the Midwives of Invention?

Jade and Ann are writers and friends who have been leading workshops as the Midwives of Invention since 2018. Between us we have written best-selling fiction and non-fiction books, published pioneering newsletters, edited magazines, written for beloved television shows, and created podcasts and audio essays. We are not tortured writers toiling alone. We are in constant dialogue with each other about our projects and processes, and we started the Midwives of Invention because we wanted to share that dialogue with the wider world. For us, coming up with ideas, crafting sentences, and revising drafts is actually fun, and doing it in community is the best part. We don’t think writing is easy, but we know how to make the hard work worthwhile. Click here to read more about us.

What does it include?

• 6 group sessions: You’ll gather weekly with Ann and Jade and your fellow writers in real time on Zoom. Each session begins with a half-hour of instruction and discussion, followed by a one-hour writing period. Instruction is iterative, helping you reconnect to the heart of your project and truly understand what you need to move forward. Ann and Jade will be writing with you, and will remain on camera throughout the session—you have the option to turn off your camera. (1.5 hours per week, Saturdays from 9:30-11am PT / 12:30-2pm ET)

• 6 solo writing sessions: Solo, but not alone! Each week we will give you questions, prompts, or tasks designed to continue your work and take you to the next step. (1 hour per week, on a day and time of your choosing)

• An accountability group: We’ll assign you a small cohort of writers who have committed to doing their solo writing on the same day as you. We’ll provide a framework for real time check-ins, plus ways to discuss your work and forge a creative connection.

• A one-on-one meeting with Ann or Jade: Sign up with either Ann or Jade for a 50 minute one-on-one session to kick off your workshop experience. We’ll ask you focused questions designed to excavate your goals and intentions for your project and prepare you to make the most of our six weeks together. These meetings will all take place over zoom, during the first weeks of the program (April 27-May 9), and they are 100% for you! You can ask us anything. (50 minutes, one time only)

• A discussion board: We’ll have a discussion channel dedicated to the workshop. Ann and Jade will make occasional appearances, and there will be light moderation, but this is really a tool for you to connect with fellow writers. Do a post-mortem on a group session, discuss your progress, recommend favorite books, check in about your solo writing session, or find someone in your city to work with IRL!

• A progress-tracking tool: OK, so it’s a spreadsheet– but this spreadsheet is exciting, we promise! We’ve designed it so that you can track the obvious things (dates, words, pages) as well as other essential factors, like the art inspiring you or the research you want to do before your next session. We’re so thrilled about this tool that we’ll be using it, too. We’ll even make our spreadsheets visible to you, as long as you promise to keep them private. 

• Writing prompts with a purpose: Each writing session, both group and solo, will be accompanied by a considered exercise that will help you reconsider and reimagine your dormant draft. These prompts will inspire you to keep putting words on the page and move to the next step.

• A revived draft! At the end of the six weeks, you’ll have a clear path forward for your project. Even if there’s a lot of work still to be done, you’ll have a strong sense of where you’re headed and why you want to go there.

• Bonus: Each writing session you will receive a link to an album or playlist to write to. Just for fun. 

You commit to:

• Showing up to the weekly group session 

• Doing one solo writing session per week on your own time

• Offering constructive feedback and community to your fellow participants

• Contributing to our generative and thoughtful atmosphere by sharing your unique perspective, welcoming different opinions, and operating from a place of respect and care for your fellow writers

• Taking your own ideas and goals seriously

You’ll leave with:

• A deep and vital commitment to your project

• A personalized road map to completion

• Tips, tools, and resources to continue your writing practice

• Established relationships with a cohort of fellow writers

• Fresh words on the page

What have past participants said?

• “You loosened my grip and allowed me to fall in love with being an artist again.”

• “The best professional workshop I've ever attended.”

• “Honestly a transformative experience for me.”