My Return to Reporting

And my Somatic Writing Workshop this Saturday.

At the start of 2025, I couldn’t shake a feeling of disconnectedness.

In the aftermath of the 2024 election, I wanted to understand why our country felt so divided. I reflected on what had helped me quell that feeling before and it was being out, talking with people. Reporting.

In 2017, after more than a decade of working for newspapers and magazines full-time, I went back to school to get my MFA in creative writing and transitioned to writing mostly fiction.

So I decided to do more reporting, especially looking to uncover stories that weren’t being told.

One of my first forays back into reporting appeared today in West Virginia Watch, about how the legal and societal impact on gender affirming care is affecting LGBTQ+ West Virginians.

I was fortunate to work with the Women’s Health Center of West Virginia, the ACLU of West Virginia, and a host of others in the health care and LGBTQ+ communities to report on this piece.

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Whether it’s because of the heat of summer, the attention grabbing World Cup, or something deeper, I’ve heard from so many people that they are struggling to write right now.

If that’s you, or if you’re curious about how to harness creativity in a new way, I hope you’ll think about joining my Somatic Writing class on June 27.

Somatic writing is a practice that allows writers to move beyond the analytical mind and access language that arises from physical sensation, breath, and felt experience. Rather than composing solely from thought, somatic writing attunes to the body as a source of knowledge. It allows sensations—the tightness in the chest, the catch in the throat, the weight in the hands—to shape the words that emerge. The result is writing that carries an embodied truth and a quality of presence that readers often feel before they can name it.

Together, we’ll explore techniques that have helped me write when I’ve been blocked, all focused on the body and unlocking innate awareness. And if you can’t attend in person, you can sign up with a discounted rate and attend asynchronously as I will distribute a recording of the class.

Somatic Writing: Unlocking Your Authentic Voice
Authentic writing doesn’t come from the mind alone. Our deepest emotions and experiences live in the body. In this immersive class, we’ll explore how to harness the body’s wisdom to unlock a more honest, resonant writing voice.

Through guided movement, sensory awareness, and somatic practices, you’ll learn to quiet the inner critic, access emotions stored in the body, and bring greater depth and vitality to your words. We’ll begin with movement techniques designed to awaken embodied awareness before transitioning into writing prompts that help translate these sensations into powerful, uninhibited expression.

Note: Make sure you have enough space to move around freely and wear comfortable clothing.