Celebrating My New Substack Page with a Book Giveaway !
Stop asking: Am I good enough? Ask only: Am I showing up with love?
Dear, beautiful you….
In honor of my new space on Substack (which I’m feeling especially excited & festive about!), I am giving away 2 signed copies of my newest book Staying in Love.
Staying in love is a collection of 99 poems that pretty much feel like my heart on paper.
I’m so proud of this book and would love for you to have a copy of your own (if you already have a copy, perhaps you can gift it to a friend).
If you subscribe to my Substack page and leave a comment sharing the title/author of a favorite poem (or book) of yours, you will automatically be entered into the giveaway. Your comment can be left on any of my social media pages or on my Substack page.
I will choose a winner next Tuesday, September 3rd, and will announce it on Substack (and on my social media pages). If you are subscribed to my Substack page, you will receive notification by email as well.
If you are receiving this message via email, it means that (sometime in the past) you subscribed to receive my poetry/notes/updates and will continue to receive new posts of mine in your inbox.
I know that most of us are overwhelmed with the amount of “stuff” in our inboxes, so please know that I do not take this for granted. (And also know that you can unsubscribe with a quick click if you choose to….)
A little bit about my story….
In the first photo of me (above), I am on a writing retreat with author Natalie Goldberg in Taos, New Mexico (way back in 2006). The second photo was taken right after my second book “Staying in Love” was published (in 2021). I’m pretty sure the second thing would not have happened without the first.
Since I was a little girl in pigtails, carrying around one of those little lock journals, putting words on the page has been my medicine. The page always listens, never judges, never asks for anything back. Writing has been my lantern, my listener, my ladder, my lifeboat - my greatest love.
Eighteen years ago, when my daughters were still wee ones, and I was deep-in-my-bones tired from giving my everything to them, I boarded a plane for Taos, New Mexico, where I had the great privilege of studying with the author and amazing human, Natalie Goldberg (author of the book Writing Down the Bones).
For five, blissfully quiet, spacious days, I, along with a beautiful circle of writers/seekers, sat elbow to elbow on black zafus, set a timer (usually for 10 minutes), put pen to page, and wrote and wrote and wrote. And wrote some more.
The only “rules” were that we had to keep our pen moving—no stopping to cross out or re-read, no trying to find the perfect word, no attention to spelling or punctuation—no editing of any kind. I can still hear Natalie insisting that we Break open structure! (in her lovely New York accent).
This kind of free writing was, well, incredibly freeing. But it was the permission Natalie gave us to: Feel free to write the worst shit in the world that allowed the words to finally flow free.
Before that deeply healing time in New Mexico, I was trying so hard to be "good," that I couldn't write true.
My time in Taos was so transformative that I returned the next two summers after that first one, and haven't stopped writing/sharing my writing/facilitating women’s groups and classes since.
This new space will be a safe space to share my poetry & ponderings. And to (hopefully) encourage/inspire/nudge you to start (or continue) to pour words onto the page—to write yourself a little closer to free.
There is enough hard in the world. May this be a place of great softness and deep connection.
I am immensely grateful that you are here.
With a whole ton of love,
Julia xo
Stay tuned!
I’m super excited to share that registration will be opening (next week) for a brand new, 8 week, Write Yourself Free, online women’s writing series. This will be an intimate circle of women (limited to 11 women).
The series will run from Wednesday, October 3rd-November 20th, 9-11:00am (PST). More information coming super soon!
Congratulations, Julia, on your new book and venturing onto Substack! ❤️ I was introduced to Mary Oliver just when I needed her with “Journey.”
Love, love, love that you are on Substack dear Julia! Favourite book, poem? Oh well I credit you first since it was your book, "On the Other Side of Fear" that served as a catalyst for me. Other favourites are Rumi ("The Sun Never Says") and Kahlil Gibran ("Fear" and "Forget not that the earth...")