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Ellen Bonnifield
Paul Bonnifield
Jodi Foy Buchan
Mary Calhoun
Linda Collison
Susan de Wardt
Harriet Freiberger
Kathleen Guler
Graydon Dee Hubbard
Todd Kelly
Mary B. Kurtz
Michala Miller
Don Moss
Joyce Phillips
Cesare Rosati
Sandra Sherrod
William D. Skees
Bill Stocks

Susan de Wardt is an energetic speaker and experienced coach in the fields of awareness training, creativity and communication. As a Certified Applied Poetry Facilitator she combines the magic of poetic language with a keen understanding of human process to create unique learning situations that inspire creative breakthrough, increased self-awareness and personal growth. Drawing on her experience as a writer, mixed media artist and entrepreneur, Susan focuses on bringing out the best in people, helping them identify and detach from old patterns and the inner critics that inhibit the experience of full and joyful living.

As a Coach, Susan believes getting in touch with your deep creative resources is the first step to having the life you have only imagined possible. Insightful, courageous, compassionate, Susan excels at using journal writing techniques to build the bridge from “current reality” to the highest actualization of dreams and visions. Susan is a respected Certified Journal Facilitator, adept at showing others how to access creativity, enrich life experience, and connect with inner wisdom through writing practice.

A specialist in the use of transformative language, story, and art, Susan de Wardt brings over two decades of experience in group facilitation, teaching, writing, speaking, and leadership skills to her work. Susan has worked with individual clients in Europe and throughout the US, helping them overcome obstacles to full self-expression and creative success. She regularly presents innovative workshops on a wide range of topics including: techniques for success, writing to heal, memoir, journal keeping for creative expression and self-discovery, poetry and nature writing. Recent presentations include:

• Personal Development through Poetry, 2010 NAPT conference presentation
• 2009 Author Extravaganza, Douglas County Colorado: Permission to Create- inspiration and motivation for beginning writers and Writing Around the Block- techniques for overcoming writers’ block using personal experience
• Writing and Healing – journal support for cancer survivors and patients with chronic illness, 2009 Colorado Multiple Sclerosis Society Wellness Retreat
• Beyond the Artist’s Way –using writing process to overcome obstacles to living creatively
• The Inside Story –how to capture life’s precious moments in writing
• Beyond Words – 2008 Journal Conference, Denver, Colorado *Beyond Words is featured in the summer 2010 curriculum for the Therapeutic Writing Institute

Susan is a frequent facilitator of the Steamboat Writers Group and has moderated the Day for Writers annual conference for the past four years. In addition she hosts regular creative support groups based on Julia Cameron’s work The Artist’s Way as well as a weekly writing group Expressions of the Spirit and is a member of the creative writing faculty for Arts for the Soul® creative arts camp for adults where she has taught creative writing, memoir, poetry and nature journaling since 2004. Recognized for her expertise in the practice of reflective writing, Susan is certified to present the workshop Journal to the Self® (developed by author Kathleen Adams) in both live and online format. As President of the National Federation of Biblio-Poetry Therapists, member of the National Association for Poetry Therapy, member of the Board of Trustees of the East Routt Library District, and artist team member of the Community Collaborative Planning Process for the Arts, Susan is dedicated to bringing the power of language and art to the foreground of daily life.

Susan is available for individual and group coaching, both on site and via teleconference. She hosts a weekly expressive writing workshop in Steamboat and facilitates a number of exciting, creative workshops throughout the year. Beginning in April 2009, the Journal to the Self® workshop is available in online format! For more information about Mindworks Coaching services and creativity workshops or to schedule a custom workshop for your group at your location, visit www.mindworkscoaching.com.

Taking cues from poetry, Susan develops reflective writing exercises to stimulate writing and memory. Here’s a sample from the2009 Author’s Extravaganza workshop:

Writing Around the Block©2009
by Susan de Wardt

Sometimes new writers are stumped for writing topics. Sometimes people who have been writing for a long time feel stymied and unable to continue. Whatever your particular situation, hope is at hand. “Writing Around the Block” will jumpstart your writing process regardless of your current situation. By considering a familiar neighborhood, perhaps one where you grew up, you will learn how to turn location into scenery and sense of place. The familiar faces of neighbors and friends will become the foundation for detailed character sketches. Remembered odd-ball events provide inspiration for plot and narrative. Writing your way around the block where you grew up will give new meaning to your response to the old question: “Where are you from?”

A word about Writer’s Block:
Unlike a roadblock, writer’s block is not physical. If you can think, and you can manipulate a pen, computer, or dictate to someone else, you can create a story. The problem more often is worry that what might be written isn’t good enough.

Writers write. Not writing is a choice you make – based on the thoughts and feelings that run through your head about the quality of your work.

The late Oregon poet laureate William Stafford had a ready response to people suffering from writer’s block. Stafford, a prolific poet, set himself the task to write a poem a day. When asked how this was possible, he replied: “I lower my standards.” In his mind it was inconceivable to write everyday with the same high quality; it was also inconceivable that this should be a reason not to write.

Natalie Goldberg voiced similar advice in her book Writing Down the Bones: “Allow yourself to write shitty first drafts.” Without first drafts or the rough outlines of poems there is nothing to refine or embellish later. To expect that every word off the pen has to be perfect is a paralyzing thought. Write what first comes to your mind. Later on you can edit or simply have a laugh over what you wrote and recycle the paper. Writing everyday is what gets you over the writer’s block.

How to Overcome the Internal (infernal?) Critic in your Head
Write as fast as you can without stopping. NO erasing, NO crossing out, NO waiting for the ‘right’ word. If you’re using a computer to write, darken your screen so you can’t see what you’re writing. NEVER use the back-space or delete key on a first draft. Get it out; Get it down.

Set yourself a goal – five minutes, ten minutes, one page or three. Don’t stop until it’s done. Suspend judgment. Write whatever comes to your head without thinking about quality, grammar or punctuation. You can check that later. First thoughts are precious, juicy and desirable. Trust the process. If you want to be a writer, you commit words to paper. If you want to be a great writer, or a published writer, learn your craft. Write a lot. Read a lot. Edit later.

Make a regular appointment with yourself to write - ideally, write every day. If that’s not possible, set a regular time to sit down and write. Maybe every Tuesday at 3:00 pm works for you. Maybe Sunday afternoons…Whatever the time, find a place that is quiet, gather your tools and get to work. You can’t produce a novel or any other piece of writing if you don’t put your derriere in the chair!

Now that we have the basics out of the way – Let’s get started on some fun writing exercises to stimulate your imagination!

Exercise 1: Family of Origin
Read the following poem aloud, listening carefully to the types of description about place and family.

Where I’m From
By George Ella Lyons
Copyrighted material. Reprinted for educational/therapeutic purposes.

I am from clothespins,
from Clorox and carbon-tetrachloride.
I am from the dirt under the black porch.
(Black, glistening
it tasted like beets.)
I am from the forsythia bush,
the Dutch elm
whose long gone limbs I remember
as if they were my own.

I’m from fudge and eyeglasses,
from Imogene and Alafair.
I’m from the know-it-alls
and the pass-it-ons,
from perk up and pipe down.
I’m from He restoreth my soul
with a cottonball lamb
and ten verses I can say myself.

I’m from Artemus and Billie’s Branch,
fried corn and strong coffee.
From the finger my grandfather lost
to the auger

the eye my father shut to keep his sight.
Under my bed was a dress box
spilling old pictures,
a sift of lost faces
to drift beneath my dreams.
I am from those moments –
snapped before I budded –
leaf-fall from the family tree.

Write a five-minute sprint using the starter phrase: “I am from….”
If you get stuck, write the sentence stem again and keep going. Anytime you find yourself gazing at the ceiling or chewing on the end of your pen, write the sentence stem again and keep going.

Try for three paragraphs – or if you prefer to write a poem, try for three stanzas. Bring in all five senses if you can.

When you have finished, re-read your writing and write a summary statement beginning with the sentence: Now that I have read my writing I notice…

How is this exercise useful? Where do you see yourself using this to develop your writing?

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