Staring at a blank page can feel paralyzing, but you don’t have to have it all figured out to begin. In this post, I’m sharing 10 gentle, judgment-free ways to ease into your writing practice. Whether you're free-writing, mind mapping, or simply starting in the middle, there's no wrong way to begin. Writing doesn’t have to be perfect, it just has to be yours. And if you’re craving deeper support, I’ve created a cozy Writer’s Retreat Kit to help you reconnect with your voice and write from a place of calm.

In the quiet aftermath of my divorce, depression crept in like an unwelcome guest, uninvited but relentless. Some days, I couldn’t move. Other days, I wrote through the fog just to remind myself I was still here. In this post, I share the story behind my poem “Unwelcome” - a reflection on what it means to sit with pain, and how writing became my way of surviving it. If you’ve ever felt the darkness arrive unannounced, this is for you.

In March of 2020, I was supposed to take a solo writing retreat to Quebec City. A train ride, a quiet room, a notebook—just me and the words. But like so many plans that year, it never happened. What unfolded instead was something unexpected: I found a way to retreat inward, right where I was. This is the story of how a cancelled trip helped me create something even more meaningful.

After a nearly 20-year hiatus from poetry, I found myself in the depths of emotional despair, disconnected from myself and my creativity and unsure how to move forward. Then one day, I picked up a pen. What came out wasn't planned, polished, or perfect. It was honest. This post shares the very first poem I wrote after all that time, and how writing became a ritual of self-rescue, faith, and healing.