Responses from past participants Write Yourself Into Being
"Thank you, Catherine, I truly felt validated as I was reading your comments and insights regarding my patterns of life. With you I don't censor, don't interrupt my thought and feeling process. Your wisdom, female voice and emotionally invested evaluation bring my soul to another level, a place where fear of judgment does not exist. It feels very good, liberating, a soft place to fall or simply to exist. We can share so much of ourselves with people who hear us with open hearts. You have given me much food for thought and I truly look forward to working with my material and continuing to grow and possibly, one day, sharing this material with others."
Jeannine Ouellette
Creative Process Consultant
"Catherine, when I get these explorations, I feel like you are listening in on my life. Each lesson leads into the next, mirroring the confusion and questions I am experiencing these days. The pages I write are parts of me I have let go, forgotten. Thanks for helping me to find them again. I didn't know how much I missed them. I have kept all your letters of encouragement and advice, something to look back on for inspiration. I have enjoyed spending time in your words. Thank you."
Lorraine Cullen
"This writing course was so different from other writing courses that focus on technique only. The whole process of delving into the inner self was so cathartic and therapeutic. At first I found it difficult but then I looked forward to those solitary sessions where I could pour my thoughts onto the page without worry of judgment or criticism. Catherine was always supportive and offered positive reinforcement throughout.
The course reawakened the passion for writing that I had pushed aside for fear of failure. Now I realize the biggest failure was not pursuing my passion. By taking the course I have gained more confidence and am ready to work towards my dream of becoming a children's writer. By taking this course, I became much more aware of who I am, who I've been and the wonderful possibility I can be!
Thank you, Catherine!"
Cathy Graham
Desktop publisher, Mother of two and Children's writer!
"When I was a little girl, I dreamed of being a writer when I grew up. I wrote stories all the time and made them into little books stapled up the side. The dream of writing stayed with me as I grew up but I did nothing about it until I was in my late thirties. As I neared my 40th birthday, I knew I wanted to try writing, to try out my dream. I bought books on writing and filled notebooks but I was constantly hitting walls and stopping. I didn't know how to get around or through these walls. I wasn't sure what to do.
Then I heard about Catherine's writing course. She guided me around and through the obstacles I had been hitting my head against. She encouraged me to write and to keep writing.
Catherine provides so much:
- a safe environment where you feel comfortable to write, to risk being vulnerable on the page.
- writing exercises and prompts that get you started and inspire you to explore what haunts you.
- feedback on what you've written - how to tighten it, where to add more, where you've been avoiding an issue. Her feedback is always encouraging and makes you want to write more and more.
Thanks to Catherine's course and ongoing mentoring, I know that I can write. And I am working on my first novel. Being a writer is now not only a dream, it is also a reality."
P. Froese-Germain
Multimedia Specialist
froesegermain@hotmail.com
"I took Catherine Joyce's class "Writing Yourself Into Being" at a time of spiritual crisis in my life. I am a visual artist but had found myself no longer able to create. I was unhappy in my "day job" but didn't know how to get out or what else to do. I was deeply stuck. I looked at writing not as an end in itself but as a process that might point me to a beginning. The writing was freeing for me. I had no hang ups about it. No terrifying aspirations to be Margaret Atwood. I wanted to recreate my life. Through Catherine's process, day after day, I poured out my deepest feelings onto the pages of my notebook. Anger and fear turned to hope and dreams. My hand reconnected with pen and paper. My head reconnected with my heart. I gathered my courage and dared to quit my job. The design and illustration business, which I then established, is now enjoying over four years of success. Illustrations which I create weave through most of my work. As I grow, Catherine's writing process continues to be a relevant means for me to articulate and clarify my ideas and my feelings. I am deeply grateful to Catherine and her process for helping me to find the confidence and the tools to reframe my life."
Tracy Carefoot
Graphic Artist and Designer
"Working with Catherine has been a precious gift of love to myself. Her responses were filled with both genuine caring and loving wisdom, which made this process a safe place to explore the expression of myself through writing. Through Catherine's encouragement I have come to understand writing as an essential part of my being. I have gained a new respect for my need to write and feel a renewed confidence in the writing I have done and have yet to do. Thank you profoundly Catherine!"
Kare Rockwell
Counsellor
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Responses from past participants (at risk):
"I have come to a realization of life through this course and it could not have been discovered through any other means. I've come to a greater understanding of myself and of how my life is meant to be lived. I feel more connected to my fellow man, to my surroundings, myself, and particularly to the spiritual aspect of all that exists. I feel more comfortable with myself--my strengths, my weaknesses, my vulnerabilities. I know my life path is set out and step by step I will come closer to all that I strive to be. I find myself more capable to verbally express the inexpressible emotions that live deep within everyone. There is a sense of clarity in my life that you have helped me tap into, Catherine. I honestly cannot say anything negative about this course. It has been one of, if not the most, spiritually, emotionally and mentally enriching and fulfilling experiences in my life. I can't thank you enough for sharing your gift and passion for writing with me. You could not begin to comprehend how much you have done for me and, I'm sure, everyone who takes this course. Thanks again." Young woman, 18"
I have learned many things that I will use to my advantage. I have learned that I have a natural gift for writing. I've also learned to write about myself and have discovered that I like myself. I like who I am and I have much to share about my life. I have also learned that I must never conform to life and society but must keep my originality alive and my creativity at a constant all time high. I must never change from who I have become through this.I must listen to all that surrounds me and hear all that is not said. I must see people and yet look past appearances because what is seen is not important. The important stuff is hidden from eyes and ears and can only be touched by the mind.
I know that when I leave this course, I will be better off that when I first walked in."
Young man,19
"As I look back at my first letter, there is one consistent feeling that carries from that letter throughout my work: anger. But the thing that has changed is the intense emotions in my writing have pulled away the anger from my life. The writing has allowed me to create and to acknowledge things buried within myself. It has helped me to deal with sadness and not to suppress it to the point that it becomes anger. I find I like myself better when I can save my anger for the page and not for my friends and family. I'm going to continue writing when the course is over. I am a lot happier when I'm writing." Young woman, 18
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"I wish this course wouldn't end. The whole point of this course, I believe, is not only to be more appreciative of ourselves but also to find our voices. I don't think I have found mine fully yet but at least I know now that it is there, waiting to be found. I just have to put my pen to paper to find it. I have found parts of my voice--the 'devil' in my snake poem and my 'heart' in my landscape. I believe there is a serious lack of art programs in schools. I am 18 years old and have failed two grades. I am also dyslexic. I have struggled so hard with whether or not to stay in school at all. It depresses me every time I look up and realize that all the kids that I was with in elementary school have already graduated and are in second year of college and I'm sitting here wondering it I should give up on the whole thing. You see, I was planning on quitting school--just giving up. Why bother? My attendance is so poor, my work is terrible, and I just sit there feeling, 'What am I doing here?' Then I heard about Catherine's little course. I thought--WOW. It sounds too good to be true--a course where my self expression is key and I get to find out who I am?!So I signed up with the intention of dropping the course if I didn't like it. Well, the first day, I was HOOKED. I started to say to myself, "You can do this". I went to school more often and I actually found myself completing courses. After writing with Catherine, I found myself ready to work and work hard. I've learned to take pride in my work. And I can now see my graduation in sight. I find myself, and to the surprise of my mother, actually doing homework.
This course has given me passion, freedom and PRIDE--something to believe in and look forward to. And it's ALL thanks to Catherine Joyce and her teaching. She needs to continue so that she can inspire other possible dropouts to stick with it and not to become another statistic."
Young woman, 18
"Talking to you about writing and life has helped me through some rough times (better than any of the so-called 'therapy' I've had). It's been good to concentrate on my writing, to give it the attention it deserves. It's also been really good to talk to someone who KNOWS what it's like. It really has helped me a lot, given me something to look forward to - a little worth that I didn't feel I had before. Thank you." 18 year old girl
"I gave myself a gift by taking the time to come to this writing group every week--wait, watch, suffer, then dive into the possibility that there is a way out. The critical, soul-destroying voice quiets and another uplifting, supportive voice takes its place. My thought processes have changed. Just to know that I can be gentle with myself--because, in reality, I am beautiful. I am a real live person. That's what writing can do. It can make you real, not for others, but for yourself." 55 year old woman
"Writing used to be my sanity and then I buried it. It has hurt to be without it, I've been lost. It feels safe to write in the group, the only place it really feels safe to write, where my mouth will not be stuffed down with the words I am not allowed to speak. This has helped. I will miss it, deeply, this chance to be with myself, all my selves." 35 year old woman
"Writing makes me feel powerful. It has made it easier for me to attend my normal High School. It feels like because I write everything matters now and everybody, even a stranger, has an impact on my life. I know I won't stop because if I do, I will feel like I am missing out--it is the best coping strategy there is." 16 year old girl
"The only solace I've found these days has been in the form of words, my own, yours, books. Writing and reading seem to be my only comfort. I can't speak. But there is so much in me that needs to be written out. I can't write all the truth and no one wants to hear the words the blood bleeds on the page." 17 year old girl
"Leaving an opening for creativity has had a ripple effect that has affected every aspect of my life. Reconnecting with my true self, my real guide and honest perspective, has given me back my wise core again. It has been shaken to its foundations by this experience but I know now that everything is linked, part of the process of becoming." 35 year old woman
"I am learning to love myself by doing things I enjoy, like writing. I am learning to trust myself." 14 year old girl
"It's so good having the time to write; it just soothes me when I am aching. It helps me find the strength, the power that is in all of us, to go on." 17 year old girl
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