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 Kathy Horowitz facilitates a monthly women’s writer’s group at the Life Center in Huntington. Her work has appeared in The Long Islander, Long Island Woman, Calyx, Blue Unicorn, and Seventh Quarry. Kathy offers freelance writing, editing, and proofreading services. (kahorowitz@gmail.com) www.kathyhorowitz.com. |
| For as long as I can remember, I’ve always written, whether poetry, a short story, essay, and even a novel (which no one has seen). I’ve always found the written word to be a catalyst to forge deeper into one’s authentic self. Writing is also wonderful therapy especially after the wave of holidays have come and gone. One might ask, what am I grateful for? I facilitate a women’s writer’s group at the Life Center in Huntington where 7-10 talented women gather monthly and have shared their work for about 6 years. We begin by writing for the first 5-10 minutes based on a prompt I give. For example, around the holidays I might bring in some pinecones, scented candles, words or pictures to see which memories might be triggered. One was lines from Stephen King’s novel “11/22/63” where he wrote about “home.” King wrote, “Home is watching the moon rise over the open, sleeping land and having someone you call to the window, so you can look together. Home is where you dance with others, and dancing is life.” Clearly these are moments of gratitude. After having read these lines aloud, we wrote for about 10 minutes. We couldn’t put our pens down. Something deep inside each of us was calling us “home” to where wholeness begins and stress falls away. We wrote about our current and past homes, about feeling at home in the world. We were feeling a strong sense of gratitude. If you were to do a post-holiday check, what makes you feel “at home” in the world? What are you grateful for that happened today or yesterday? Creating a gratitude list is way to heal, to make sense out of the craziness of our everyday lives. Who do you “call to the window” to be a witness, to share something amazing like a sunrise or sunset? A pair of cardinals perched on a branch, a young or older couple walking by holding hands perhaps? When you write about these kinds of observations healing comes naturally. It forces us to look at life from a different perspective, helping us to reconsider the things we might otherwise take for granted. Sometimes we may not have that special someone to “call to the window” to be a witness, but we can carry our memories of them and share them through our thoughts. We can call the written word to the page and let the gratitude and healing begin. So grab a cup of hot cocoa or tea along with a pen. I guarantee that you’ll come away feeling uplifted. Happy Writing! |
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20 lucky winners will win $500 each in prizes totaling $10,000. 