It’s been a while since we’ve posted to this space! In the second half of 2025, we were focusing on building our Substack publication, Center Your Writing, and neglected to share those weekly posts here.
For 2026, we’re going to shift to a monthly summary format. At the start of each new month, I’ll share links to the previous month’s posts on Substack and encourage you to check them out there. Our Center Your Writing subscriber count has TRIPLED in only six months, and we’re so excited to be able to build community with more writers, writing groups, and publications. We hope you’ll join us!
January talking point
Another new thing we started last year was to introduce a new talking point each month. We pose a question or present a craft technique or writing life consideration and invite comments that become a kind of month-long conversation. We learn from each other and share some of our own tips and advice for getting to the page and sticking to it. Our January talking point was about 2026 goals for our writing and writing practices. Check out our readers’ responses in our wrap-up post, where we’ve also introduced February’s talking point on beginnings and endings.
More January posts by Center teachers
Each month, Teneice Durrant, creator of Tarot with Ten, uses various tarot and oracle decks to provide monthly readings for writers, with exercises on using imagery and intuition as prompts. January’s prompt was about using the Hanged Man card to develop an upside-down perspective for your main character. With each month's post, you can read a transcript of her reading and watch/listen as she pulls cards and shares her insights.
Helena Clare Pittman, one of the Center’s most dedicated teachers, has written, painted, and taught her entire life. In her monthly Helena Writes series, she shares a lifetime of wisdom, one pearl at a time. In her 86th post, Helena remembered a childhood Christmas outing with her sister, and a gift that reminds her even now of the love of family.
In another monthly series, Shawna Ayoub moves “beyond a book review” by not only recommending great books by diverse writers, but highlighting a technique to apply to your own writing practice. In January, Shawna took a step back from choosing a particular book and instead explored the topic of reader’s block—yes, it’s a thing—and not only how to overcome it, but why we should try, because reading is so vital to our writing and our humanity.
Thanks for reading and being part of our writing community!
Until next month,
Stacia
