Women At Woodstock

Memoir Writing

Ann Voorhees Baker — Mon, 10 Jun 2019 22:18:46 +0000

Do you have a story to tell? Do you have a need to preserve a family legacy, break silence, explore an ancestor’s past? Do you have a desire to find the next step on your path, show the world that you are more than a worker, sibling, friend, parent or partner? Do you have a desire to get your side of things on the record, to leave a piece of yourself behind? If so, then the Women At Woodstock Memoir Writing Workshop is for you.

Writing memoir can help you to identify the threads and themes in your life and make sense of the life you have lived. Writing memoir can be healing and transformative. Because this workshop is so special and so personal to everyone who attends – and because it has been requested so often, we are devoting the full morning on Saturday, our second day together, to our Memoir Writing Workshop. This will give us time to set our intentions, create a safe space, learn our best methods of memoir writing, put words to page, and share some pieces of our lives with one another.

Join Women at Woodstock attendees and Amherst Writers and Artists Facilitator Colleen Geraghty for an introduction to memoir writing. This workshop provides a safe environment for writers of all levels to discover their unique voices and begin to tell the story of their lives – for themselves, for their loved ones, for their legacy.

Colleen Geraghty

Ann Voorhees Baker — Mon, 10 Jun 2019 22:02:40 +0000

Colleen Geraghty is a published author and a writing coach certified in the Amherst Writer’s and Artist’s Method who has facilitated workshops for women writers in the Hudson Valley for many years.

A member of Wallkill Valley Writers, Colleen’s stories have appeared in Wallkill Valley Writers Anthology 2012 and 2013 and in Slant of Light: Contemporary Women Writers of the Hudson Valley. Her story, “The Beer House,” highlights issues related to child abuse and neglect, and received first prize in the Hudson Valley Writer’s Guild 2013 Short Story Contest. Two of Colleen’s original songs from her Deep Ravines CD, “Hymn for Matthew” and “Nikolay,” have been used by community groups and educators to raise awareness about hate crimes and PTSD. Colleen has also designed the curriculum and taught songwriting for musicians at Dutchess County Community College Continuing Education Program. and she was the coordinator of the very successful 2013 Women Write Conference and the 2014 Celebration of Women’s Voices: Women Writers Past and Present Conference held in New Paltz New York to commemorate Women’s History Month and International Women’s Day. She is also the recipient of Ulster County New York’s 2014 Raising Hope Award for Mentors.

Colleen’s stories and poems are also featured in the Codhill Press 2019 publication of An Apple In Her Hand: An Anthology from The Hudson Valley Women’s Writing Group. The title of the book as well as the first chapter of poems were inspired by Ms. Geraghty’s award-winning sculpture entitled, Ciotóg.

Her story, “Blue Baby,” appears in Slant of Light: Contemporary Women Writers of the Hudson Valley, an anthology that won 1st Prize: 2014 USA Book awards for Anthology and was a finalist : 2014 International Book Awards in the category of Women’s Literature/Chick Lit.

Two of her poems will be published in the July 2019 issues of Eve’s Journal and another poem will be featured in the 2019 anthology entitled, Poems from Wellspring.

Colleen will lead The Story Cottage at this year’s Women At Woodstock Writers Retreat, employing the Amherst Writer’s and Artist’s method of writing that supports all genres and skill levels of writers by using a non-hierarchical approach, a diverse array of writing prompts, and constructive feedback based on the Amherst Method.

We’re also thrilled that this year Colleen will lead our Memoir Writing Workshop at the Women At Woodstock Workshop Retreat. Memoir Writing has long been sought after by the women who attend our Workshop Retreat, and we know that, under Colleen’s legendary skills as a guide and facilitator of women writers, this year’s session will release everyone’s creative juices and storytelling skills.

Life After the Love of Your Life Retires & (Oh God!) You’re Spending All of Your Time Together

Ann Voorhees Baker — Thu, 30 May 2019 22:20:30 +0000

Spending all day with the person you love, doing what you’ve both talked and dreamed about for years, sharing meals without the noise and confusion of a family all around, laying your head down next to that person each night knowing you’ll wake up together and live the dream all over again sounds so… WHAT??? The “what ifs” are endless.

In this workshop, we will be talking about the physical and emotional components of retirement as you share this next act with the one you love. Retirement is not just a noun, a withdrawal from ones working life. It is also a verb, an action that you take toward the next stage of life; an adjective that describes a state of doing less after you leave said working life.

We will discuss our wellbeing, how and where to look for the same types of satisfaction you received when working such as a sense of purpose, teamwork, and camaraderie. How to move on after you finish something that has taken years to complete and how to avoid pitfalls if, in fact, you’re NOT thrilled with the idea of spending all day every day with the same person.

Retirement can be anything you want it to be with some planning, some insight, a lot of faith, and a huge dose of humor!

Veteran Women At Woodstock alum Janet Riccobono has been there, is there, and is navigating her new life with her recently retired husband pretty admirably. She’s quite happy – they’re both quite happy – in their new life, together all the time. But that’s not to say that she didn’t have her own anxieties and trepidations ahead of time. We’re so happy that Janet has agreed to lead our workshop, “Life After the Love of Your Life Retires.” In it she’ll share with you just what those worries were – maybe still are – and how she’s navigated them so far. She hopes her experiences might give you some guidance and insights as you face your future, post-retirement, together at last with your loved one day and night, and day, and night…

Janet Riccobono

Ann Voorhees Baker — Thu, 30 May 2019 22:15:36 +0000

Janet retired from Verizon after 31 years as a, trainer, coach, and sales person on the same day as her life partner, Rob. She then went on to become a Certified Life Coach and opened her business, New Life at Mid Life where she developed her wellness program called ALIVE & Well.

ALIVE = A Life of Involvement, Vitality, and Enthusiasm. After moving from New York to Florida and leaving her practice, she continues to promote her program and is also currently training to be a hospitality educator.

Janet is also a long-time alum of Women At Woodstock, and likely to be voted Most Bubbly, should we ever have such a competition!

Janet is one of those people who has a naturally positive outlook on life, and she and her husband Rob are very much in love, but even she had trepidations about Rob’s impending retirement last year. Well, retire he did, and the two of them have been navigating the shift in their daily plans, their together time, and their relationship dynamics ever since. The topic of anxiety and trepidation over a partners’ upcoming retirement has sprung up in conversations many times over the past years at Women At Woodstock, and many women have been requesting a workshop on the topic of how to adjust to your partner being home all the time. It’s not about loving or not loving your partner, it’s about spending life together 24-7 all of a sudden! We’re so glad that Janet has agreed to lead such a workshop; she’ll be sharing her experiences and her wisdom in the workshop, “Life AFter the Love of Your Life Retires & (Oh God!) You’re Spending All of Your Time Together!”

This is What I Wrote When I Launched Women At Woodstock 7 Years Ago

Ann Voorhees Baker — Thu, 30 May 2019 14:21:04 +0000

Three years ago I was sitting in my hotel room in Simi Valley, sipping an early-morning cup of coffee and enjoying the sunshine and the quiet, and the warm memory of the past night’s joyously raucous celebration at the wedding of the son of my dear old friends Joan and Terry. I was thinking about the passage of time; how I’d known Colin, the previous night’s handsome young groom, since he was a toddler, and how weird that was. When I was his age and celebrating my own wedding, I never thought for a second how wistful and strange my parents and their friends might have felt, for the same reason – the unbelievable progression of time whether we like it or not.

I was also thinking about Women At Woodstock, then in its fifth year, and how it had evolved and grown. “Grown?” you might ask. What could I mean? Certainly, Women At Woodstock has not “grown” – not like a “successful” conference pulling in swelling crowds of excited women clamoring for a chance to glimpse a fix-your-life superstar on a stage in a large convention hall. No, not like that at all. Grown more like a living thing – slowly rising up out of the soil, unfurling leaves. Like life. Like the lives of the women who’ve come to join the “sisterhood” that we are. I feel good about what it’s become, because it’s real and it’s built on true friendships and caring and hard work and humility and kept promises. It’s truly what I envisioned. And I swear Women At Woodstock has done me more good than it’s done any one woman who’s attended over the years. From the women I’ve met, I’ve gotten courage, knowledge, new ideas, information, inspiration, generosity, and a stronger belief in myself. I’ve been hugged a hundred times. No, way more than that. I’ve witnessed women make the decision to do what they said they wanted to do, and change their lives dramatically. My mind has changed, my outlook, my plans for the future, my actions. I’ve most definitely been living a better life than before. By miles.

So three years ago I dredged up what I wrote back in 2012 about the start of Women At Woodstock, and looking at it again today, I’m still gratified to see that what I was thinking and feeling then is still true today. So this is what I posted, way back in the beginning:

May 30, 2012

It’s Day Number 2 of the official launch of Women At Woodstock, and I am watching the sunlight fade outside my window. The wonderful women in my Costa Mesa Mastermind Group (Michelle, Vondie, Robin, Stacey, Pauline) and in my larger group of friends and acquaintances, and in my new core group of WAW presenters and advisers, have been calling and emailing to ask me how it’s going. Are plans coming together? Do I have everything mapped out? Have I visited the venue in person? Do I have the support I need? Are Experts for the Expert-Connect lined up? How’s it coming on the goodies for the gift bags?

They’ve also urged me to share what’s going on through this blog.

So here goes.

WAW is flowing – a wonderful, feels-right experience from the start, ever since last August when I had an incredible hour-long phone conversation with Amy Ferris, an accomplished writer – author of successful books and screenplays – who until that moment I did not know. A colleague had recommended me to her as a possible publicist for an upcoming project [the now-published Dancing At The Shame Prom, upon which a Women At Woodstock 2012 workshop was ultimately based], and I was making that “initial consult call” wherein I was supposed to wow her with my well-demonstrated expertise, enthusiasm, value, and fit for exactly what she needed in a publicist. After which I would presumably follow up with a stellar proposal which she would then sign with enthusiasm, and thereafter I would make a substantial fee.

But, what happened was, within minutes of our initial connection, we began talking about other stuff – like lifelong goals and wants and needs and passions: about women, and connected-ness, and getting older, and getting back to that mother-world mystical sharing and caring and support and energy thing that we women do. Or that we can do, if we set our minds and our purpose on a common intent.

Amy and I mutually derailed our conversation straight off the tracks and we bumped along together quite happily through fields and streams and mountains of thought as we set our creative juices and our visions free.

It was in that hour that Women At Woodstock really launched – out of my head and into a plan. And from that point to this, Amy has sent many, many women my way, and those women have sent others, and I’ve had countless conversations with even more women who’ve heard about this thing and contacted me. It had to be all about us – women of the Baby Boom era, and we had to gather in that iconic place of our generation – Woodstock. Where else? The process to date has been rewarding and I’ve felt a building enthusiasm and strength as the weeks and months have gone by.

So when I switched off the “Maintenance Mode” plugin from this website on Monday night, giving it life, I felt elation. Ta da! Here we go!

The next day was a bath of happiness, as I received emails from all quarters congratulating me on a great site.

The next day – today – has settled into dull rumination and nail-biting. (Why didn’t we immediately build to 1,000 Likers on the Facebook page; why did we not sell out registrations within hours of the launch?)

Of course I’m joking. Being an internet marketing specialist, I absolutely know that things don’t happen that way except in the case of superstars and superpowers. Alas, every success (mostly) takes work and endurance, I know. But wouldn’t it have been fun, if…?

It’s now sundown. Time for a relaxing glass of wine. And – time to grow up and grow into this and set real goals and expectations. Like – within the next 6 weeks, my goal is to bring in our first sponsor; to sign two Expert-Connect partners; to tally up our first 12 registrations while the Early Bird rates are still in effect; and to collect our first 3 contributions to the WAW Scholarship Fund – no matter how big or how small. And – I want to find a videographer to work with on creating a documentary of our event.

So those are my real goals for the real launch of Women At Woodstock: 1 sponsor, 2 Experts, 12 registrations, 3 scholarship donations, and a videographer connection. These are do-able goals. Or so I hope.

At bottom, I am not worrying at all. This retreat just feels so right. I know that it will not happen without consistent and concerted effort. But this is when it’s especially good to be over 50; I’m wise enough to know that these two truths go hand in hand: you can’t succeed without hard work, but you can never turn your work into exactly the result that you envision. What is meant to be, will be. Might as well relax and enjoy the ride.

Want to see what’s planned for this year, the 8th year of Women At Woodstock? Click on the Workshop Retreat, or the Writers Retreat.

“Change of Lanes” – A Reading of My Short Story at the Book Launch in Mendocino

Ann Voorhees Baker — Thu, 30 May 2019 08:47:14 +0000

I was honored to be asked to read my flash fiction short story, “Change of Lanes” at the launch party earlier this month in Mendocino for this year’s edition of the Noyo River Review, the journal in which it was being published. So, I decided to make a weekend out of it: I took the train up the coast, met my old friend from my New York days, Diane Stark, and we shared a charming cottage right in the heart of town and caught up on old times. Diane is the “Tuesday Lunch” filmmaker I’ve mentioned before, and she’s in the final stages of working on the movie about her mother and her mother’s friends, who’ve met for lunch every Tuesday for the past 50 years.

Diane and Ann – Our Weirdly Parallel Histories

Diane and I met through our then-husbands-to-be and have stayed friends ever since. On top of the rather bizarre parallels in our husbands – they both exhibited nearly identical narcissistic behavior over the course of our marriages – we’ve turned out to have many more parallels; we each had two daughters – not such an odd coincidence – but there’s more: Despite our advanced degrees, both of us have stepped and turned through various careers in our lives. Both of us are pursuing creative projects now. We have the same tastes, it seems, in just about everything. When I discovered six years ago that Diane now lives in San Francisco, I went to visit her, and I walked into her kitchen to see the very same retro-styled blender, toaster, milkshake maker, and mixer on her counter that I have; each a different brand, mind you, and each individually purchased. Then I went into her bedroom and saw a big sleigh bed identical to mine. Her older daughter’s room was decorated in all manner of stars, suns, and moons, as was my older daughter’s; she even had the same flannel bedsheets in indigo blue covered with tiny golden stars and moons that my daughter had. Most bizarre of all; in Diane’s living room was a giant old upright grand piano – a gorgeous, hulking Kranich and Bach at least 100 years old. It was a dead ringer for the same piano that sits in my living room, except for the lighter color. How amazing is that.

At the end of the weekend as we sat at the bar of the Mendocino Hotel having identical bowls of delicious house-specialty French onion soup and glasses of wine, I discovered another bizarre coincidence; Diane was an oarswoman during college, as was I! She shared her stories of having to use the men’s equipment at American University, outsized and rigged for the men, just as we had had to do at UCLA. The only difference between us was that I, being older than Diane, started the Women’s Crew Team at UCLA in 1972, the very year that Title IX was enacted to prohibit discrimination against girls and women in federally funded education, including athletics. Our crew program was homemade and slapped together and conducted over the supreme resistance of the men’s crew coach and basically the entire UCLA Department of Athletics. We had a volunteer coach – one of the coxswains on Men’s Crew, a saint – and for meets we could put up only a four and we pretty much sucked. Diane, coming on the scene three or four years later, walked into an established, albeit fledgling program, with a paid coach – and they had enough members on their team to enter two eights plus a four in competitions. I rowed stroke; Diane rowed bow. We both rowed port. Go figure.

Mendocino – Past Times and Old Ways

It was a great weekend – a long train ride up the coast, precious time with an old friend, the quirky beauty and friendliness of Mendocino, the rugged coastal shoreline, the food, seeing Noyo River Review editor Susan Bono and the other authors at the event, the camaraderie at the Gallery Bookshop. Several of the pieces that the authors read that afternoon were excerpts from their developing novels, and they really amazed me; I was like a groupie afterward at the reception, asking the writers to add me to their mailing lists. I’m sure their books will be published and it’ll be exciting to read them and remember hearing the author read from the manuscript before it was published in full. It all seemed so much about past times and old ways that, if you were sitting in my living room right now, I’d be tempted to pull out the projector and show you a slideshow, and then give you a personal reading of my short story. Well, here’s an online version of the same. Enjoy if you’d like.

Click here to purchase this year’s edition of the Noyo River Review.

You’re Invited to a Launch Party!

Ann Voorhees Baker — Fri, 10 May 2019 03:30:15 +0000

I mentioned many months ago that one of my short stories is going to be published in the literary journal, The Noyo River Review. Well, the time has come; the upcoming edition will be out next week, celebrated with a book launch party on Sunday, May 19 in beautiful Mendocino, California right on the coast! I’ve been asked to read my very short story, entitled “Falling Out of Love,” and I’m thrilled and nervous. If you’re anywhere nearby, please come to the party. I’d love to know you’re there, and everyone is welcome!

Here are the details:

Noyo River Review Book Launch/Reading

Sunday, May 19, 2019
1-3 p.m.
Gallery Bookshop
319 Kasten St (corner of Main and Kasten), Mendocino, CA

If you’re going to come please let me know. It would be wonderful to have a Women At Woodstock contingent present – and hey, if you’re there and I’m there, we could have our own get-together afterward – a bite to eat, a mini-mastermind session, wine, coffee and a chat? Whatever – I’d love it! Email me at annvoorheesbaker@gmail.com if you’ll be in attendance. I’d love to meet you!

Women At Woodstock Has Been a Beautiful Answer to the Quiet Question That Prompted My Search

Ann Voorhees Baker — Wed, 08 May 2019 08:36:06 +0000

by Brenda Rush

It began as a feeling, a soft wordless whisper that grew into an insistent urging. Finally, a relentless nudge propelled me. I began searching online for answers to a question for which I only had a few words. Over time, those keywords took me to retreat sites. Unfortunately, most retreats have only one subject of focus like yoga, writing, silence, art, wine, food, or the environment. Those topics didn’t address my unspoken question.

Then a retreat called “Women at Woodstock” by Ann V. Baker appeared. Common retreat subjects were mentioned, but friendship and support for women was the focus. That’s a chord that plays for me. Ann and I emailed. She was approachable, welcoming, and patiently answered my questions.

Truth be told, the idea to travel alone 2,000 miles for a stranger-filled event didn’t come from my risk-averse brain. Surprisingly, it came from a place of deeper need. Taking the leap to attend Women at Woodstock was my attempt to answer the question that finally rose to the surface: How do I passionately embrace life, try different things, and discover new opportunities that put a twinkle in my eye?

The first time I tentatively considered attending Woodstock, a re-occurring phrase came to mind: If not now, when? So, I bought tickets for the planes, trains, cars, and buses required to travel from the Panhandle of Texas to rural Rosendale by way of bustling New York City at rush hour.

Upon safely arriving at my destination, I met a houseful of women, and we slid comfortably into the four-day retreat experience. Women at Woodstock (WAW) opened a whole new world for me with a network of uniquely talented and resourceful women. It was amazing to see how so many energetic individuals had packed numerous successful lives and careers into their first fifty or sixty years.

In group mastermind sessions and one-on-one, they listened attentively to my accent and my ponderings. They saw my gifts and abilities; they encouraged me to act on new goals. I learned from their words and was inspired to be brave. They shared helpful connections and invited me to call on them as needed. (When I reached out to some of them months later, true to their word, they provided experienced, professional advice and shared invaluable insights.) Their words lifted me and carried me forward on my fledgling adventures into new projects.

After the event concluded, thanks to the artistic photos of Phoebe Stout, we all had images to enjoy. The candid shots were sweet surprises to those of us who were first-time attendees. Today, I keep a group photo in my office to remind me to stay connected with the women I met.

The next year, Ann invited me to present a talk about my freelance writing and copy-editing work, which I had crystallized as a goal during Women At Woodstock 2017 and achieved in the following year. I also took full advantage of meeting and discovering each gem of a woman in attendance. They are all treasures to be discovered. Even the quietest and most introverted can surprise.

Susannah Sinard was a hidden treasure I found in 2018. We quickly sensed we were kindred spirits and the more we talked, the more we proved the point. Information flowed revealing caches of similar life stories, questions, and goals. We both have two children. In fact, her son documented travel with friends through my state and Susannah suggested I view their YouTube Channel AdventureArchives.

Ironically, when I watched their videos, the guys sitting around their campfire one night reflected, “There are nice people everywhere.” Indeed, there are! One of them is Susannah, my friend, a sister in faith, an email buddy, and a published writer of science fiction.

I’ve lived in my town of 200,000 people for over 30 years and have wonderful friends, yet I’ve not met anyone here quite like the women who have become my Woodstock friends.

My family wants me to go to Ann’s retreat every October because they like what they see in me. They are proud of the changed woman I’ve become, but I knew she was in there all along. If my two-year experience is representative, it demonstrates each WAW event is unique unto itself and certainly worthy of my time and travel. It has been a beautiful answer to the quiet question that prompted my search. Now I look forward to other opportunities that come through future courageous adventures.

Brenda Rush is a copy editor and writer who tells stories that need to be told. She attended Women At Woodstock 2017 and 2018.

Women At Woodstock Workshop Retreat 2019 is October 17-21.
Click here for details on this year’s event for women over 50.

Women At Woodstock Writers Retreat 2019 is October 21-25.
Click here for details on this year’s event for women writers of all ages.

Sheree Clark tricked Me Into Talking About My Laundry…

Ann Voorhees Baker — Tue, 16 Apr 2019 13:54:06 +0000

Sheree Clark tricked me into talking about my laundry – not my dirty laundry, mind you; in fact it was my very clean laundry… but it was an odd moment in our recent phone conversation, which incidentally also happened to be a recorded interview for her upcoming podcast series, It’s YOUR Time: Turning the Midlife Crisis into Your Midlife Awakening.

Sheree is an energetic, funny, and smart Midlife Courage Coach who’s interviewing an array of experts, and I’m honored to be one of those she picked to feature!

I don’t know how she does it, but she’s one of those interviewers who makes you forget you’re being recorded, and being the kind of person who’s apt to run after the shiny keys jangled in a conversation, I was an easy mark for her. I kind of went off the rails a few times. Like, I found myself talking about the day I was hanging laundry in the meadow at Women At Woodstock last year… how at that moment I became intensely aware of the sunshine, the quiet, the birds, the breeze; how I was truly present and how I was, in that place and at that time, able to drink in the peace and the beauty of it fully. It was a zen moment, you know?

But really, is that how to sell the whole Women At Woodstock experience to the women who are listening??? (And P.S., laundry is not one of our activities at our retreats; it’s simply that a washer is available should you want to use one during your stay, and Lifebridge, being eco-friendly, does not employ a dryer; there’s a clothesline in the meadow out back.)

So, at the risk of making you scratch your head over my odd and sometimes random observations, I invite you to listen to my interview. As a sales pitch for Women At Woodstock, it’s pretty shoddy I guess, but as an informative piece on how Women At Woodstock makes me feel – well, it’s brilliant! I do share why I started Women At Woodstock in the first place, and some informative facts and features of our gatherings.

There’s much more in Sheree’s upcoming series than my zigzagging discussion that included the zen state of hanging laundry, by the way. Through lively conversations with at least a couple dozen experts in all kinds of fields, topics range from hormones to brain health, finances to infidelity, yoga to trusting yourself. And yeah, there’s the line of clean clothes wafting to and fro in the breeze under a beautiful blue sky…

If this sounds interesting to you, join me and the other experts for free, simply by clicking here and registering today. And be sure to tune in on May 15, when my interview will air!

And I hope you’ll join us this October to meet Sheree in person when she attends Women At Woodstock and leads our workshop, “Making a YOU turn!”

Worst Ex Stories – An Entertainment and Healing Workshop

Ann Voorhees Baker — Wed, 10 Apr 2019 02:11:56 +0000

Do you have an ex story? Most of us do. And chances are, you’ve told it over and over again. But are you satisfied? Probably not. Somehow, that story lives on in you and, though you may not think of it often, it can click into “play” at the oddest moments. It won’t go away, because something remains unresolved, unsatisfied.

That something can be called healing.

So that’s what this workshop is about; telling your story in a way that can be more healing than recounting it in your head again, or to a friend or two (who’ve probably heard it before). A group share can do an interesting thing; it can lift your story and your pain up out of your hands and place it down, separate from you, in a collective pile with everyone else’s. And then, through the group experience of hearing others, of feeling heard by everyone in the room, and ultimately of laughing at the absurdity of it all, the group share can set a flame to that pile of pain and burn it down to dust right in front of your eyes.

So, by popular vote (I suggested this workshop in my survey earlier this year and the vote for it was a resounding Yes!), we are going to do a “Worst Ex Stories” workshop at Women At Woodstock. Wanna join in? Come on! It’s going to be a great party!

And lest you worry that the workshop will devolve into a whine fest or general men- (or women)-bashing, here are the rules and the structure that we’re going to follow in order to keep the workshop moving along, the mood light, and the closure certain:

Worst Ex Stories Rules & Regulations

If you want to share your Worst Ex Story, you must write it and submit it to us ahead of time. There will be a cap on the word count.
Each participant will read her story from her manuscript, like a reading at an author’s workshop. As if her story belongs to her, but she is not her story.
Your fellow WAW sisters can react, but there will be no extended discussion after each story. We will simply hear one another, and in turn be heard.
We will do something symbolic at the end, to celebrate. To celebrate what? Being here, being whole, having what we have, believing life to be full of possibilities, perhaps believing in forgiveness.
And, with everyone’s permission, we might publish our Worst Ex Stories as an anthology. Why? For entertainment, for enlightenment, and, I hope, for the edification of younger women who might come upon the book. What if we help a few of our daughters and younger friends avoid the pitfalls we fell into, thanks to our shared experience and wisdom and our willingness to tell about the mistakes we’ve made? Wouldn’t that be amazing!

I’ve got a Worst Ex Story, and I’ll lead off the workshop by telling it. So let’s pop open the cork on that healthful bottle of wine and get the party going!