Have you ever heard the story of the woodcutter who has been laboring all day to cut down a tree? When a passer-by suggests that they pause to sharpen the saw, the woodcutter replies impatiently, “But I don’t have time!” (Adapted from Steve Covey's book The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People).

Maybe it's time for you to step away from that tree and sharpen your saw. When was the last time you read a book about stylish writing, or attended a writing workshop, or otherwise devoted a few hours or days to developing your craft as a writer?

You could start small -- for example, by watching one of the free Wordcraft videos on my YouTube channel -- or go for the gold standard and invest in the Stylish Writing Intensive, an immersive 3-day retreat for writers who want to hone their craft and come out with the sharpest blade in the forest. I’d love to see you there!

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WriteSPACE members enjoy a complimentary subscription to Helen’s Word as part of their membership plan (USD $15/month or $150/year). Not a member? Join the WriteSPACE now and get your first 30 days free.

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On Thursday July 22, our WriteSPACE Special Event “Gathering to Write” started at 11 am Israeli time and gathered energy as the world turned, picking up a second round of participants 12 hours later.

Whether or not you made it to either part of the live Zoom gathering, we hope that you'll check out the wonderful padlet wall created by our brave participants, who were shunted into breakout rooms with random strangers and instructed to "design a writing-related gathering of any kind: large or small, serious or playful, online or onsite...."

Please honor their enthusiasm and insight by taking a few minutes to read their contributions and leave some supportive comments. You might even want to reach out across time and space to connect with other writers whose ideas resonate with yours. (If any actual gatherings or long-term writing relationships emerge from this exercise, I'd love to hear about them!)

An edited video of the event is available in the members-only WriteSPACE Library.

Warm thanks to everyone who participated -- especially my wonderful co-hosts Tzipora Rakedon and Pat Goodson, moderators Brie McCulloch and Victoria Silwood, and panelists Orit Rabkin, Sarah Lurie, Nina Ginsberg, Hussain Shah Rezaie, Danny Valdez, Qian Ji, Lynne Murphy, and James Corazzo.

We'd love to see you at our next WriteSPACE gathering!

Kohokohi kohikohi pīngao e mo ngā kete raukura o te rangi e.
Gather up pīngao [sedge leaves from the sand dunes] to weave the treasured baskets of the sky.

(Maori proverb)

A recording of this WriteSPACE Special Event is available for members in the WriteSPACE Library.

Subscribe here to Helen’s Word on Substack to access the full Substack archive and receive weekly subscriber-only newsletters (USD $5/month or $50/year).

WriteSPACE members enjoy a complimentary subscription to Helen’s Word as part of their membership plan (USD $15/month or $150/year). Not a member? Join the WriteSPACE now and get your first 30 days free.