Writing is a solitary practice that can really benefit from some time with other writers to receive encouragement and support for the passion you share.

When I facilitated a writing circle in Vernon, B.C. in the spring, I was glad to see poet Lesley-Anne Evans again after many years. She later wrote the following:

I met the lovely Mary Ann Moore many years ago when my neighbour, the poet Heidi Garnett generously invited me to Honeymoon Bay for a poetry retreat with poet Patrick Lane. What a lovely ripple that was.

I recently attended a writing circle that Mary Ann offered at the Vernon Public Library (Okanagan Regional Library) It was a heart-centred, delightful time, with some attendees who had never written a line of poetry before. But this wasn’t about writing poems, rather it was about self-reflection, finding the beloved in ourselves and expressing that in a safe place where nothing is discounted. A good good work.

I very much appreciate Lesley-Anne’s comments, a reminder of the wonderful times we had writing in community on Vancouver Island and learning from master poet Patrick Lane. I also appreciate how Lesley-Anne honoured the time she and I spent with others in self-reflection and “finding the beloved in ourselves.” The safe place is one we create together and I’m glad that Lesley-Anne found that to be the case.

“Friendship and community are the first medicines we require in the Long Dark,” Francis Weller says in his book In the Absence of the Ordinary: Soul Work for Times of Uncertainty. The “Long Dark” is his term for the times we are living in now.

As writers we are all part of a larger community of writers. Gathering with some of them is an enlivening way to support your own practice.

I’ve been facilitating writing circles since 1997 and have come up with what I call The Creative Components of a Circle.

Compassion is a component of a circle created with intention.  Pema Chodron describes compassion as “not a relationship between the healer and the wounded. It’s a relationship between equals. Only when we know our own darkness well can we be present with the darkness of others. Compassion becomes real when we recognize our shared humanity.” (The Places That Scare You: A Guide to Fearlessness in Difficult Times)

Community
Imagine what it would be like to be in a place where we get to live up to our full potential and are supported for it. In the circle, we learn what it’s like to be all we can be through the writing we do and the insights we share.

Container
The circle is a container for sharing stories and with guidelines we can create a necessary structure. As Christina Baldwin wrote in Storycatcher: Making Sense of Our Lives through the Power and Practice of Story:

Story space looks casual when everything is going along compatibly, but when painful stories come forward to be held by a community, we need structure in the space, just as we need structure in the story. We cannot follow the story if it loses its narrative thread; we cannot hold the space if it has not been laid down with intention.

In the writing circles I facilitate, I follow Circle Guidelines from Calling the Circle: The First and Future Culture by Christina Baldwin.

Conversation
We need to sit down and listen, not talk louder, but more quietly, and to do that we need one another’s help.

Creativity
In the Writing Life women’s circles I facilitate as well as all the others I’ve offered through the years, creativity is evident in the activities we engage in. Using lines of other writers as prompts, objects, music, images can help as well as the alchemy created because we’re together. Gathering with others offers an opportunity to share what you’ve been working on or proudly declaring that you’ve been continuing your writing practice.

Ceremony
An important aspect of one’s solitary writing practice as well as in the circle is ceremony. In a circle as stories are shared and issues discussed, we enter the realm of the sacred. The candle is lit. Some incense or sage may be burning. Also in the centre of the circle is a “talking piece,” and the Tibetan ting sha that I ring for the intentional beginning of our circle.

Celebration
There’s a need in our society to honour ourselves and that can be done in the circle to acknowledge someone’s birthday or other rites of passage. When it comes to writing together in the circle, we comment on what resonated with us, echoing back words and phrases. An atmosphere of celebration helps us continue, go deeper, feel good about immersing ourselves in our life stories and gaining insight there.

Composting
What we may see as scraps for the compost pile can become nourishing for the soil/soul. Words become sentences, paragraphs, chapters – a book. The ideas percolate for awhile and as various elements come in to assist them, sparkling imaginings result. Out of what may have seemed like wasted time are the ideas, the daydreams that lead you to the stories waiting to be told.

Coming Home
Sitting in a circle with others where you can be with whatever feelings you are having at the time is a gift to you and your circle companions. Simply sitting and listening to ourselves can bring us home to ourselves. That connection to ourselves helps us to reach out and listen to others, to welcome them into the special place we create together.

Centre
As we look to the centre of ourselves, we look to the centre of the circle for strength, guidance, and wisdom. The centre is a great spirit. It’s like the middle of the day, the middle of everything. A time of opportunity and a time of crisis. In the centre is the beginning, the end and the void.

The circle with its various components is like a flower with the petals making up the whole bloom. The circle is a community that honours intentional conversation, a rich environment for creativity and composting.

I’ve been offering writing circles for almost thirty years and nowadays I’m glad I can connect with people near and far via Zoom.

From October 6 to 27, 2026, I’ll be offering a Writing Life women’s circle called “In Your Own Words” for four Tuesdays on Zoom). The time is 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Pacific. You’re welcome to join with whatever writing experience you have. We’ll write from our lives and create writing lives. You’ll find the topics for each week and further information here: