Welcome!
This is a place where people come together to build resilience, boost courage, and reclaim joy in this time of chaos and great uncertainty.
Let me take a moment to introduce myself.
I'm Laura Davis. I write books that change people’s lives and help people tell stories that matter.
Since I published my first book, The Courage to Heal, 37 years ago, I've helped people find their voices, tell their stories, and hone their craft. I love creating supportive, intimate writing communities online, in person, and internationally.
I am a midwife of stories and right now, in this time of deep uncertainty, there are more stories than ever that must be told.
I’m here to help you tell them.
As we watch our national institutions attacked and subverted before our eyes, many of us are struggling with feelings of numbness, shock, overwhelm, grief, anger, denial, impotence, and so much more. Writing can help.
I have deep faith in writing—especially writing in community—as a strengthening, stabilizing, mobilizing force. When we come together and create, tell the truth on the page and don’t hold back, and then witness each other’s words, we deepen our resilience, renew our courage, and discover the strength to act.
"This is precisely when artists go to work. There is no time for despair, no place for self-pity, no need for silence, no room for fear. We speak, we write, we do language. That is how civilizations heal. I know the world is bruised and bleeding, and though it is important not to ignore its pain, it is also critical to refuse to succumb to its malevolence. Like failure, chaos contains information that can lead to knowledge—even wisdom. Like art."
~Toni Morrison
In this challenging, uncertain time, once a week, I’ll be sending out:
short personal essays speaking to the moment
beautiful photos
evocative poems
writing prompts specifically designed to help you express the truth of the moment while also reinforcing connection and gratitude
Why? Because we’re all living in a surreal world right now, and holding onto joy is a powerful act of resistance. Even if you’re not feeling it, we can write our way into joy, into strength, into resilience.
These prompts can provide seeds for writing, contemplation, or discussion on a walk, in a classroom, or over dinner.
Whether you join me as a free or paid subscriber, subscribing means my weekly posts will arrive in your inbox every Saturday morning—you won’t miss any. And you’ll be invited to respond and participate in our resilience-building creative community.
When we stand in mutual support, bound by language, honesty and truth, the light we shine out into the darkness is so much brighter.
Let’s write through the chaos together.
"Caring for myself is not self-indulgence.
It is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare."
-Audre Lorde
Free subscribers have access to:
Weekly posts that include a short personal essay or an inspiring poem that I’ve curated, along with a weekly prompt specially designed to build resilience and courage, to help you make new creative discoveries, and to reinforce joy.
Audio versions of posts—I’ll guide you into each week’s prompt with the intimacy of my voice.
The ability to comment and become a vital part of our online community.
Paid subscribers receive all free content plus:
Subscriber-only posts focusing on craft and other aspects of the writing life.
Access to special live events (writing salons, guest interviews, fishbowl sessions where you can pick my brain about writing and craft, or whatever else I get inspired to offer down the line).
Access to the full archive.
My deep gratitude because being a paid subscriber means you’re directly supporting me and my work.
Founding members get all of the above plus:
My heartfelt appreciation for making it possible for me to offer scholarships and extend my reach in this time of national emergency.
I’m glad you’re here, that we’ll get to lift up our voices, tell the truth, and build sacred, supportive community together.
If you want to learn more about me, keep reading.
About me:
I am the author of seven nonfiction books, which have sold 2 million copies and been translated into 11 languages.
My first book, The Courage to Heal, a breakaway bestseller in 1988, paved the way for hundreds of thousands to heal from the trauma of sexual abuse.
Becoming the Parent You Want to Be helped parents develop a vision for the families they want to create.
I Thought We'd Never Speak Again: The Road from Estrangement to Reconciliation taught the skills of reconciliation and peace building, one relationship at a time.
The Burning Light of Two Stars, my award-winning 2021 memoir, tells the story of my loving, tumultuous relationship with my mother, and how I took care of her at the end of her life, despite the fact that she had betrayed me in the past.
In addition to writing books that inspire, the work of my heart is to teach.
For more than twenty-five years, I’ve helped people find their voices, tell their stories, and hone their craft.
I love building and facilitating writing communities online in weekly classes and in person at writing retreats in beautiful locations in the US and around the world.
I love the discoveries that happen once a safe container has been established, the life-changing and life-affirming writing that pours out on the page, and the lasting bonds that occur with this kind of deep, intimate, creative sharing.
I’m also a fanatic for travel.
So, a couple of times a year, I take writers on amazing travel adventures. In the past 12 years, I’ve taken groups to Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Bali, Scotland, Greece, Peru, Tuscany and hiking the Camino de Santiago in Spain.
I have been published in:
Publisher's Weekly, Writer's Digest, CrimeReads, Brevity, and The New York Times, featured in the Los Angeles Review of Books, and have been an engaging guest on QWERTY, Write-Minded, Magnificent Midlife, Therapy Chat, and dozens of other podcasts. I’ve been a featured speaker for The National Association of Memoir Writers and a popular craft teacher at The San Miguel Writer's Conference.
The rest of my life:
When I’m not writing, teaching or traveling, you’ll find me hanging out with my wife Karyn and our yellow lab, Luna, in Santa Cruz, California: hiking, savoring the natural world, seeing friends, cooking new recipes, playing cards and mahjong, swimming, and loving my children and grandchildren. My latest passion is photography and I’m sure you’ll see a lot of my pictures accompanying my posts here.
Not sure yet? Here’s what people are saying:
“Laura Davis has revolutionized my relationship to writing. I do not have to face a blank page and wonder how to tell my story. Her prompts lead the way into my soul.”
--Shannon LaGrandier, Santa Cruz, CA
“Laura is a gifted teacher who skillfully brings together strangers into a caring community. Her knowledge and deliberate choices of quotes, readings and prompts work together to bring out the best in her students. I highly recommend her as a creative midwife.”
--Debbie Owen, Long Beach, CA
“Laura knows how to inspire the best writing. I keep her voice, questions, poems and encouragement on my shoulder every time I sit down to write.”
--Nancy Brown, Bonny Doon, California
“With Laura, I found the perfect combination of direction, inspiration, permission, and community. With her guidance, I was able to discover and develop the writer inside of me who had been waiting in darkness my whole life for the support and safety to emerge.”
---Terresa Lauer
“The prompts Laura provides are perfect for accessing what’s important.”
--Veronica Robinson, Scotts Valley, California
“Laura is a phenomenal, soul-based, sensitive, thoughtful, considerate teacher. Her prompts and guidance provide a phenomenal way for me to tap my inner resources and gain access to deeper levels of myself. I’m able to access content I usually avoid. What a magnificent way to grow as a person and as a writer!”
--Si Steinberg, Boise, Idaho
"I am so grateful to have Laura as my writing teacher. Without her keen instruction and astute instincts, writing would still be a vague yearning inside of me. Perhaps the most effective technique in Laura’s teaching bag of tricks is not a tool at all, but her steadfast willingness to fearlessly, beautifully put herself on paper. The perfect original lesson of demonstration still tops them all."
--Nancy Miner
"I find Laura to be a profound role model."
--Cliff Haggerty
I’m new to Substack and don’t yet know what kind of community I’ll create here, but I’m excited to be here and for you to join me. Once again, welcome!
And remember:
“We all have a part in shifting the story.”
—Joy Harjo, 23rd US Poet Laureate
