Your Guide

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Marilyn Bousquin

Marilyn Bousquin is the founder of Writing Women's Lives Academy. Her holistic approach to writing integrates the craft of memoir with the consciousness work necessary for women to claim their voice from silence. An Author Accelerator certified book coach and a certified Amherst Writers and Artists group writing facilitator, Marilyn holds an MFA in Creative Nonfiction. Her published writing appears in numerous literary magazines. Her memoir-in-progress explores the correlation between the female body, sense of self, and voice.

Questions? Comments? Email me!

About this course

Writing Out Loud Sisterhood
Inner Circle

A monthly membership program for
women who are done with silence

Because writing sisters don't let each other write alone!

What?! Another week of not writing? Another month? How did that happen?

It happens to all of us. And it usually happens when we're writing alone. I know because the women who take my writing classes tell me they cannot believe how hard it is to keep their writing groove going after the class ends. This has nothing to do with their commitment to their writing. It has everything to do with the magic that comes with writing in community.

That's because writing in community cuts through the isolation and inner critic that rear when we write alone.  Especially if you're writing hard truths. Truths that go against the grain of silence. Truths that demand a safe and healing space to make their way to the page. And we all know that alone with our inner critic is not the safest place to be : ).

Introducing the Writing Out Loud Sisterhood Inner Circle!

The Writing Out Loud Sisterhood is a monthly membership program that helps you stay in relationship to your writing month in and month out within the fold of a warm and supportive writing community. This program is for you if you

  • want to claim your voice from silence in writing and in life
  • consider your writing to be central to who you are, yet struggle to keep your writing magic going on your own
  • believe that every human being has a story worth sharing, and that every voice is sacred (except maybe yours)
  • experience a burning desire to write your story that becomes more urgent the older you get
  • are ready to replace self-doubt and self-criticism with self-encouragement and self-confidence in writing AND in life
  • long for a supportive community of women writers who embody compassion, commitment, and courage 
  • want to kindle--or rekindle--your writing joy
  • are committed to cultivating a consistent and compassionate relationship with your deep, wise writing self

Sisterhood Magic: How the membership program works

Circle + Community + Connection = Writing Magic

The WOLS Inner Circle is founded on the premise that connection to each other fosters an unwavering connection to ourselves. It is from this connection that writing gets written, which is why we write together on live teleconference calls twice a month. 

When we write together in sisterhood, the magic and intention of the group energy cuts through fear and isolation. You tap into your inner wellspring of confidence and creativity, wisdom and experience, intuition and knowing. Your writing juices flow. Your voice rises. Your words stream onto the page. Time flies. Before you know it, hours have passed and you've generated pages of writing that seem to come out of nowhere. Ah, the magic of writing in sisterhood!

Spark your writing magic in the Writing Out Loud Sisterhood Inner Circle!

You discover that the magic is within you. And it is sparked by community and connection. Your pen becomes a writing wand that frees your voice and carries your truth to the page.

You take this magic back to your writing practice. You stay connected with the sisterhood in our private online forum until our next live gathering. Your relationship to your writing and to the sisterhood deepens. Writing sparks fly. Your voice soars. Roars.

By staying connected to your community of writing sisters, you ultimately deepen your connection to your wise writing self. You access your wisdom, your voice, your writing magic. Voila. Your writing gains momentum. Within the warm, loving, supportive, encouraging fold of the sisterhood, you keep your momentum going.

What Founding Members Are Saying:

Hi Marilyn,

The Inner Circle is magic. Prior to joining, I was really struggling to create a consistent writing practice that would support my work on my memoir-in-progress. Joining this sisterhood has been immensely powerful to me in my own writing journey. Not only have I been showing up to the page regularly, but I have been truly blown away by the increase in both writing confidence and writing joy that I have experienced since joining the sisterhood of writers in the Inner Circle. It has been rocket fuel for my writing, and I love seeing how others in the Inner Circle are also harnessing the power of the sisterhood and using it to launch themselves and their writing forward. I am deeply inspired and beyond grateful to be a part of this wonderful group. It is everything I wanted/needed for my writing but never knew to ask for!

I also want you to know that the program is tremendously over-delivering, as far as I’m concerned. It’s easily delivering $100/month in value to me. I also really love that it’s priced so accessibly :-).

Thank you for creating this beautiful space. You bring so much energy to the forum and to supporting every woman in the group, and I know way down into my toes that a big part of why this community is so magical is because you are in there every day setting the tone with your heart wide open and your words full of grace. I want you to know that the energetic labor is seen and deeply valued. <3

Loving you to bits from Boston,

Jessica


I love having a place to share my writing and connect with other women. For me, someone who finds it difficult to connect my story with others who are new in my life, writing in sisterhood is a healing experience. With Marilyn’s guidance and love, I am taking more risks in reaching out. 

~ Marta



What you get as a member of the Inner Circle Sisterhood

  • A monthly 2-hour guided writing retreat that meets live on our teleconference platform. I bring the prompts, you bring your favorite pen and notebook. We'll do several timed writings then open the mic for those who wish to share.
  • A monthly 2-hour writing retreat that meets live on our teleconference platform. These "unprompted" writing retreats are sacred time for you to use in whatever way makes the most sense for your writing. We'll gather at the beginning of the retreat, set our writing intentions, disperse to write on our own while tethered to the group energy, then regroup at the end of our call. 
  • Recordings of all live writing retreats 
  • An Archive of all past retreats that you can access as soon as you join
  • A private Inner Circle Facebook group where you can stay connected to the Sisterhood between live calls and hold yourself accountable to your writing via our M-F Accountability Posts. A different interactive post each day invites you to pause, check in, and consciously connect with your wise writing self.
  • A private Forum within our membership site where you can share your writing with the Sisterhood if you choose
  • Access to a membership site that houses recordings of our calls and our teleconference platform 
  • Bonus: A quarterly Open-Mic Virtual Reading so that those who wish to can take up the challenge to polish a piece of writing, step into the spotlight, and let your light--and voice--shine!

Questions You May Have

How do payments work? Are there refunds? Can I cancel any time?

The fee displayed above the registration button (upper right corner of this page) is a monthly fee ($39/month) that will be billed to your credit card each month until you cancel your membership. You may cancel at any time. Cancellation instructions appear within the membership site. If you cancel in the middle of a payment cycle, you will have access to the membership program for the remainder of that cycle. There are no refunds for months already purchased.

When are the virtual writing retreats?

In general, we'll gather on our teleconference platform on the second or third Thursday (7pm  ET) and on the third or fourth Sunday (3pm ET) of each month. Members receive reminder emails with call-in information two days before each call and one hour before each call. Our bonus Open Mic Reading is held quarterly.

What if I cannot make it to a writing retreat?

All writing retreats will be recorded. The recording of each call will be housed within our membership site for easy access after the call in case you miss it or want to listen to it again at a later date.

Will I receive written feedback on my writing? 

The WOLS Inner Circle membership program does not include written feedback on your writing. As a member of the WOLS Inner Circle, however, you have first dibs on 1:1 mentoring slots as they become available. Please note that as a member of the WOLS Inner Circle you are under no obligation to purchase additional 1:1 mentoring services. 

Other questions? Email Marilyn!

Register at the top of this page!