Meet our workshop facilitators

About Cheryl

I've been writing for as long as I can

remember. What has kept me writing is

ongoing encouragement from others.

That's why I launched Compass Writers

— to write in community even as I face

the page alone and to pass on

connection and encouragement to

others.

Sure, I've been published. But, really, what's most important is my love of writing and my love of seeing others love or perhaps fall in love for the first time with their own unique voice.

We each have one. In fact, we are all born with creative genius. If you pick up a pen (or open a blank computer screen) and put words down, you are a writer. I embrace the philosophy of the internationally renowned Amherst Writers & Artists method: A writer is someone who writes. So, whether you've been writing forever or are petrified because you are just picking up that pen for the first time in 50 years, I want you to know that you are safe in any of the writing spaces I offer.

I believe, too, that writing and most other artistic pursuits are wonderful tools for unlocking your truth as a person. Meeting yourself on the page and in other art practices is both a means of healing and a means of growing as a human being. I encourage you to write with your entire being: body, mind, and spirit.

I hold a BA in Journalism and an MA in Integrated Arts and Education/Writing. But that is not what makes me qualified to guide you. Come because you want to be part of a supportive writing community, and you want a workshop leader who believes in you and will support your work with a positive, affirming approach.

Let's write!

Cheryl

About Claire

I reluctantly re-claimed the titles of writer

and storyteller; you can too. A 20-year

career working with crime victims and

offenders has given me considerable

material, what’s your story? At various

times, I have been: a hospital-based

first responder for victims of sexual

assault, child abuse, and domestic

violence; Family Law Guardian ad Litem;

prison teacher and researcher; Victim Offender

Dialogue facilitator; and communications coordinator for a legal aid nonprofit. The unexpected commonality? At the end of the day, immersion in other people’s stories.

As lead writer and associate editor of The Tucson Dog Magazine for the first two years of its production, I began reclaiming ‘writer.’ During this time, I rediscovered my love of creative writing through an Amherst Writers & Artists (AWA) group. As a now-trained AWA facilitator, I participate in and lead multiple AWA writing groups weekly. I am working on two novels, both of which tangentially draw upon travels through the criminal justice system.

Today I facilitate creative writing workshops through Ignite Your Write.

Whenever possible, I prefer being outdoors, far away from prisons, hospitals, schools, offices, or other institutions dedicated to human trauma and discomfort. A nomadic yogi who enjoys long road trips—having traversed the length or width of the continental US by car more than a dozen times—I am a hiker, mountain biker, swimmer, and an anything-involving-sunshine person. As a semi-professional dog stalker, I am likely to strike up conversations with random strangers holding leashes. I appreciate life’s finer things: good books, good food, good friends, playing in the dirt, and laughing (most often at myself).

I look forward to writing together. I hope that, through our shared writing, you can also reclaim your titles: writer and storyteller.

Let's write!

Claire