WRITING

UNDER THE INFLUENCE

Choosing to find meaning, healing, and hope in our own story. 

After my  27 year-old son Charlie died, my friend Elizabeth offered some solid advice. “Drive as little as possible,” she said. “I served on the board of two insurance companies and you are statistically at great risk while driving now.” 

I get it. In the weeks after Charlie died, I frequently got lost driving to places I knew and entire drives home I don’t remember. 

At every moment, we are all living under the influence of something. It can be grieving the death of a son and it can also be living under the influence of falling in love, or holding a baby, seeing a rainbow, or watching the sunset. We can be living under the influence of something painful that was said to us or the disillusionment of being a child of divorced parents who didn’t create safe spaces for the family to grow beyond the break.

 Writing under the influence is choosing to take whatever happens to you and write about it to find meaning, healing, and hope. We write to honor the ones we lost and we write to honor the pieces of ourselves we lost: our body, our worth, our intuition, our faith, our voice.  

We write to know the feeling of being held by a loved one so we can remember that feeling when we are lonely. 

We write to know the strength of our heart so we can remember it will keep beating on the days we feel weak.

We write to bring truth to our lips instead of taking a pill or drink. 

We write to remember that we are worthy, especially when our value isn’t reflected in the words or choices of the world around us.

We write to find our way home to the place where we can respect our story enough to write it down and respect our voice enough to speak it out loud.

As we write, we discover the roadmap back to ourselves and we pick up the lost pieces along the way until we feel whole again.

A roadmap back to ourselves

Writing Under The Influence Circles are a monthly act of claiming your story and your voice.  Writing together each month, we respect our story enough to write it down and respect our voice enough to share it.

INTRODUCING...

WRITING

UNDER THE INFLUENCE

CIRCLES

 
 
 
SEASON ONE

 

Writing Under the Influence is a monthly writing circle and storytelling salon on the 11th of each month (except June 2023 it will be on the 4th). It’s perfect for anyone working on a memoir, starting a writing practice, or curious about the benefits of writing in community. There are no levels and no expectations to have perfect grammar or punctuation.  All are welcome to join us for discussion and writing prompts (recorded in case you can’t make it), followed by Q&A and story sharing (the sharing is not recorded). Some sessions will include special guests to speak about writing, publishing, and more.

 

10am - Noon PST Los Angeles

1pm - 3pm EST New York

6pm - 8pm GMT London

Join Now!

NOVEMBER 2022 WRITING UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF (GOOD) GRIEF  

DECEMBER 2022 WRITING UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF A MUSE

JANUARY 2023 WRITING UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF NEW BEGINNINGS

FEBRUARY 2023 WRITING UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF A SPELL

MARCH 2023 WRITING UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF HOPE

APRIL 2023 WRITING UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF BELONGING

MAY 2023 WRITING UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF IDENTITY

JUNE 4th! 2023 WRITING UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF TRUTH

"I am eternally grateful for Betsy and her loyalty to truth and healing." 

 ~Maggie 

"Betsy embodies the healing and restorative power of reconnecting with the most sacred parts of ourselves to alchemize our pain and restore our power as women."  

 ~Kari

"I have such gratitude for how gentle and encouraging you were with my writing and how that feeling of safety allowed me to dig deeper.”        

~Elisabeth

"I love the way Betsy has transformed what has hurt her into what heals her, and how she's danced forward into the eternal What’s Next.”        

~Jennifer

I'M BETSY 

 

I'm a writer, performer, mother, grandmother, and guide for women to retrieve the hidden parts of our stories. I am known for speaking about the “things we don’t talk about” but I do it in a way that makes you comfortable being in the conversation. 

I'm the author and publisher of multiple books, and a veteran filmmaker of several acclaimed feature documentaries. I founded Figaro Films, Inc. in 1998 to produce important films which inspire, enlighten, entertain and educate. And  in 2017 I created the platform Beautiful Infinity Books, a publishing collective. BIB offers workshops and retreats to incubate and develop the work of creators.

Born and raised in Indiana, I began my career as a producer/writer of commercials and nonfiction programming after obtaining a BFA in broadcast journalism from Southern Methodist University.  When I'm not traveling, I call California home.

GET STARTED TODAY!

Join for the next live Circle and also have access to the entire season of replays.

MONTHLY SUBSCRIPTION

$54/m

Each month of Circles

  • Live Writing Under The Influence Circle 
  • 2 hrs Gathering and writing together each month on Zoom
  • Time at the end of the call to share + ask your writing and publishing questions.
  • Replay if you can't attend.
  • Replay Archive through the end of the season.
  • 11th of each month for easy remembering! (except June 4th).
  • Cancel anytime.

10am - Noon PT Los Angeles.

1pm - 3pm ET New York

6pm - 8-pm GMT London

JOIN NOW

CANCEL ANYTIME

When you start your subscription for the monthly Circles, they will renew automatically.  You can cancel them at anytime to stop.  If you purchase the whole season it will be one single payment.