The Summer Writing Retreats in Cape Cod and Tuscany are approaching the deadline of the 31st of May 2018 to register. Don’t miss out on an experience of a lifetime. Relax and write surrounded by flavors of yesteryear brought into the 21st century sensibilities. Write beside the Atlantic Ocean and in view of the hills of Tuscany. See all information of www.writeitout.com and contact Ronni RMillerWIO@gmail.com to say you’ll join us.
April 23, 2018
A student wrote, “I’ll be celebrating my big birthday on a river cruise to see the tulips in Holland.” I wished her a special celebration. It sounded like this was a
a long, desired destination one perhaps mixed with imagination. It does sound romantic to sail into a location and be lost in the colors of tulips. The anticipation stirred by imagination is sometimes the best part of the trip. An ageless time perhaps meshed with childhood stories when graphics only appeared in one’s head.
How delightful, if one could nestle into a magic carpet, tap a wand and think a location and within in an instant be in that place. Alight and wander unhindered, tourist erased, unencumbered by suitcases or passports, simply meld into the scene with the locals going about their daily business. Language would not be a barrier, for no words need be spoken only instinct driven action would suffice.
Better yet, old friendships would renew as if no time had interfered and one would walk the pavement, absorb the odors, exchange nuances of weather or state of mind.
There is a substitute for a magic carpet and takes only seconds to acquire. It’s fingers on keyboard or wrapped around a pen striking letters on paper. Within seconds one is transported anywhere one desires. For me, it is often a place that has touched me and left clefts in my being. Today, I am transported back to Bermuda, “The Rock”, a place I lived for a short while, long enough to absorb an expat culture and become one with it. Many things happened there that became manna for my opus that included a novel, short stories and poems and even the painting that became the cover of one of my books.
Another expat called it “idyllic” and he like many came for a short stay and remained a quarter century mesmerized by something beyond
and just as much entwined on that collection of islands no longer than twenty-four miles and no wider than one mile plunked in the Atlantic Ocean with aquamarine water lapping at its shores. It was the only place that I’ve lived where I became a friend overnight and at the very least an acquaintance on the street, for newcomers were embraced like jewels from the sea. Affairs abounded like weeds, romance the unwritten rule of the day and long term marriages a rarity.
I am removed from that life for over twenty years with brief voyages back, and yet I sometimes yearn for the magic of fantasy coddled, reality kept at bay and imagination cherished.
Ronni Miller and Robi Jode Press
announce with pride the publication of Domestic Shorts!
This collection of eighteen short stories of romance, humor and pathos in relationships is now available on Amazon https://www.amazon.com/dp/0692921931/ref=cm_sw_r_em_apa_VCncAb29TBHCK
as of November 11, 2017! In this new 5 ½ by 8½ paperback version, you’ll read a collection of stories, some previously published in magazines. Ronni has read many of the stories at Performance Readings and in her Write It Out® workshops.
Enjoy it and write a review.
Honor your own creativity.
Ronni
Traveling in mind can be as rewarding as in person. On November 11, 2017 I had my first view of my latest book Domestic Shorts (https://www.amazon.com/dp/0692921931/ref=cm_sw_r_em_apa_VCncAb29TBHCK) that appeared on Amazon’s selection of fiction books. This collection of eighteen fiction stories with a cover of my painting of clothes hanging on a line is two hundred and eight pages of places where I’ve lived and traveled that include Woodstock, NY, CA, Bermuda and Italy. Truth and fiction are mixed with romance and lovers focused on relationships. The title domestic shorts is a play on words. Rereading these stories takes me on a memory trip of my life.
Time travel back to Livingston, NJ in 1980 when I held the published copy of my first book Where To Go With Your Lover. I remember the thrill of seeing and feeling the slim, shiny cover with a picture of two roses in a bud vase painted by a friend. It housed fifty-two pages of places to wine, dine and stay in the metropolitan area of NY and NJ, the Berkshires and Bermuda with memoir stories set in some of those locations. This little book opened the way for me to pursue my career in writing and publishing.
I’ve traveled far from that first published book to now and I’m just as thrilled today to see my seventh book and first to be offered on Amazon. I sit in front of my computer in my studio in Sarasota, FL and see the book with its cover, ISBN number and information how to purchase it. I congratulate myself on the journey that has taken me up and down hills and valleys and my determination to pursue a career that began as a desire in childhood to grow up to be a published writer.
October 2, 2017
Ronni Miller’s private practice has expanded and includes several new packages and perks. As Book Midwife-Writing Coach she is available to all writers of all stages in their evolvement. She specializes in memoir, fiction, and poetry manuscripts. Ronni is sensitive to the process of birthing material as a published writer of fiction, poetry, nonfiction and plays for over fifty years, and has won awards for her short stories. You can work with her in person, over the telephone, Skype or Face Time, and discuss your project with her free of charge before arrangements are made to work together. See her website www.writitout.com for more details. Her contact information is RMillerWIO@gmail.com or 941-359-3824.
She is former editor of magazines, public relation director in corporations, copywriter in advertising agencies and educator in public and private schools, colleges and hospitals. Ronni brings insight, curiosity, experience and positive feedback to her clients. She is above all sensitive to the birthing process and encourages her clients with gentleness to discover their own unique voices in writing resulting in development of self-confidence and self-esteem.
She created and developed Write It Out®, a motivational and expressive writing program in 1992 and has facilitated workshops throughout the US, Italy and Bermuda ever since guiding people to express their feelings, memories and experiences. James W. Pennebaker, PhD, internationally known and leading researcher in the field of Expressive Writing (Opening Up) has endorsed her Write It Out program and book Cocoon To Butterfly: A Metamorphosis of Personal Growth Through Expressive Writing. The Write It Out program has additionally segued into the healthcare field where Ronni facilitates workshops and works privately with cancer survivors.
Most of her clients have published their projects. As Book Midwife she can help you birth your book from inception to delivery.
This is the beginning of my blog to share with you thoughts, feelings and experiences of years of traveling. The places I’ve been and return to as often as possible, have fed my imagination as much as given me a sense of peace and balance. My home base in Sarasota , Florida is a place of work and reflection. Much of my written opus reflects my life and experiences both true and fictionalized that are set in places I’ve lived such as rural New York farms, Tuscany hills and valleys, Venetian canals and alleyways, and talculm powdered beaches on the rock, Bermuda. It is with my life long experiences as a writer and teacher sensitized to the human experience that I offer my clients guidance as Book Midwife-writing coach. These blogs will appear as often as possible on my website www.writeitout.com and you’re welcome to comment.
September 30, 2017
My first sight of Cyprus trees made me sigh with a feeling of peace that I had returned home. Traveling by car on the road leading to Villa Le Barone, Panzano in Chianti, Italy, a five star hotel near Siena late August 2017 I felt embraced once again by the hills and valleys covered in grape vines and olive trees.
I’ve been traveling to Italy for the past fifty years. The countryside of Tuscany is where a branch of my literary life began as a young married woman with three children aged three, five and seven and neophyte writer. Years ago I had made arrangements to stay for a week in the hills outside of Siena so that we could observe the festivities surrounding the Palio, the famous horse race operating since the Medieval ages. I was unaware at the time that Villa Solia was owned by Arturo Vivante, a novelist and short story writer and recipient of the Katherine Anne Porter award for literature. My meeting with Arturo was beshert, (destiny) since it set me on my path as an autobiographical fiction writer, as he was. He mentored me through decades of our friendship and was also my writer-in-residence at many Tuscan writing workshops until his death a few years ago.
The 10th C church down the dirt road from the Villa Le Barone where our retreat was held this year as they have for many, tolled the hours and kept us on course through the day and night. It was the reminder of time rolling on through the centuries, of humans living out their lives close to the land and harvesting tradition in both food and culture. We responded through words and paints to our own relationships to the land.
Travel has been in my blood since infancy when my father, a lawyer, a romantic and first generation American had the yen to see and experience different places and countries always taking me, my mother, and subsequent siblings on trips from our city apartment in New Jersey and later home in the suburbs. Much of travel in my early years was by car, and childhood summers were spent on dairy farms in the New York Catskill mountains where farmers took in guests. It’s no wonder that the rural countryside still calls to me.
On a trip with parents and siblings by ship from New York to Southampton, England at the end of my junior year at Boston University we traveled by train to and through northern European countries until we arrived one rainy, August day in Venice. We were welcomed with open arms by the motorman who taxied us to the Royal Danielle Hotel. That evening I stepped out on the balcony. The full moon shone on the Grand Canal below and the gondoliers sang with no passengers in their gondolas. I who has studied ballet and theater saw this as a live stage setting and I fell in love at that moment with a country and a people, a love that has never left me.
La Serenissima, Venice massages my curiosity, as with all lovers a sense of mystery stimulates interest. Year after year I return to the canals, bridges and winding alleys around the time of my birthday to mark the occasion of my adolescent love. These unexplained ingredients have provided much of my opus of stories and plays.
I flew to New York on the heels of my return from Italy and survival of hurricane Irma in Sarasota, Florida my home base. Once again I felt calmed by the Catskill mountains in Woodstock, New York and neighboring rural farm community of Greenville, New York. Woodstock had taken me in years ago when I was fraught with imbalance, unsure of a direction after a divorce, attempts to find a soul mate and sustain myself financially. The epiphany I had one winter morning over twenty-six years ago as I sat at my desk in my home studio in Lake Hill (a hamlet of Woodstock) in the eclectic pine cabin I built surrounded by mountains and fields of undulating hay provided the direction for my life. Write It Out was born that moment in my cabin of pine and glass. I’m forever grateful for that experience that has given me the opportunity to write, teach and guide others to find their centers through writing.
This was the 23rd year for my annual one week intensive writing workshop in the farm community of Greenville, NY where we again, as in all of my workshops focus on the sensory experiences of both inner and outer world. A student gave me a peach from her tree. “All organic. More than organic,” Jane said. It was the sweetest fruit I’d tasted. Another student Barbara brought in flowers from her garden, one a huge purple zinnia, “My favorite color”. I remarked. “Keep the jar,” she said. “It’s an old canning jar of my mother’s.” Still another student Roberta brought in green peppers from her farm. Last month her grown son died suddenly from a massive heart attack as he was haying their fields. That day she was dressed in pink and wrote about the joy of seeing his pictures as a young child. Coming to class and writing was her way of finding peace and continuing with life.
I’m felt embraced by the mountains once again. The roads were devoid of traffic and wound up and down and around past cows grazing and fields of shucked corn as I drove forty-five minutes each morning and returned early afternoon to and from Greenville from my dwelling in Woodstock. It was my pleasure to hear the written stories of their childhood chores that included Jan picking boulders from the soil and placing them on a “stone boat” to be made into stone fences and allowed plants to flourish into sustainable crops or Jane helping to can with the ritual of sitting on the front porch in the shade at six years old peeling the just par- boiled tomatoes with a sister while sipping fresh lemonade.
The drive back on the thruway to Albany, New York and two flights back to Sarasota, Florida were long, but fortunately uneventful. Flights were smooth and luggage arrived on the carousel intact.
This is a quiet, reflective time before classes begin next week. Clients have waited for my return and we’ve already begun our sessions and I’m involved with their stories, always a pleasurable activity.
Harvesting memories is a phrase I heard mentioned in the Greenville class and traveling is just as much a mind time to harvest these memories and write about them.
If you want help with putting your stories into a book I’m just a phone call 941-359-3824 or e-mail RMillerWIO@gmail.com away.
Enjoy.
Ronni
Registration is still open for WIO’s Tuscany Writing Retreat Workshop August 25-September 2, 2017. See www.writeitout.com for details.
The Creative Incubation Space is a for writers and artists to develop new pieces and works-in-progress at a home studio in Sarasota, FL. Space is open on Tuesday May 23, 30, and June 6, 2017 from 1:30-4:30. Facilitated by Ronni Miller. Registration and fee. Contact Ronni RMillerWIO@gmail.com or 941-359-3824.
Don’t miss the chance of a lifetime to spend a few days by the sea in June on the Cape and a week in the Tuscan hills in August. Experience the immersion into New England coastal and historic Italian culture at two of my favorite places where I’ve facilitated workshops for years. Relax and express yourself through writing and painting while enjoying individual attention and like-minded camaraderie.
The deadline has been pushed forward to April 5th!!
See the attached flyers or check out the information on www.writeitout.com my website.
C’mon along for a wonderful time.
Ronni
Feel It! Write It! Write It Out’s famed one day expressive writing workshop will be held on Saturday, November 19, 2016 at The Longboat
Key Education Center 5370 Gulf of Mexico Dr.
Longboat Key, FL from 1:00-4:00 PM. Novice and seasoned writers welcome to enjoy expressing your story in any genre. Exercises from the Write It Out® program now entering it’s 25th year will be experienced. Ronni Miller founder of the Program will facilitate the workshop. Contact 941-383-8811 to register. Members of Education Center-$45, nonmembers $50.
Ronni Miller author and founder of Write It Out® will present Feel It! Write It! a free interactive presentation on Thursday, Sept 29, 2016 from 3-4PM at Kobernick House 1951 N. Honore Ave. Sarasota, FL. All are welcome.
In 1992, Ronni Miller had an idea that would change the course of her life, as well as the lives of many others. Inspired by her love of writing, as well as her background in advertising and teaching, she started Write It Out, a motivational expressive writing program for people of all ages designed to achieve inner happiness through writing. Over the past 24 years, Ronni taught thousands of people how to connect with themselves in order to understand their own stories, using a variety of techniques: warm up exercises, writing activities, positive feedback from peers and projects ranging from memoirs to fiction to poetry to plays.
After 10 years of working with individuals of all ages, Ronni moved into the health care space, teaching workshops at hospitals in Sarasota, Florida. Four years ago, she started working with the Center for Building Hope, a non-profit offering free information, programs and services to cancer patients and their family members and caregivers. At the Center for Building Hope, her expressive writing programs have proven an excellent match for people dealing with cancer, as well as loved ones caring for family members or friends undergoing treatments.
In these classes, people often write about their feelings and frustrations, sometimes touching on their diagnosis, but also their memories, hopes, and dreams. Ronni’s mission is to make the program as positive as possible; many patients and caregivers’ attitudes have changed tremendously as they use writing as an outlet for their emotions. One woman, coping with her husband’s cancer diagnosis and resulting anger and depression, used fiction as a way to come to terms with everything happening in their marriage. Another, a breast cancer patient who was initially unenthusiastic about the concept of expressive writing, ultimately found that poetry helped her express herself; now, her poems and illustrations are published, a testament to what she achieved through Ronni’s class.
The success of the Write It Out program is immense, and Ronni truly believes it’s her mission in life: to help people find their place in their journey and to show how positivity makes a huge difference in coming to grips or terms with where you are, physically, emotionally, and mentally. The act of expression through writing has positively impacted patients and caregivers alike, giving them an outlet and means of expressing themselves during trying times.
published March 18, 2015 on Spectra Care an internet site.
WRITE YOUR STORY
A workshop for those who desire to continue work on a manuscript of memoir, fiction or poetry as well as experience Write It Out® exercises to stimulate creativity. The workshop is facilitated by Ronni Miller an award winning fiction writer, founder and developer of the Write It Out program. The first term is June 7-28, 2016 1:00-3:00 PM. The second term is July 5-26, 2016. They are held at L’Ambiance on Longboat Key, Florida. Costs: $90 per person per term. Registration required in advance. Contact: Ronni at RMillerWIO@gmail.com or 941-359-3824. See www.writeitout.com for more offerings.
Ronni Miller, Book Midwife has openings in her private practice. r coaching you to birth your book from inception to delivery. She works in person and also over Skype with clients all over the country. Contact her at RMillerWIO@gmail.com or at 941-359-3824 for a free consultation.
Ronni Miller, Founder and Director of Write It Out facilitates her Write It Out expressive writing workshops for the Cancer Support & Wellness program for the Jewish Family and Children’s Services. The workshop is now located at Temple Beth Shalom, 1050 S. Tuttle Avenue, Sarasota. The workshops are ongoing on Wednesday afternoons from 2:00-3:30 PM. The workshop is free to anyone that has been impacted by cancer whether recovering individual or a family member. No registration is required. For more information contact Bambi Furtado, Director of Cancer Support and Wellness 941-366-2224 ext. 167 or Ronni Miller 941-359-3824.
Ronni Miller, founder and director of Write It Out® was just elected and installed as fourth vice president of the National League of American Pen Women on April 30, 2016. Installation was in Washington, DC, headquarters of the National League of American Pen Women. She will be responsible to oversee outreach projects of the NLAPW branches throughout the US.
May 14, 2016 at the Selby Library, Sarasota, FL 11AM-12:30 PM
Ronni Miller will moderator the panel of three artists: writer Brenda Spalding, artist Lolly Owens and dancer/writer Dina Labes on their life journeys as creative artists. All participants are members of the National League of American Pen Women, Sarasota Branch. This is an outreach project sponsored by the National League of American Pen Women to educate, stimulate and encourage the public to use the creative arts to enrich their lives. The program is free and open to the public.
Sunday May 8, 2016 at 4:00 PM
The Hecht School
Jewish Federation of Sarasota-Manatee Campus
582 McIntosh Road, Sarasota, FL
Ronni Miller, award winning fiction author, will reveal a glimpse of the hills and valleys of her Jewish life as a writer and how that connected to her spiritual journey when interviewed by Terry Wohl, health and wellness writer. Miller’s writing since childhood includes autobiographical material published in short stories, poetry, memoir, essays, nonfiction and children’s books as well as in performed plays. She will also facilitate an expressive writing exercise from Write It Out® her motivational and expressive writing program since 1992 that she teaches in the US and Italy. This event is co-sponsored by the Association of Professional and Aspiring Jewish Artists (APJA) and Jewish Federation. A $5 donation at the door is suggested.
August 16th -19th, 2016
Join us for our annual summer retreat in Wellfleet on the Cape to write, paint, relax and experience a New England fishing village with literary and artistic roots. See www.writeitout.com for more details.
October 23rd -30th, 2016
Join us for our Italian sojourn to write, paint, relax, absorb Tuscan culture and food at a Renaissance villa now a four star hotel in the Chianti hills of Italy. See www.writeitout.com for more details.
Sunday, February 28, 2016 3:00-5:00 PM
Enjoy sharing your original writing, art, craft, music, dance or theater piece in our home setting. Nibbles welcome. Tea and coffee provided.
Call Ronni @941-359-3814 or e-mail her @ RMillerWIO@gmail.com
for details.
“Understanding My Roots” by Ronni Miller was published on line August 3, 2015 on The Jewish Writing Project. See: https://jewishwritingproject.wordpress.com/2015/08/03/understanding-my-roots/
and enjoy reading it.
Ronni Miller, award winning author, founder and director of Write It Out® has just published her essay “An Epiphany” in The Light Between Us: Stories of Healing Through Creative Expression published by Pen Women Press. Ronni’s essay tells the story of how an epiphany in her eclectic cabin in Woodstock, NY saved her life when she suffered a loss and created a motivational and expressive writing program to help her and others heal through writing. The book will be available by August, 2015 and you can purchase a copy for $11 plus $4.00 postage by sending a check made out to and sent to the National League of American Pen Women, 1300 17th St. NW Washington, DC 20036-1973. Please note on your correspondence that your check is for The Light Between Us with information where to mail the book.
Miller author of Cocoon To Butterfly: A Metamorphosis of Personal Growth Through Expressive Writing among other books has a private practice as Book Midwife and speaks on the value of expressive writing for personal growth as well as facilitating expressive writing workshops throughout the US and Italy. See www.writeitout.com for more information.
The tuition for the upcoming 2015 October Writing Retreat in Tuscany facilitated by Ronni Miller for Write It Out has been reduced. The tuition is now $550 for the course. Registration is required by August 10, 2015. Please see www.writeitout.com for more details.
On June 20, 2015 the first Artists’ Journey Panel Discussion was held at the Pen Arts Building, headquarters of the National League of American Pen Women. Four board members in letters, arts and music shared their life journeys in their arts with questions from the audience. This outreach project was conceived, orchestrated and moderated by Ronni Miller, Outreach Chair for National and her Sarasota, FL branch. The program was well received by the public who attended and has inspired other Pen Women branches around the country to include this presentation in their agenda as an outreach project.
The Artists Journey Panel Discussion will be presented on Saturday, June 27, 2015 at 10 AM at Keeton’s Office & Art Supply at 817 Manatee Avenue, Bradenton, FL. Three professional creative women: Lolly Owens, artist, Alice Moerk, musician and Brenda Spalding writer will present a ninety -minute interactive talk focused on their process and personal stories from dream to reality. These stories are offered as a way to inspire and educate the public on the importance of creativity for healthy living. Moderator, writer Ronni Miller will encourage the audience to participate in in a question and answer session. All of the panel participants are board members of the National League of American Pen Women, Sarasota Branch, a national organization for professional, creative women with branches all over the United States. The program is free and open to the public. Please call Keeton’s at 941-747-2995 to reserve your seat.
You’re invited to a SUNDAY SALON
“VIVA L’ITALIA Sunday, February 22, 2015
4:00 PM at Ronni’s studio in Sarasota, FL.
Contact Ronni at RMillerWIO@aol.com for directions. Bring your ORIGINAL piece of writing art, photograph, craft, song or acting preferably with an Italian connection.
The salon, a tradition at Ronni’s, is to share our creativity with like-minded people.
Tea and coffee will be provided.
Ronni Miller will give a book reading and signing of her newest book Cocoon To Butterfly: A Metamorphosis of Personal Growth Through Expressive Writing on April 19, 2015 at 4 PM at Trade Roots 5852 N. Washington Blvd., Arlington, VA. The presentation will include remarks on the value of expressive writing and a mini writing workshop.
Cocoon To Butterfly: A Metamorphosis of Personal Growth Through Expressive Writing by Ronni Miller was recently reviewed in The Pen Woman magazine- Winter 2015. Ronni is the National Outreach Chair for the National League Of American Pen Women. Her book was reviewed by writer Kay Cornelius. The book is available for purchase on Ronni’s website www.writeitout.com.
On December 16, 2014 Ronni Miller was appointed national Outreach Chair for the National League of American Pen Women. As a part of her duties she will generate a column Outreach Speaks for Pen Woman, the national magazine.
On January 2, 2015 Ronni Miller, founder and director of Write It Out® added Life Coach services to her private practice as Book Midwife. She has guided individuals over the last twenty-three years to develop self-confidence, self-esteem and organizational skills through the process of writing manuscripts. As experienced facilitator Ronni offers these same services to those who are unsure of the next phase of life’s path after suffering loss and or life altering events using similar techniques honed in her Write It Out program. Ronni’s unique sensitive and insightful approach enables individuals to connect with their essential selves to evolve and find happiness. Ronni is available in person or through Skype. Call 941-359-3824 or e-mail her at RMillerWIO@aol.com to make an appointment.
Ronni Miller will be interviewed about her journey as a published author at the “Jewish Artists Explore” Program on Sunday March 8, 2015 at the Jewish Federation of Sarasota-Manatee, 580 McIntosh Rd. Sarasota at 4:00 PM. The theme of the Program is the “Exodus Process” and how individuals evolve. Ronni will also offer a brief hands-on exercise from her Write It Out® program related to her expertise in expressive writing.
Ronni Miller, award winning author, Founder & Director of Write It Out® will speak on Saturday, November 15, 2014 at 11:00 AM at the Braden River Library, Bradenton, FL on her experiences as a novelist and the process of expressive writing. It is free to the public.
Ronni Miller has extended the hours for her private Book Midwife practice beginning in November, 2014. Ronni will guide you through the process from birth to delivery of your book of nonfiction or fiction. The process of writing a book requires focus and commitment. Encouragement and suggestions from a professional author and editor is invaluable on your journey. Take advantage of the one-hour free consultation to discuss your ideas for a book or management of a collection of pieces planned for a book. FREE one-hour consultation. Appointments in person and by Skype or phone. Call 941-359-3824 or RMillerWIO@aol.com for e-mail.
Ronni Miller, Founder and Director of Write It Out® (WIO) will appear late fall on the internet on the Health Support Network (www.healthsupoortnetwork.org) program. She will facilitate several free on-going video exercises from her Write It Out program guiding individuals to express their stories for the purposes of personal growth and wellness. Ronni celebrates twenty- three years of the WIO program she created and teaches throughout the country and in Italy. Ronni also has a private practice as a Book Midwife, helping people birth their books from concept to delivery.
Book Midwife, Ronni Miller is available to help you birth your book from conception to delivery. Reasonable rates. Contact: RMillerWIO@aol.com
SUMMER WRITING WORKSHOP
with
award winning author
RONNI MILLER
Thursday 1:30-3:30 PM
June 26, July 3, 10, 17, 24, 31, Aug 7, 2014
Tuition: $315 or $310 . for early registration before the first class.
Individual classes @ $50 on request.
Registration: RMillerWIO@aol.com 941-359-3824
Pinehurst Village, Sarasota
e-mail for directions
WRITING RETREATS
Cape Cod: August 18-22, 2014 Tuscany: October 19-26, 2014
See www.writeitout.com for details.
Jim read an article in his local newspaper on the work Ronni Miller had done over twenty years with clients, students and expressive writing. He emailed her and briefly described his inability to express feelings that he felt impacted his personal and work life. He wanted to make an appointment. Three months later he is involved writing a novel working through details of his tortured childhood, and has renewed confidence in his ability to express his feelings with friends and colleagues.
Frank came to a Write It Out workshop several months after he suddenly became blind from unknown causes. He thought his life had ended the morning he woke and discovered his world of blackness. Within days of attending class he began to write, something he had never done before, and discovered he could express his sadness and fear through poems. It is several years later and he now has three books of poems and seven awards for his writing and inspires others through lectures on how to find happiness and completeness through expressive writing.
Shirley a teacher passed an outdoor billboard at her local library that advertised in bold letters a creative writing class. Depressed after the birth of her son and a botched delivery as she calls it that caused him irreparable damage she signed up for the class and cried through most of the first sessions until she began to write out her story. The class was supportive. She cried less and wrote more and felt for the first time in months that she was beginning to regain her self worth as she released her guilt at being responsible for her son’s tragedy. Today she has put together a book of poems with her own paintings that illustrate the journey she and her son have taken as he’s grown through the years and how proud she is of his positive outlook and endurance of his physical handicaps.
The above people whose real names are changed to protect their privacy are just a few of the case histories of thousands of others who have benefited by the Write It Out method and program.
Expressive writing also known as emotional writing is one of the best ways to
• reduce stress
• relieve anxiety
• release frustration, anger and sadness
and
• improve wellness
• improve symptoms of disease
• improve positive thinking.
The Write It Out® program has guided thousands of individuals of all ages over the past twenty- one years to express feelings, memories and experiences through all forms of writing for the purposes of personal growth and wellness. Simple yet powerful exercises in the Write It Out program have encouraged individuals to open up and reveal their inner thoughts and outer experiences through writing. All Write It Out workshops provide a safe, nurturing environment for individuals to share all kinds of writing including journal entries, letters, poems, fiction, essays, articles, speeches, and theater pieces.
The Write It Out program fosters mind body wellness by providing sensory, warm-up exercises and activities that motivate individuals to remember and reveal their experiences through writing. Positive feedback that recognizes honesty of expression in writing builds self-worth and self-esteem. These elements alone add to the process of developing wellness for individuals who have suffered life altering experiences from bodily disease and injury as well as mind-altering conditions from anger, frustration, loss and sadness. The creative act of writing out personal and emotional thoughts feelings and experiences, ridding them from internal stress relieves the burden to the system that may cause health problems.
Expressive writing has been clinically proven by scientific research to reduce stress, relieve anxiety and release anger, frustration and sadness and thereby aids in the process of healthy wellness. The research work of James W. Pennebaker, Ph.D is well known in the field of expressive writing and his books and workbook on the subject have helped thousands of individuals.
Ronni Miller created the Write It Out program in 1992 based on her own experiences as a writer, educator and individual who evolved through her own childhood and adult traumatic experiences through expressive writing. Her story is exposed in her new book Cocoon To Butterfly: A Metamorphosis of Personal Growth Through Expressive Writing that is available on www.writieitout.com her website. Dr. Pennebaker has endorsed her book with the words: “ There is now compelling evidence that writing about your thoughts and feelings on important events can have beneficial effects for your physical and mental health…This is the kind of book that can provide personal insight to the value of writing.”
Some people shy away from writing fearing a lack of confidence with grammar, spelling, and sentence structure. For the purposes of personal growth it is not necessary to know any of the rules of the language in order to express feelings and experiences with words. Expressive or emotional writing is done for each individual alone. You may at some point want to share your story with others, and of course this is entirely possible. What is most important is that you release the thoughts from the internal mind and body in order to feel lighter and healthier. Expressive writing is a simple way to feel relief and welcome wellness.
A few of the places where the Write It Out Program has been Presented since it began in 1992:
Sarasota Memorial Hospital, FL
Center For Building Hope (Formerly the Cancer Community) FL
Women’s Resource Center of Sarasota, FL
Drs. Lerner & Cohen, MD, FL
The State College of Florida, FL
Ringling College of Art & Design, FL
Longboat Key Education Center, FL
Tuttle Elementary, FL
Selby Library, FL
Ulster County Community College, NY
Greenville Library, NY
Bermuda College, Bermuda
La Sosta a’ Busini, Italy
Villa Le Barone, Italy
The Holden Inn, MA
National League of American Pen Women Conference, Washington, DC, FL,
The National Association of Poetry Therapy Conference, MA
National League Of American Pen Women webinar on “The Value of Expressive Writing”
Write It Out® is a motivational and expressive writing program for individuals of all ages. It was founded and developed by Ronni Miller in1992. She facilitates workshops in the US and Italy and has a private practice in Sarasota, FL. See www.writeitout.com for more information.
See the article in the Sarasota Herald Tribune on Ronni Miller’s work with Expressive writing.
A new incubation space for writers to express
feelings, memories and experiences in all genres of writing.
Beginning May 15, 2014 1:30-3:30 PM at Ronni’s studio in Sarasota, FL. Call 941-359-3824 or e-mail RMillerWIO@aol.com for more information.
March 14, 2014: APJA (Association of Professional Jewish Artists) member Ronni Miller recently won the 2nd place award in Flash Fiction for her latest story “Curse Of Brides” from the National League of American Pen Women. The story was inspired by a sculpture by Wolfe Zucker, another member of the APJA community.
The Winter Escapades Salon was held at Ronni’s home studio in Sarasota, FL on Sunday, March 2, 2014. Twenty-two writers and artists attended and shared their work.
Following is an excerpt written by one of the participants an artist and writer about her reactions to the event.
A Sunday Afternoon Salon
by Joni Duane
Having faith my “Tom Tom” would guide me; I drove to an unfamiliar place for an unfamiliar event. As I turned into the subdivision I navigated the curvy road at the posted 15 miles an hour speed limit. Peacefulness settled over me as I passed home after home canopied with vegetation that cast a blue haze in the stillness. I was struck by the variety of one hue, green; there were blue greens, yellow green, Kelly greens as well as saturated greens and less intense greens…
We all had time to meet and greet as we tasted good tidbits with a glass of wine. The ringing of the bell signaled for us to be seated…
Sitting in a circle, those who wanted to, shared their writings…and art…all (shared) their appreciation for the struggle we all go through to create, express and entertain. Thank you Ronni for providing the casual and comfortable atmosphere in which to express ourselves and for your expert guidance and encouragement. What a delightful afternoon. You have opened up a whole new world to me.
Ronni will facilitate her Feel It! Write It! workshops at two Sarasota, Florida Libraries on April 11, 2014 2-3 PM at Gulf Gate Library and April 17, 2014 5-6 PM at the Jacaranda Library. She will speak about the benefits of expressive writing and read selections from her books: Dance With The Elephants-Free your Creativity And Write and Cocoon To Butterfly-A Metamorphosis of Personal Growth Through Expressive Writing. Both books are available through the Sarasota County Library System and for sale on www.writeitout.com her website. The workshops are free to the public.
Ronni will read from Domestic Shorts, her collection of short stories on April 4, 2014 at 1:30 PM at the Center For Building Hope, 5481 Communications Parkway, Sarasota, FL. This event is part of a two day Art Showcase presented by the Association of Professional Jewish Artists. A musical performance will follow the reading. There is no cover charge.
Write It Out now offers a unique, new writing tutor and coach service for students of all ages. This service based on the Write It Out philosophy, methods and techniques has a dual purpose to develop writing skills as well as building self-confidence and self-esteem. Exercises stimulate creativity and imagination and guide individuals to utilize the skills of craft, organization and development. These are valuable skills for students in high school, college and people in the workplace who are preparing essays and work-related materials. Ronni, the Founder and Director of Write It Out personally brings her recognized talents of teaching, sensitivity, listening and insight used in her classrooms to her private students. Award-winning author of fiction stories and a children’s book as well as published writer of books, essays, poems, plays and professional editor and educator, Ronni shares her valuable experiences with her students. In-person, long distance learning by phone, Skype or internet available. Contact Ronni at RMillerWIO@aol.com or 941-359-3824 for an appointment.
Ronni Miller facilitated a successful expressive writing workshop at the Florida State Association National League Of American Pen Women Conference on November 8, 2013 in Daytona Beach, FL. guiding professional writers, artists and musicians to express feelings, memories and experiences to help initiate their creative projects.
Ronni received an award for her adult, fiction short story “Dead” from the Florida State Association National League Of American Pen Women November, 2013.
Join us to share original writing, art, music, dance or theater pieces at Ronni’s in Sarasota, FL. Contact RMillerWIO@aol.com for more information and to reserve a seat.
The popular WIO tradition of giving voice and view to artists, writers, musicians and craft people begun several years ago, will continue on Sunday afternoons beginning in November at Ronni’s home-studio in Pinehurst Village, Sarasota. Dates will be posted on “Events” before November on our website www.writeitout.com Seating is limited so please reserve a spot 941-359-3824 or RMillerWIO@aol.com Pick-up desserts, snacks and wine are welcome.