Additional information
by Maisha Z. Johnson (Author)
Writing can be one of many powerful tools we have for surviving trauma and taking care of ourselves so we can continue to thrive. Through Your Own Words offers fifty-one dynamic prompts to help readers cultivate and grow a practice of writing for self-care. Author Maisha Z. Johnson is a writer, creative facilitator, and survivor of trauma with an MFA in Poetry. She pulls from her own experiences and her healing work with others to give you prompts that can lead to a greater awareness of the body and emotions, help you make sense of things, and foster reflection on your own best practices for self-care. Now, you can draw on your own knowledge as a guide for healing.
Anyone, including beginning and experienced writers and writers of fiction, poetry, and personal journals, can build their capacity for creative self-expression with this book's straight-forward ideas for writing.
Workshop participants who worked with these prompts said:
"Thoughtful prompts...smart, creative, and insightful. I feel so much openness about writing."
"Challenged me to explore, write even when I felt stuck. Great prompts."
"Such a great tool to go back to as a way of calming myself down."
Author Biography
Maisha Z. Johnson is a writer and creative facilitator living in Oakland, CA. Through writing and arts and healing workshops, she lifts up voices of those who are often silenced, including LGBTQ people, people of color, and survivors of violence. Maisha is the author of the poetry book No Parachutes to Carry Me Home (Punk Hostage Press 2015) and of three chapbooks, Queer As In (Inkblot Arts 2014), Uprooted (Gorilla Press 2014), and Split Ears (Aggregate Space 2014). Maisha studied creative writing at San Francisco State University and earned her MFA in Poetry from Pacific University. Her work has won several competitions, been published in numerous journals, and nominated twice for a Pushcart Prize. She has been a featured reader at literary events and social justice rallies throughout the Bay Area, and she blogs about the relationship between writing and social change.
