The Way of StoryWriting Changes Everything
Writing Changes Everything The hardest part is sitting down. Catherine Ann Jones There are many necessary shifts as we get older, and this can often be quite confusing. For instance, if one’s mind is active and feels no older than twenty-eight, it comes as something of a shock when the body does not follow […]
Looking Back, Growing Forward
New York, 1970s Looking Back, Growing Forward by Catherine Ann Jones We learn from all those mentors who go before. The debt is large and the only way to re-pay this debt is to pay it forward in our work and teaching. While researching through my papers for a book I’m currently writing, a […]
Stories Come from Unexpected Places
Stories Come from Unexpected Places “It is a still stranger thing that there is nothing so delightful in the world as telling stories.” Virginia Woolf A therapist friend challenged me to write children’s stories taken from my own childhood memories. He further asked me to come every so often and share these stories […]
A Clarion Call for Creativity
A Clarion Call for Creativity The privilege of a lifetime is being who you are. Joseph Campbell In response to the political turmoil of 2016, which left so many of us dispirited, arose a clarion call for democracy. Democratic freedom was threatened and America responded with group-centered response and courageous resilience. This movement is […]
A Time of Uncertainty
John Keats A Time of Uncertainty by Catherine Ann Jones “Awakening: self-giving in the hope of honest self-realization.” In a debate with the English Poet and philosopher, Coleridge, poet John Keats defended a willingness to embrace uncertainty, live with mystery, and make peace with ambiguity. He called this willingness to embrace […]
How to Choose Your Story
“A true writer is someone for whom writing is more difficult than it is for others.” – Thomas Mann “My job is to focus on how to make the book or script better and accessible to a wide audience without betraying the author’s vision.” Catherine Ann Jones, Writing Consultant Writers […]
Writers Conference and Workshops
Every six months in Ojai, CA, I offer a Way of Story Sat workshop for small groups. Some return again and again using the 1-day experiential workshop as a jump start for their own writing. (Register early for Discount!) THE WAY OF STORY in OJAI with Catherine Ann Jones Saturday, March 11 (10-4pm) […]
The Need for Catharsis
It is the time for viewing Oscar screeners before voting. With few exceptions, I find less and less films I wish to see, let alone hail for an Oscar. So far, the best (in my opinion) is Lion, a moving film set in Calcutta and Australia, about a lost child adopted by Australian parents and […]
Play Productions & Awards
Awards & Productions of the Plays of Catherine Ann Jones (formerly Katherine Rao) Freud’s Oracle (published 2016; available on amazon.com) The Ojai Retreat, Ojai, CA Creativity and Madness, Santa Fe, NM http://wayofstory.com/freuds-oracle-standing-ovation-santa-fe-nm/ Women of Resilience, New Orleans, LA Pacifica Graduate Institute, Santa Barbara, CA http://www.pacifica.edu/current-public/item/freuds-oracle Krotona Institute, Ojai, CA A Fairytale for Adults […]
“Look out! Watch! Listen! A dream is dreaming through you.”
A Conversation between P. L. Travers (Mary Poppins) & Laurens Van Der Post (The Heart of the Hunter) Travers: I wonder when everyone there has a gun and a television set, what will happen to the ancient lore? Only today I was reading of the increasing number of suicides among those who leave the wild […]