ALF Story Labs: Connection Through Writing (VIA ZOOM)

Back by popular demand...ALF Story Labs with Katie McCleary (Class XIX)

These ALF Story Labs provide the sustenance you need to embark upon the writing life. You will evolve by experimenting with your voice and memory. You will excavate the stories that have mattered in your life, remember the forgotten ones, and illuminate what makes them meaningful.

Also, you will listen to the powerful stories of likeminded leaders, understand how stories work and why, learn craft by doing and listening, and leave affirmed, energized, and prepared to continue on this creative path… even when the demands of life take over.

Story Lab Sessions (All sessions will be from 3pm – 5pm):

• Thursday, May 28
• Thursday, June 4
• Thursday, June 11
• Thursday, June 18

So, what happens in an ALF Story Lab?

What you will need? Everything you need will be provided, except a laptop, internet, pen, and paper. Show up in what makes you comfortable. You are free to write nonfiction, lyrical essays, fiction, poetry, hybrid prose, vignettes, memoir, screenplays, or in your own genre and style. Nothing is off limits. Confidentiality will be confirmed by each participant at the beginning of each Story Lab.

1. Katie introduces the writing prompt and inspiration for the lab. The prompts are tangible everyday things with an inspirational theme to help you launch. You do not have to write to the writing prompt… you are free to write whatever comes to mind.
2. We write for 15-30 minutes.
3. We share our writing using a set of ground rules that Katie establishes during each Story Lab. You can share what you’ve written during the session… or not… the labs are 100% pressure-free environment.
4. If you are brave enough to share, you will be fully supported given that what you’ve shared is first-draft writing. Katie provides careful facilitation during the share session. The feedback is positive, focused on the craft of writing, and doesn’t devolve into the personal or become “therapy.”
5. We close with a piece of inspiration or a craft lesson to keep you writing until the next Story Lab.

Lastly, what we write about varies each session—each one is a delicious surprise (and designed that way given Katie’s pedagogical philosophy). As a teaser, the first session’s writing prompt is about keys and doors.

Katie’s ALF Story Lab Testimonies from ALF Fellows:

“Katie is the consummate teacher, mentor, and role model. Her classes effortlessly taught me how to channel my inner writer within a safe and collaborative community. She fosters a fun, energized, and dynamic learning environment sure to appeal to all ages.” —Stacy McAfee, President and CEO of University College of the Cayman Islands (former VP of University of the Pacific).

“Katie McCleary is not only a wonderful writer, but she is also a generous, inspiring teacher. She pushes you to just write! Once the words are on the page, she lovingly guides you through a critique that makes you want to be a better writer.” — Stephanie McLemore Bray, fiction writer and CEO of United Way California Capital Region.

“Katie has been truly a magical outlet for me… a journey of empathy, creativity, and stillness. The compassion and commitment that I’ve received has been top of the line.” - Dr. Michael Marion, Jr., Chief, Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education for the State of California and Author of “Sketch.”

“Katie's class was unforgettable. Writing slows time and allows things to surface. With the 'no judgment' environment and evocative exercises, every class produced new and surprising personal insights. I am still leaning into the door she opened for me.” - Susan Frazier, Retired ALF Facilitator.

About Katie:

Katie McCleary, MFA, is a social entrepreneur and changemaker driven to make the world less lonely and more connected through the sharing of authentic stories by unique voices. She is the founder of Paper Wings Creative and 916 Ink, two impact-based organizations that transform ideas and stories into tangible experiences that enrich human lives, seed the economy, and strengthen communities. She is the host of The Drive Podcast, a collaboration between the American Leadership Forum and Capital Public Radio which features the personal stories of Sacramento's prominent changemakers on the road to leadership. Mashable.com heralded Katie as a “Real Miss America,” with fifteen other nationwide women for her work with vulnerable communities in 2015. She has helped published more than 4200 people as a prominent writing coach, teacher, community leader, and adjunct professor over the past 18 years. She has written with more than 6,500 people and with nearly every kind of person… from children to Senators to prisoners to foster youth to C-suite executives. Her publishing company, River Rock Books, has won multiple “Best Of” awards for its work to bring Sacramentan writers to market. Her creative work has appeared in Hip Mama, Vox, Sacramento Magazine, the Tule Review, and the Sacramento News and Review. Her book, The Anatomy of Connection: The Art and Science of Relationship Building for Prosperity is forthcoming in 2021. She holds a MFA in Writing and Consciousness from the California Institute of Integral Studies.