Dig Into Your Subconscious to Enliven Your Writing with Carmen Calatayud

Sat, Aug 8
10am – 2pm CT, In-person at Gemini Ink
Nonmember: $100; Member: $85; Student/Educ/Mil: $70

Registration info coming soon.

The subconscious mind is a hidden vault that holds our deepest motives, feelings, and beliefs. It is also the cradle of dreams, where meaning emerges and creativity takes shape. So what if we tapped  into this inner world to unlock a richer, more profound artistic expression?

In this one-day workshop, we will use guided writing exercises and meditative prompts to quiet the inner critic and awaken the intuitive voice that lies just beneath the surface of everyday thought. Through the study of surrealist writers, we will explore how symbols, images and fragments from the subconscious can transform into powerful narratives. Whether you write poetry, fiction or creative nonfiction, this workshop provides practical tools to write from emotional truth and psychological depth. Come prepared to dig into your fertile inner landscape, using dreams, intuition and memory as seeds for evocative storytelling.

This workshop is open to writers of all skill levels 18+.

Workshop participants will leave with the following:

• An understanding of how the subconscious mind can galvanize writing
• Strategies for connecting with body sensations and imagery to access deeper, archetypal truths
• Several pieces of new writing that open up to unexpected places

Carmen Calatayud is a poet, nonfiction writer and psychotherapist who is fascinated by the subconscious and the surreal. She is the author of two poetry collections: This Tangled Body (FlowerSong Press/Letras Latinas, 2024) and In the Company of Spirits (Press 53, 2012), a runner-up for the Academy of American Poets Walt Whitman Award. Her poetry has appeared in numerous journals and anthologies, including POETRY Magazine, Poet Lore, Rogue Agent, Tahoma Literary Journal and Verse Daily. She is a Larry Neal Award Winner, a Virginia Center for the Creative Arts fellow, and a member of the Macondo Writers Workshop. Calatayud is on the editorial staff of The Skinny Poetry Journal.