Wildflowers are Prayers
A Creative Writing Community (Coming Soon)
We are a creative writing community that thinks about writing as a form of self-care. We are especially focused on poetry and memoir writing.
Imagination is not just an expanse of desire— it’s also the possibility of a life (or the lives) that we can create for ourselves.
Wildflowers has been designed to give wings to your imagination: and be a safe space for your child-spirited experimentation with words.
It’ll also help you bridge the gap between where you imagine your writing to be—and how it actually unfolds in your lives.
Wildflowers is also here to help you figure out how your writing practice intersects with the other interests and passions of your lives. To make the most of the writing time that you have on a given day: brief or long as it may be.
We are open to everyone from across all walks, ages and stages of life: from all over the globe. Whether you’re beginning to write your first poems/stories/essays - or are a mid-career writer with many publications to your credit: we will be thrilled to have you in our community!
What we are all about
Close Readings & Craft Exercises
In these sessions, we will be focusing all our attention and energies onto a single piece of poem. A reading of this kind will unlock to us, layer by layer - some of the most wondrous possibilities concealed between the lines of a poem.
We will be looking at the texts through the lens of the psyche, the choice of the poet’s language, and other poetic techniques. After that in the craft and exercises room: you’ll find a diverse range of reflection exercises, questions, ideas, insights and prompts on the basis of that poem for you to think about and work through.
Inter-Sectional Work
In these sessions: we will be looking at poetry through the lens of several other disciplines: photography and cinema in particular. So if you have passions other than writing - and would like to bring them into your writing: then this is the place for you! In addition to that: we will also be studying closely the interconnections between the different forms of writing: between poetry and novellas, between essays and short stories.
Soulfood: Reading Curations
A whole set list of poems, songs, lyric essays, critical essays, and stories from all over the world - curated exclusively and specially for you.
Craft Club
The second Saturday of every month, we will meet for a three-hour long craft workshop. We will be focusing our attention not only on the socio-historical contexts of different poems and stories: but also approach them in a more craft-based, formal way. After that, I’ll offer you a set of writing prompts that are both based on, and beyond the texts we’ve been reading in our sessions thus far. Post this, we will allot ourselves a specific period of time (around 20 minutes) - for working on these prompts: allowing them to guide us into new and unchartered territories in our writing and thinking.
Once the writing time has passed: we will return to either share what we’ve written: or the process of what it was like to write/work on your piece(s).
Guest Seminars
Every month, we will have a renowned, widely-published writer conducting a workshop on a particular theme— along with a special focus on navigating the publishing industry. Even though the format of the workshop would vary from guest to guest: there are a couple of features that remain the same across the board. The first is that the guest will provide us with close-focused readings, and comprehensive socio-historical backgrounds/contexts to all the texts they choose to bring to the class. At the end of it, they’ll also provide us with a host of writing prompts that’ll facilitate new ways of thinking, writing, creating, and ideating. At the end of each of these sessions: there’ll also be a lot of time allotted for you to share your writing/thoughts/observations, or ask any questions that you may want to.
We will also host another special, incredibly informative session with all our guests: the details of which will be sent to you once you join the community!
Feedback Group
One of the most important rooms in our community - this is the place for offering, and receiving comprehensive feedback on all the work you’ve been creating— including your work-in-progress pieces.
Meditative Circle
This section explores how our everyday chores (and the demands they place on our physical, mental/emotional well-being) intersect with the spirit of writing space(s). It is meant to nurture the connective threads between our physical, lived realities— and our creative selves.
Monthly Office Hours
Every month: you can bring a piece of yours (any one poem, story, essay, or hybrid piece of work: a cross between any of the above) to our two-hour office hours session - for detailed & encouraging feedback from our community and me. This could be a piece of yours that is a work in progress, a finished piece, or something you’re working on from a larger project/book.
Generative Writing Sessions
I’ll offer you a writing prompt, and you’ll be free to interpret it in whichever way you’d like. Please feel free to tailor it to your current circumstances, or personal interests. In addition to that: I’ll also be offering you a bunch of words, phrases, and sentences - that you may feel free to use or not in your writing. You can either follow the prompt or meander in another direction altogether— as long as you’re enjoying what you’re doing!
Openings & Opportunities
An exclusively curated list of some of the most wonderful retreats, fellowships, contests, submission/publication opportunities: to be updated every month.
Book reading sessions
For the first two months, we will be looking at Calvino’s Invisible Cities. Then after that, we will be reading books selected by the members - or those they loved and would want to share with the group. There’s something magical about immersing ourselves in a single text for long.
We will also be writing our mini poems and essays in response to these books: as can only be done when guided by the rhythms of another artists’ work.
Chat & Cohort Rooms
Special chat rooms and groups for you to have even more focused conversations around particular themes/subjects.
Join Us $85
NOW $70 SALE
Where
We’ll host all of our community’s features and events on this platform called Circle. Why Circle?
For its ease of use, and for the many wonderful features it offers. The way it organizes the whole community into specific rooms/subgroups— allows us to focus meditatively on those distinct themes. The ability to go live anytime within the community itself— without having to depend on any other tool. Easy to offer and receive feedback on your work, which is one of the most important components of a writing class or workshop.
The ability to create further chat groups/sub-niches/cohorts for even more specialized and concentrated conversations around a specific topic. As mentioned above: Circle facilitates an easy and interactive data interface too.
When
Every second Saturday of the month: A 3-hour long craft writing session.
Every third Sunday of the month: a 2-hour-long generative writing session.
Every fourth Saturday of the month: a 2-and-a-half-hour-long book reading and writing session. The book we will be reading, discussing, and responding to (in terms of our own creative writing) is Italo Calvino’s Invisible Cities.
The second Sunday of every alternate month: a three-hour long guest/expert-led session on a focused, comprehensive theme.
Every third Saturday of the month: Feedback/Office Hours sessions on the third Saturday of every month - from 6 to 8 pm (PST), and 8 to 10 PM (PST) - which are 7:30 to 9:30 am (IST), and 9:30 am to 11:30 am (IST) respectively. I will be holding our Feedback Hours in these two distinct batches. You can choose whichever slot befits your convenience the best.
All of our sessions will be held either over Zoom, or Circle Live. The details of all of them will be sent to you via Circle’s notification system, two weeks in advance of the event(s). In case you’re unable to make it to any of the events: don’t worry. All the recordings will be sent to you both via email, as well as uploaded to the community’s forum the very next day of the event(s). The timings of most of our events will be decided by collective community consensus.
In case you or any of the other members of the community wish to conduct your own events/seminars: we will schedule those throughout the course of the year, too. The timings of all the member-led events will be decided upon by the members themselves. I will be providing you with Zoom and all the other technical (and general) support you would need to organising these events.
Note: please do not feel overwhelmed by any of the activities in the group. None of them are mandatory. Feel free to attend/complete the activities that you wholly want to - and would feel comfortable doing. Even if you can finish off just two activities a month: that’s more than enough. Ultimately: what’s important is that you’re able to tailor the community and its features to your full convenience: just how it works out best for you.
Pricing
Our monthly payment tiers cost 70 USD per month, which is around 5832.83 INR. And the annual plan costs 840 USD per annum, which is around INR 69,991.28. You can choose either of them. If you’re on the monthly plan— and wish at any point to upgrade to the annual one: feel free to do so any time!
The first hundred members who join Wildflowers will get to avail of it at the discounted rate of 70 dollars (instead of the standard price: which is 85 dollars). They will also be allowed to continue being a part of the group at this very price - even when the community’s price goes up in the future.
Here is a price conversion list for multiple local currencies. At Wildflowers are Prayers, our primary currency is USD: but we accept payments/currencies from everyone all over the world. For a more accurate, every day conversion update - please refer to the currency converter here: https://www.xe.com/currencyconverter/
Note: In case any of the community’s first hundred members decides to leave and re-join at a later date: they may have to pay the new/updated price.
Cancellation & Refund Policies
-
Yes, absolutely. You can do that. We’d be more than thrilled to welcome you back into our community whenever you wish to rejoin it.
-
Given the fact that we have such few spots in our group: we’d unfortunately not be able to offer you a refund once you’ve booked a place.
As stated above: we have two payment tiers - the monthly, and the annual. If you choose the monthly tier: you can leave the community anytime after that without renewing your membership plan for the next month. You are also welcome to rejoin us some other time in the future if you’d like.
The annual plan, is, of course, a much longer commitment. You can first join the monthly tier to explore the community, to see if you’re enjoying it, and if it benefits your writing goals and needs. And then if you’d like, you can transition to the annual plan.
PERKS of being in Wildflowers
• Craft club is a series of intensive seminars in which we will get to engage deeply with the voices of other writers’ work. And then go on to produce two to three pieces of our own writing. In addition to that - we will also provide you with lateral lenses, questions, and resources to help you re-explore your work from a fresh perspective.
• Close Reading Sessions. A well-written text is a gift that never stops giving. Like little puzzles, there are innumerable surprises hidden in it for us to unpack over the due course of time. This pushes us, almost as if, to re-discover the world - and the world with an entirely new pair of eyes. And then subsequently go on to re-direct that carefully studied energy onto our own creative work/practice. In addition: you’ll also receive a wide range of creative writing exercises/prompts that you can complete in your free time, if you’d like.
• Receive personalized attention and comprehensive one-on-one feedback on your writing from your peers and myself. The feedback would cover every aspect of your work: right from craft to lens to perspective to recurring themes/motifs/ideas. Our Office hours sessions have been designed to help you revise a piece of your work, or submit an already polished one.
• The opportunity to explore interdisciplinary work, and find a middle ground between your different passions, and the different forms of art you love. If you have passions and interests other than writing - and are thinking about bringing them into your writing: then this is the place for you.
• We have a section that’s dedicated to exploring how our everyday chores (and the demands they place on our physical, mental, and emotional well-being) intersect with the spirit of writing space(s).
This is a great feature to have: especially for those who have multiple responsibilities/commitments every day. For those who relish the smaller joys of life— and are looking for a way to channel them into their writing.
• The opportunity to find yourself in the midst of so many like-minded artists: forging wonderful life-long friendships and connections with them.
• The opportunity to conduct your own workshops and seminars throughout the year: which will provide you with a window of insight putting together your own course contents, materials, and resources: to hold your own seminar/teaching event. Also note that all of these member-led workshops are entirely voluntary for now.
• A whole exclusively sourced list of many wonderful & exciting opportunities such as retreats, fellowships, contests, and submission opportunities (in the form of journals, magazines, and newspapers) to be updated every month, for you to submit to.
• The opportunity to learn from varied professionals who specialize in poetry, fiction, and memoir: and could guide you in the practice of writing - as well as getting published. Receive the answers to your questions, as well as extensive feedback on your work from them: within the workshop space.
• We have a very specific & comprehensive framework (in terms of guidelines) for offering commentary. This promotes insightful, in-depth feedback on your writing.
•You’ll be able to produce two to three pieces of your own writing every month.
• One of the most significant components of writing well is reading widely, and mindfully. Every month at Wildflowers: I will be curating for you a set of poems, stories, essays, and songs from all around the world - including some very exclusive journals. These are to be centred around the topic/subject that we will delving into for that month, as well as beyond it. All of these readings will also help guide your own creative work as well.
…and so many more surprises coming your way, VERY soon!
Avail of us now only at the rate of $70, instead of the standard $85 per month.
This special discount for the first 100 members lasts only for a month after the community is launched.
Come aboard! $85 (15% OFF)
Frequently Asked Questions
-
The community has been designed to help you nurture and hone in on your already innate artistic voice through craft intensives, workshops, comprehensive personalized feedback, a wonderful and encouraging community setup, guest expert support on writing and publishing— one-on-one guidance for your work as a writer, and a creative person.
We are here to re-frame your idea of writing not as work - but as one of the most pleasurable experiences you can have. You’ll find yourself producing some of your most exciting writing here!
-
There’s no hard and fast rule on how much you ought to write.
As I said before: you can tailor the group’s features to your full convenience and comfort - however it supports your writing life the best. It’s just that such a writing platform/community creates an environment that’s conducive enough for you to achieve either higher writing hours— or be able to make the most of the writing that you have at hand. It also equips you with all the resources and guidance required for you to be able to do your best work in the given time that you have.
-
We are open to everyone from across all walks, ages, and stages of life: from all over the globe. Whether you’re beginning to write your first poems/stories/essays - or are a mid-career writer with many publications to your credit: we’d be more than thrilled to have you in our community.
-
Yes, absolutely. You can write to me with more details on this at trivarnahariharan321@gmail.com - and we will definitely get it done!
-
I’m here to help you with any of your questions, concerns, and needs anytime in the community— as well as over the email: trivarnahariharan321@gmail.com. Feel free to reach out to me anytime you need any assistance.
Kind Words
Learn more about the founder, Trivarna Hariharan here.
Poet, Pianist & Educator
Join The Creative Writing Community
I run a creative writing community called Wildflowers Are Prayers, with a bunch of wonderful artists.