What are the exact salon dates?

What is included along with the salons?

You get to choose one, two, or three salons per week for eight weeks. Plus TWO 1:1 sessions with Becky; and the private Mighty Networks online group with extra writing prompts, fun & simple craft exercises, supports for building your home writing practice, and the chance to share work beyond salons. And biweekly Gateless Editing work sessions to help develop your work!

What happens in a Read to Me writing salon?

We begin salon with a short meditation to relax your mind and focus your attention. Next, I give you a writing prompt to spark and surprise your imagination. We write quietly together for 10 to 25 minutes. Then, each writer reads aloud their work. We use the Gateless Writing rules of engagement so that we can receive the work with smart, precise attention on what is powerful and beautiful.

What happens when I read aloud during a salon? 

This is often the scariest part for writers, especially those (ahem, all of us) who’ve had our work criticized, often in its early stages. We follow the Gateless Writing guidelines to give your protective, defensive impulses a break. This allows other parts of your writing brain to perk up — imagination, listening, image-making. The Gateless Writing guidelines guarantee that your work will be met with smart, discerning, specific, positive feedback. This isn’t fluff! This is seeing your work and its potential with a level of attention you’ve likely never gotten before.

First you read aloud, and then your fellow writers give you Gateless feedback. You have two rules to follow:

1. No disclaimers. No explanations, no apologies. You just start reading. If you start to disclaim, I will gently stop you and guide you to your work.

2. Just receive. Don’t respond to comments. No need to thank people, manage their reactions to your work, or take care of them. Neither is it time to explain the work after feedback is done. You are simply receiving and giving the work its due. 

What happens when I listen during a salon?

Listening and feedback are the most magical parts of salon. They are what turn this experience from a random writing group into a place where your work and your self-concept as a writer are transformed. Therefore, there are very specific guidelines for how we listen to each other's work. 

1. You are listening for power, beauty, freshness, strength. You are not listening to fix or question. You are listening for where and how the work shines. 

2. It may help to take notes as you listen. Write down phrases, images, or lines that stick in your ear. Pay attention when your body reacts to the work; note where it did. Listen for when your attention snaps into focus. Listen for where you laugh, or where you feel emotion. It can help to listen for colors, shapes, movements, or when a piece is in the body of its narrator. Listen for where a piece moves quickly or where it slows down; it’s possible these qualities are tied into the meaning or plot or feeling of the piece.

What happens when I give feedback during a salon?

Listening and feedback are the most magical parts of salon. They are what turn this experience from a random writing group into a place where your work and your self-concept as a writer are transformed. Therefore, there are very specific guidelines for how we give feedback on each other's work. 

1. There is no “you.” Always address the writer in the third person. You can say the narrator, the writer, the author, this protagonist, etc. But it is essential that we create some distance between the work and the creator. Human beings are deeply complex and can’t be reduced to what they put on the page. And the work is deeply complex and can’t be reduced to the human condition. 

2. There is no “me.” We don’t refer to ourselves when we give feedback. So refrain from saying things like, “I really thought you nailed what grief feels like, because when my grandmother died...” Nope! It may feel like you’re affirming the writer’s experience, but you’re actually taking the spotlight away from the work and placing it on yourself. Staying with the work is the right affirmation for the writer.

3. Shine a spotlight on what has power. We give feedback specifically on what is working, what has power, what has resonance. No fixing or poking at holes.

4. Be specific. Tell the writer WHY it worked, WHAT worked, HOW it made you feel, etc. The more specific you are, the more they have to hold onto when they go back to edit! 

5. No questions or suggestions.

Is it better to do one or two or three salons each week?

Consistency is the most important thing. Will you develop your gift with one consistent, regular salon each week? Yes. It’s also true that you will generate more pages and connect more deeply with your writing with two or three salons a week. There is no wrong answer. Your life, budget, and desire have the answer for you. One or two or three salons a week, you will benefit from the Gateless Writing method.

Who is this type of salon for?

Gateless Writing is a powerful, flexible method that can meet many kinds of writers. Read to Me salons tend to best meet sensitive, curious, questing people who like listening to other people. Writers come from all levels and all genres, but across the board, if you’re in a Read to Me salon, you sense something special happening when you write, and you want to follow that feeling. You might be an avid reader who’s drawn to writing. 

Having a background or credential in writing is not at all necessary. In fact, if you’ve been damaged by an MFA program (it happens a lot) a Read to Me salon is an excellent place to connect to your gift again.

Who is this not for?

• People looking for customized and long-term editing and revision support.

• People who aren’t in a place listen to or love other people’s work.

• People who want to work on specific grammar skills.

• People who are not interested in being surprised or taking risks in their work.

• Writers who aren’t looking for a writing community. 

• Writers looking for critique and criticism for what’s not working. 

• People who only want to be engaged with writers with the same credentials or in the same genre as themselves.

What is Mighty Networks?

Mighty Networks is a platform for online communities. It’s like a Facebook group, but not on Facebook. We will have an orientation session so you can make the most of our group without undue effort.

Don’t I need to know what’s wrong with my writing to get better?

You cannot generate your most potent, most original, most surprising work when you are anticipating criticism. Your writing gift needs a sturdy container of freedom and, honestly, love, in order to go beyond the conditioned mind (what you should do, how you should write, what “good” writing really is).

When we perseverate on “what’s wrong,” we build up greater attention and attunement for, well, what’s wrong in our work. We do not build up awareness or skill for what’s strong. We ignore it, and our ability weakens.

When we run as fast as we can toward what is strong, those skills grow. We become more sensitive to how powerful writing is created. We can see where we’re strong. We can move away from where we’re faltering. And we learn craft tools to to do this more consciously. 

Editing and revision are vital, indispensable parts of writing. They simply aren’t appropriate for generating new work. Throughout the life of the work, building on strengths and managing for weaknesses is a highly productive approach.

Where did Gateless Writing come from? 

Gateless Writing was founded by Suzanne Kingsbury, an acclaimed novelist and one of the most sought-after developmental editors in the country.

Based in cognitive neuroscience and eastern spiritual traditions of non-duality, Gateless removes left-brain analysis from the practice of writing, particularly first draft work.

We have long worshiped the critical mind, believing that “constructive criticism” makes us smarter and stronger. In fact, applying analysis and criticism to generative work fires the amygdala, sending us into stress-response and shutting down areas of the brain involved in creativity, receptivity, and curiosity. The critical mind perseverates on our weaknesses, which strengthens those synaptic pathways and makes our weaknesses more prominent.

Research from Marcus Buckingham and Ashley Goodall speaks directly to the fallacy of “constructive criticism” and the immense power of supporting people’s strengths. Check it out in Harvard Business Review.

The Gateless methodology creates a safe structure that quiets the critical mind. This allows you to tap into your most original, surprising, and powerful work.

The method also gives you potent craft tools, discernment, and courage, as well as a supportive nationwide community, to move first drafts into accomplished, published work.

About Becky Karush

Becky Karush is the founder of Read to Me Literary Arts, where writers learn to dazzle us and themselves with fresh, brilliant writing. We know you can write amazing things, and so you do.

Through writing salons, 1:1 coaching, the Read to Me podcast, and tools to support your solo writing practice, we walk away from the cult of criticism. We help surface your innate talent, so you can write the stories that are yours alone to write.

Becky is a certified teacher of the Gateless Writing method and has taught more than 300 writing salons. She graduated from Wesleyan University (B.A.) and Emerson College (M.A.), and she worked as a teacher, farmer, journalist, Disney magazine editor, summer camp counselor, and copywriter. She’s run her own business since 2012.

Her family is Christopher, almost 10; Bob, the husband (also a writer); and Wendy, mom, who lives in their basement grotto (somewhat nicer than it sounds.) They are all readers. Three are introverts; one loves meeting new people. Right now they are reading Rivka Galchen’s RAT RULE 79. (A lot nicer than it sounds.) They live in New Hampshire and have a yard full of ideas. Ranger is their cat.