Pen & Mend: Let's Write Together in 2024
Spreading the Love of Writing as a Source of Healing + Hope
If you’re living a story you never wanted or expected, I want to share a story that begins the moment I thought my story was over (really). In this story, I want to share an invitation with you.
When I was just 24 years old, when I thought my happily-ever-after should have been starting, my story took a devastating turn. I was newly married to my high school sweetheart, pregnant with our first child, and full of hope. Within a few short months, I walked away from my career, moved hundreds of miles away from all I'd ever known, and experienced the traumatic birth and tragic death of my daughter, followed by the death of my father just weeks later.
In the years following, still navigating life without my daughter and my dad and without purpose, I struggled. I struggled as a military spouse and a young mom (giving birth two more times to two healthy sons). The stress of military life, deployments, and frequent moves, on top of the trauma I’d been through, ate away at me, and then I faced a crisis in my marriage that undid me.
Life felt unrelentingly hard and heavy. I never imagined the pain points I experienced would be a part of my story. As much as I didn't want them, they were now woven into my story. While I had once prided myself on my strong faith, it began to suffer and waver as I navigated a deep, spiritual grief.
Grief, depression, and anxiety all took their toll on me. I was desperate for relief and for something to change, but I felt stuck and alone. In all that was out of my control, I began to focus on what I could control. I sought help and wisdom from safe friends, wise spiritual mentors, and licensed therapists.
And then I began to write.
All the wisdom, all the hard-won lessons, all the thoughts stuck in my head, all the feelings flooding my heart, all the prayers and laments of my spirit... I wrote it all down. I used what I was learning in my spiritual, mental, and emotional life to journal in such a way that writing became like the ladder helping me emerge from a dark pit. Writing felt (and still feels) like a fresh, cleansing, life-giving breath when my spirit feels like it’s starving for air.
As I wrote, I began to uncover and recover the parts of myself I'd lost. I began to experience a renewal of my mind and spirit and found relief for my aching heart.
Writing became a life-saving tool for me. Owning my story, my choices, my emotions, and my thoughts and becoming curious and compassionate about myself and my life through writing brought (and still brings) such healing + hope to my life.
Writing has helped me endure difficult seasons and deep grief. It has helped me heal inner wounds, recover my voice, and connect with myself and God. I have discovered what research proves to be true: writing and journaling can help make the unbearable parts of life not only bearable but also better and can help mend broken hearts.
I believe writing offers healing + hope.
Writing is a powerful tool that can help you process your life, bring healing and calm to your inner self, and empower you to become who you were created to be.
An Invitation to Your Becoming: Continue Your Story with Pen & Mend
I created Pen & Mend to share what I've learned with you as you seek to use writing as a way of healing + hope in your own life.
Whether you consider yourself a writer, a non-writer, an avid journaler, or a reluctant journaler, you'll find inspiration, encouragement, community, and resources to support you.
If your life has been flipped upside down or turned inside out, if you’ve had your worst fears become your new reality, if you’re weary from fighting hard for hope, if you’re living with grief, depression, anxiety, in the shadows of suffering… The Pen & Mend Collective is here to support you as you seek to write for healing and hope in your life, no matter where you are on your healing or writing journey.
Just click the button below to upgrade to a paid subscription to become a part of Pen & Mend.
As a paid subscriber/member, you’ll receive access to:
✔️ monthly journal prompts
✔️ monthly writing rooms
✔️a private library of archived prompts
✔️ virtual gatherings + Q&As with me
✔️ community features to connect with others (share comments, chat, etc.)
✔️ discounts on workshops + events
And more!
Pick up your pen with me as we seek to mend the broken pieces of our hearts and lives.
A free manifesto for anyone pursuing healing and hope through writing.
The Pen & Mend Manifesto
WE BELIEVE that writing is a source of healing and hope.
We believe our pens can mend the broken parts of our stories and the shattered pieces of our hearts. We believe in treating writing as a sacred, spiritual practice. We believe that writing can help us renew our hearts, minds, and spirits. We believe in approaching the page with honesty, curiosity, and compassion. We believe that writing is a way of listening to life and connecting
with the Source of life.
We believe in the transformative power of writing. We believe we can use our pens to heal what has been tattered and torn in our lives. We believe that writing invites us to bear witness to our stories. We believe that our pens can create new paths and reveal new possibilities. We believe that writing is a restorative practice. We believe that writing can help us come home to ourselves and come alive in the lives we have. We believe in connecting our emotions and experiences as we write to help us process, heal, and grow. We believe that the pages of our journals are like sanctuaries, keeping our sacred stories safe and offering us a safe refuge when we need it most. We believe that what we take out on our pages, we won't take out on our loved ones. We believe that writing is a way we can tend to our souls.
We believe that our fears, sorrows, hopes, and dreams have space to unfold freely on the page. We believe writing can help us move from chaos to clarity and from turmoil to peace. If/when we face the seemingly impossible, feel stuck in indecision, or hear hopelessness harassing us, we believe that writing can set us free and help us find our next right step. We believe that in the darkest times, our pens can point us to the Light. We believe that writing can help us recover our voices, rewrite the narrative of our lives, and restore us to Love. We believe in writing to remind ourselves of our worth. We believe that taking the time to show up and sketch our inky thoughts on the pages is always worth it.
We believe that as we write for healing and hope, we become conduits of healing and hope in the hurting world.
Download and print a free copy of the manifesto to keep in your writing space or tucked inside your notebook.
Leave a comment with any questions!
I just joined Pen and Mend and I am eager to start, but also confused! I wonder if anyone could answer my questions!
1. It seems like Pen and Mend is hard to get to on the app. I can find it when on the website on my phone though. Is it best to do this on a computer?
2. Where do I start? I was able to find the first journal prompts in order, but I want to make sure I'm doing it "right!" Do I go back to prompt 1 and start there?
Thank you!
It's on my calendar. Look forward to continuing to grow my practice of writing regularly. It's so good to know that others are writing through the healing process.