Life after Ruin & Want has been nonlinear.
After publishing a fragmented memoir rooted in trauma, I spiraled into burnout. For a while, I didn’t think I’d write again. I found myself saying: I wrote the book, now to understand the life behind it.
That’s been the work: retracing my steps. Not to tidy the past, but to name and acknowledge what led me there in the first place. What came through intuition, what emerged by accident, what remained unspeakable until I let form and rhythm carry it–all of it, retraced one day and word at a time.
This process (part excavation, part self-return) has shaped my upcoming online class:
Rumination as Route: Crafting Non-Linear Personal Narratives
A 2-hour generative workshop on writing the way your mind actually moves.
This is a space for writers who want to:
- Break free from rigid storytelling forms
- Let thought rhythms shape structure
- Explore fragmentation, return, and intuitive connection
We’ll read short, resonant examples. We’ll talk about what stays with us. And we’ll write—not toward a neat ending, but into the pulse of memory, image, and voice. You don’t need to have it all figured out. You don’t need a clear timeline or a clean story. Just bring your curiosity and a willingness to follow your writing wherever it wants to go.
Date & Time: Sunday June 1, 2025 @3-5pm EST
Where: Online (Zoom)
Cost: $60
Register here: https://thenotebookscollective.com/event/rumination-as-route/
If you’re looking for a space to explore, not explain, come join us.
Hope to see you there!
= José =
The Influence 