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Why Writing in College Goes Better If You’re Mindful - Alexandria Peary, M.F.A., Ph.D.

Location: Brooks M. O'Brien Auditorium/Lewis Academic Building

Headshot of Alexandria PearyIn this interactive session, Peary will cover the basics of mindful writing and provide hands-on opportunity to work with the technique. You'll learn about mindful writing tools, including impermanence, self-talk, and awareness of the writing body, to reduce stress around writing assignments. You’ll practice ways to manage monkey mind, that pesky inner voice that hands us preconceptions about our writing abilities, and reader ghosts, those inner critics who make us doubt ourselves. With increased attention on the present moment, every writing moment can be a calmer, more prolific moment.

Alexandria Peary (M.F.A., Ph.D.) serves as New Hampshire Poet Laureate. The author of nine books, including Prolific Moment: Theory and Practice of Mindfulness for Writing and Battle of Silicon Valley at Daybreak, her poetry and prose have appeared in the Gettysburg Review, New American Writing, Southern Humanities Review, North American Review, and the New York Times. She specializes in mindful writing, the topic of her 2019 TEDx talk, “How Mindfulness Can Transform the Way You Write,” available on YouTube. Alex is the architect and host of the popular mindful writing webinar at the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) and has given presentations on mindful writing for National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) and as a keynote speaker for the Secondary Schools Writing Centers Association. She teaches in the English Department at Salem State University. Follow her on Twitter @NHPoetLaureate, #WriteMindfully and #NHPoetLaureate. (Photo credit: Jane Button Photography)

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