A Year of Mindful Writing

Transform Your Writing, Transform Yourself, Transform Our World

Starts: January 2026

Application deadline: 7th December 2025


What if your writing could be a force for healing — for yourself, others, and our world?

In our divided times, we need stories that bridge gaps, create understanding, and foster compassion. That shine light in the darkness and recognise our shared humanity.

A Year of Mindful Writing can help you to be a more intentional writer whose storytelling makes a difference.

This transformative year-long journey combines writing craft with ancient wisdoms and mindfulness practices, helping you create stories that resonate while deepening your own relationship with your writing and storytelling.

✨ What Makes This Course Special

  • Mindful Writing Approach
    Learn to write from a place of presence, compassion, and authentic connection rather than fear, judgment, or competition.

  • Comprehensive Content
    Twelve months of in-depth coursework covering craft, creativity, and the inner landscape of you you are as a writer — all designed to help you write stories with emotional depth.

  • Live Community Connection
    Monthly live Zoom sessions where we explore the material together, share insights, and support each other's writing journeys with constructive feedback.

  • Live Masterclasses
    Eight live teaching sessions throughout the year.

  • Global Perspective
    Three different time zones for the monthly community connection sessions to welcome writers from around the world into this healing writing practice.

  • Small Group Experience
    A maximum of 6 writers per cohort for intimate, personalised attention and meaningful connections.

Your Year of Transformation

This course is for writers working in all forms — fiction, memoir, poetry, and creative nonfiction. Whether you're creating characters or writing about your own life, crafting novels or essays or poems, the principles of mindful writing are universal.

MONTH 1: Being a Mindful Writer

Setting intentions and exploring what mindful writing means

MONTH 2: Writing with Intention

Moving beyond wanting to write to find out why you write

MONTH 3: Authentic Voice & Truth-Telling

Finding and trusting your genuine voice in all your writing

MONTH 4: Being Awe-Struck

Cultivating wonder and letting it transform your work

MONTH 5: Relationships in Writing

How connection drives all meaningful writing

MONTH 6: The Power of Words

Precision, compassion, and the magic of language

MONTH 7: Writing Through the Seasons of Change

Working with life's natural rhythms in your creative practice

MONTH 8: Being Vulnerable

The courage to write from your most tender places

MONTH 9: Being Fearless

Moving beyond fear into completely authentic expression

MONTH 10: Being Compassionate

Writing with love for yourself and everyone and everything

MONTH 11: Writing as Medicine

Understanding how your words heal yourself and others

MONTH 12: Writing the Sacred in the Ordinary

Finding the divine in our everyday experiences

Transform your writing

Your guides for the year

Amanda Saint

Amanda is a writing coach, author, and publisher who designed and wrote this transformative year-long course. Through workshops, courses, and one-on-one coaching, she guides writers beyond traditional craft techniques toward more mindful storytelling that can transform both writers and readers.

Her unique approach weaves together narrative craft with mindfulness practice and ancient wisdom traditions. Rather than focusing solely on individual expression, Amanda's work positions personal story transformation as a pathway to collective healing, teaching writers how their authentic stories can change the world.

An award-winning author and publisher, Amanda practices what she teaches through storytelling that explores family dysfunction, grief, love, the nature of reality, and transformation. As a bestselling author on Substack, she has built a thriving community of writers committed to mindful creative practice.

Amanda is currently completing her Mindfulness Mentoring Training with renowned teachers Tara Brach and Jack Kornfield, deepening the spiritual foundation that makes her approach to writing instruction truly transformational.

TeriLeigh

TeriLeigh will be an active part of our course community throughout the year, bringing over 30 years of experience as a mindfulness mentor and somatic practitioner to five transformative live workshops that bridge body wisdom with conscious creative expression. With unique sensory gifts including hyperacusis and synesthesia, she possesses an extraordinary ability to sense the energetic and emotional qualities of language—she doesn't just read words, she feels, sees, and tastes them.

Her training in chakra work, nervous system regulation, and shamanic practices allows her to guide writers into the deeper somatic dimensions of authentic expression. As creator of Substack publications including "The MindfulSense Mentor" and "Words are Spells," TeriLeigh specialises in helping highly sensitive people transform their perceived "too muchness" into creative superpowers.

Her workshops provide the essential somatic foundation that supports Amanda's mindfulness-based writing approach, creating a uniquely comprehensive experience that honours both the craft of writing and the sacred journey of creative transformation through embodied awareness.

TeriLeigh's Masterclasses

Each workshop includes somatic exercises, targeted writing prompts, and embodied practices that ground spiritual concepts in practical application.

Month 2: Sacred Intention & Sankalpa

Move beyond external goals to discover your authentic creative purpose through ancient Sanskrit wisdom. You'll craft a personal sankalpa — a sacred resolve that becomes your creative North Star, guiding every writing decision from your soul's truth rather than ego's desires.

Month 3: Embodied Writing & Somatic Voice

Access your deepest truths by writing from body wisdom rather than mental concepts. Through breath, movement, and somatic practices, you'll bypass perfectionism and mental censors to discover the raw honesty your body holds, transforming how authentically you express on the page.

Month 6: Energetic Language as Vibrational Medicine

Discover how words carry distinct vibrational frequencies that can heal or harm. You'll learn to perceive the energetic "weight" of language, choosing words that support transformation and nervous system regulation — making your writing a powerful tool for positive change.

Month 7: Creative Cycles & Elemental Wisdom

Align your writing practice with natural rhythms through chakra-based elemental understanding. You'll learn to recognise which creative season you're in (earth, water, fire, air, mineral, nature, spirit) and work with these cycles rather than against them for sustainable, authentic output.

Month 11: Alchemical Writing & Neuroscience

Understand how transformational writing literally rewires your brain for healing. You'll learn the neuroscience behind how narrative coherence supports nervous system regulation, transforming your most challenging material from potential trigger into powerful medicine—safely and transformatively.

Guest Teachers

There are three additional teachers that will teach live Zoom sessions throughout the year. Dates and times TBC but replays are provided if you can't make it live.

Alexander Lovell

Month 4 - Being Awe Struck

Alex Lovell, PhD, is a political psychologist, yoga therapist, and co-host of the Creator Retreat, who blends psychological depth with embodied wisdom, drawing from research on identity and belonging alongside practices from multiple yogic lineages, breathwork, and mindfulness. On his Substack, Life As I See It, he writes for people who are technically doing fine, and still quietly wondering, is this it?

Ros Barber

Month 8 - Being Vulnerable

Ros has been teaching creative and life writing for over 25 years and is a fiction writer, poet and memoirist. Her critically acclaimed novel The Marlowe Papers (2012) won the Desmond Elliott Prize and the Author’s Club Best First Novel Award, and was longlisted for the Women’s Fiction Prize. She writes a best-selling Substack, How to Evolve, where she shares her life with vulnerability and wry humour.

Mel Moseley

Month 9 - Being Fearless

Mel is a theatre artist, musician, writer, storyteller, facilitator, artist, and general practitioner of doing her very best to live an authentic life. She believes storytelling is important and art is healing. Her Substack, Mel's Messy Love Lab, is full of stories of love, community, connection, travel, alcoholism and art.

Perfect for Writers Who Want To:

  • Create positive human connection with their words

  • Heal their relationship with writing and overcome blocks

  • Develop a mindful, sustainable writing practice

  • Create fiction, memoir, poetry and creative non-fiction that addresses difficult subjects with hope

  • Connect with like-minded writers on a similar journey

  • Use their writing as a tool for personal and collective healing

  • Write from authenticity rather than trying to follow trends

Transform your writing

2026 Course

Everyone will be in the online course space together and there are three feedback groups to accommodate different times zones that are limited to 6 writers for intimate, focused learning.

You will select a group at the start of the year and remain in that one for the whole journey.

What's Included:

  • 12 months of comprehensive course materials

  • 1 live Welcome and Intro Zoom (1 hour)

  • 12 live monthly Zoom sessions (2 hours each)

  • 8 live 1-hour Zoom masterclasses

  • Writing exercises and mindfulness practices

  • Craft lessons focused on in-depth, emotionally resonant storytelling

  • Support and feedback from fellow writers

The course will run on Wet Ink, a beautiful writing platform designed specifically for writers who want to connect, share, and grow together. You'll have access to:

  • A private community space where you can share your writing and things you’ve come across that inspired you, ask questions, and support fellow mindful writers on their journey

  • Discussion threads for each month's exercises and readings, creating ongoing conversations about the work we're exploring together

  • Easy sharing tools that make it simple to post excerpts, get gentle feedback, and celebrate each other's breakthroughs

  • A supportive environment designed for writers, by writers - no algorithm chaos or social media noise, just meaningful connection with people who understand the creative path

  • Year-round access to our community conversations, so you can revisit insights and maintain connections long after the course ends

Group A Zoom Sessions

Live sessions will be at 2pm UK time .

  • January: Monday, January 5 (Welcome and Intro)

  • January: Monday, January 26

  • February: Monday, February 23

  • March: Monday, March 23

  • April: Monday, April 27

  • May: Monday, May 18

  • June: Monday, June 22

  • July: Monday, July 27

  • August: Monday, August 24

  • September: Monday, September 28

  • October: Monday, October 26

  • November: Monday, November 23

  • December: Monday, December 14

Group B Zoom Sessions

Live sessions will be at 4pm UK time.

  • January: Thursday, January 8 (Welcome and Intro)

  • January: Thursday, January 29

  • February: Thursday, February 26

  • March: Thursday, March 26

  • April: Thursday, April 30

  • May: Thursday, May 28

  • June: Thursday, June 25

  • July: Thursday, July 30

  • August: Thursday, August 27

  • September: Thursday, September 24

  • October: Thursday, October 29

  • November: Thursday, November 26

  • December: Thursday, December 17

Group C Zoom Sessions

Live sessions will be 9am UK time.

  • January: Saturday, January 10 (Welcome and Intro)

  • January: Saturday, January 31

  • February: Saturday, February 28

  • March: Saturday, March 28

  • April: Saturday, April 25

  • May: Saturday, May 30

  • June: Saturday, June 27

  • July: Saturday, July 25

  • August: Saturday, August 29

  • September: Saturday, September 26

  • October: Saturday, October 31

  • November: Saturday, November 28

  • December: Saturday, December 19

Choose Your Investment Level

Essential Journey

For writers ready to commit

  • Pay in Full: £600 (save £120)

  • Monthly Payments: £60 x 12 months

Dedicated Journey

For writers wanting deeper personal guidance

  • Pay in Full: £1000 (save £200)

  • Monthly Payments: £100 x 12 months

  • Includes four 1-hour one-to-one Zoom sessions with Amanda throughout the year, for personalised and focused development of the project you’re working on and your writing craft. You can submit up to 5,000 words for each session.

🔐 Application-Only Course

Why Application-Only?

  • Ensures you're ready for the commitment

  • Creates groups of writers with shared values

  • Maintains the intimate, supportive atmosphere

Ready to Transform Your Writing Practice?

Join us for the Year of Mindful Writing.

Application deadline: 7th December 2025

Applications are assessed as they come in so early applications are recommended as the 2024 and 2025 courses both sold out.

What writers say about the course

Fiona Dignan

"Many courses focus on the technical aspects of writing, but this is a course of the heart.

It pushed me to go deep, sometimes into uncomfortable truths about my thoughts and behaviours. It’s been a year of letting go — of expectations, of the emotional rollercoaster of submissions, and of the need for constant validation. Instead, I’ve embraced honesty in my stories and in myself.

I’m now a more secure and fulfilled person, writing stories with real heart — stories that feel meaningful and true.

Anna Mahoney

"I wanted a different approach and this course has exceeded my expectations. Not only am I getting new insights and tools, but I have found a wonderful group of fellow writers who inspire and support me.

I joined this course because I thought it would help me be more focused and productive. It's done that, but not by way of five point plans and checklists.

Instead, it gently encouraged me to let go of my fears and inhibitions and write freely, from the heart. As a result, I and my words are transformed, and my gratitude is immense."

Loretta Finan

"By creating a safe space to explore both strength and vulnerability, Amanda taught me to tap my deepest emotions and most profound life experiences to create meaningful, impactful work.

Amanda isn’t just a writing teacher; she is a mentor and a guide. I unequivocally recommend her courses and coaching if you seek to improve your writing, connect more deeply with yourself and the creative force, and find renewed joy in life and in your writing."

Patty Joslyn

"Amanda not only listens well, but she also shares back with compassion what helps you listen more deeply and honestly to where you have come from and where you are going, so that you are fully felt, seen, and heard. Brava!"

Got questions?