COMPOSTING: A Generative Workshop
USE YOUR NOTES APP TO GROW YOUR WRITING PRACTICE
SUNDAY, JANUARY 11, 2026
9-11Am PST/12-2pm EST | REMOTE ON ZOOM
Where does good writing begin? It’s not a bolt out of the blue, it’s an ongoing practice of turning your trash into treasure… or, maybe, mold into gold. We call it composting. Let us teach you how it can revitalize and jump-start your writing practice. Do you want to turn all those half-formed ideas in your notes app into a rich, dazzling piece of writing? It all starts here. Two hours with the Midwives of Invention.
We have a proven strategy for honing your curiosity, tracking your ideas, and connecting them to create actionable, exciting pieces of writing. Our virtual workshop isn’t like other writing classes. We’ve got tools, not platitudes. If you’re ready to follow your own creative paper trail wherever it leads, and you’re not afraid to get messy, this class is for you.
Let’s do the work, together.
Workshop Fee: $289
All The Details
In this constructive workshop for writers of all stripes, we go deep on our strategies for how to cultivate compelling ideas, develop those ideas into concrete writing projects, and find the motivation to follow through. This is our core offering, a walk-through of the process that underpins both of our own writing practices. Join us to jump-start your own.
“Composting” is consistently cited as one of the most helpful concepts we offer writers in our larger workshops, so we’ve decided to break it out and give it a space of its own.
We believe good writing is born at the intersection of getting serious and letting go, of steady structure and joyful chaos. We’re not interested in just feeling creative. Instead, we have an actual, step-by-step process for idea generation and a time-tested set of straightforward strategies for idea development to share with you. These are methods we use in our own work and that we’ve taught in our popular workshops since 2018.
Our workshops have an encouraging and propulsive dynamic that will get you excited to dig in and do the hard work. We are pro-ambition and pro-experimentation, and cultivate an inclusive environment. We welcome writers of all experience levels.
Who’s it for?
Are you a writer who wants to get recommit to your practice, reinvigorate a project, or finally pick an idea and commit to it? Then this workshop is for you! Whether you’re working on a newsletter, a novel, a screenplay, an essay, a podcast, or an epic song cycle, our idea strategies can help you out. We promise: You will leave feeling energized, connected, and clear about what you need to do to bring your words into the world.
If you’ve attended one of our past workshops, either in person or online, please be aware that this workshop will cover much of the same material. If you’d like a refresher course, you’re still welcome to join us!
Who are the Midwives of Invention?
Jade and Ann are writers and friends who have been leading workshops as the Midwives of Invention since 2018. Between us we have written best-selling fiction and non-fiction books, published pioneering newsletters, edited magazines, written for beloved television shows, and created podcasts and audio essays. We are not tortured writers toiling alone. We are in constant dialogue with each other about our projects and processes, and we started the Midwives of Invention because we wanted to share that dialogue with the wider world. For us, coming up with ideas, crafting sentences, and revising drafts is actually fun, and doing it in community is the best part. We don’t think writing is easy, but we know how to make the hard work worthwhile.
Click here to read more about us.
What have past participants said?
“You loosened my grip and allowed me to fall in love with being an artist again.”
“The best professional workshop I've ever attended.”
“The practical and very well laid out simple steps were super helpful for a novice like me.”
“I like the how tightly pragmatic and how deeply personal this process is. I can see a LOT of fruitful writing coming out of it!”
“I can't believe how engaging a three hour zoom was, the time flew by. “
“Honestly a transformative experience for me.”
Workshop Fee: $289
The Fine Print
Refund policy: We offer a 50% refund if you cancel before April 1. After that, there will be no refunds available. However, if you would like to have a friend take the workshop in your place, contact us at: themidwivesofinvention@gmail.com
Will you provide a recording? We will provide a link to watch the zoom recording of the workshop you missed, which will be available for the following week.
Accessibility: We will do our best to make this workshop as accessible as we can. If you have specific questions or needs, please ask: themidwivesofinvention@gmail.com.
Scholarships: If the workshop fee is a hardship, we have full and partial scholarships available for the Ideas Intensive. If you are interested, please email us at themidwivesofinvention@gmail.com with the following information: 1) A brief description of yourself and your writing practice (beginners welcome!) 2) A brief paragraph explaining why you’re interested in the Ideas Intensive workshop.