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Teenagers in Nature

Just for Girls*

*The word "girl" is meant to include gender-expansive youth which includes trans girls, non-binary youth, gender non-conforming youth, gender queer youth and any girl-identified youth. Everyone who wants to write with us is warmly welcome!

Star Cluster

Welcome
to your
own space!

Dear You,

 

In the same way that the world has been biased toward cis men (over women and non-binary people), it's also biased toward adults (over young people). I am here to help counter both biases.  It has been my experience that girls and gender-expansive youth are the most intelligent, insightful, intuitive, creative, courageous, spiritually conscious, and visionary people on the planet—and I have dedicated my life to making sure your voices are heard and supported. But first, we have to learn to listen to and love ourselves. As you will see below, this page offers book recs and writing prompts for you to connect to your own wisdom. I hope they help you to see what I see, that you are a Magic-maker—and the author and hero/ine of your own life story.

​

With love and sisterhood,

Elizabeth

Books

Book recs from our writers
(listed by author's last name)

Reading is like breathing in. Writing is

The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood

A Manuel For Cleaning Women by Lucia Berlin

Alone With You in the Ether by Olivie Blake

Where the Line Becomes a River by Francisco Cantú

Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

A Visit From the Goon Squad + The Candy House by Jennifer Eagan

Heroes, Mythos + Troy by Stephen Fry

The Paris Apartment by Lucy Fully

Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han

I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman

The poetry by bell hooks

Voice of the Fish by Lars Horn

Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer

Court of Thorns and Roses series by Sarah J. Maas

The Shatter Me series by Tahereh Mafi

The Wicked Years by Gregory Maguire

Every Heart A Doorway by Sean Mcgryer

Circe by Madeline Miller

The Midnight Circus + The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern

I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson

The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien

The poetry by Mary Oliver

The Overstory by Richard Powers

Go As A River by Shelley Read

Conversations with Friends by Sally Rooney

Little Weirds by Jenny Slade

All My Puny Sorrows by Miriam Toews

Love and Gelato by Jenna Evans Welch

Books on Creativity + Writing

BOOKS ABOUT WRITING + STORYTELLING

(listed by author's last name)
 

The Plot Whisperer by Martha Alderson

Storycatcher by Christina Baldwin

Women Writing for (a) Change by Mary Pierce Brosmer

Writing As A Way of Healing by Louise DeSalvo

The Writing Life by Annie Dillard

Writing Down The Bones by Natalie Goldberg

Writing a Woman’s Life by Carol G. Heilbrun

On Writing by Stephen King

Bird By Bird by Anne Lamott

Cassandra Speaks by Elizabeth Lesser
Story Sense by Paul Lucy

Story by Robert McKee

The Heroine’s Journey by Maureen Murdock

Write from the Heart by Leslea Newman

The Hero Within by Carol S. Pearson

Writing to Change the World by Mary Piper

Letters to A Young Poet by Rainer Maria Rilke

Writing Alone and With Others by Pat Schneider
Save The Cat by Blake Snyder

The Heroine with 1,001 Faces by Maria Tatar

If You Want to Write by Brenda Ueland

The Writer’s Journey by Christopher Vogler

​

BOOKS ABOUT CREATIVE EXPRESSION

(listed by author's last name)

​

Art and Fear by Bayles and Orland

The Artist’s Way + Walking in this World  by Julia Cameron

Taming Your Gremlin by Rick Carson

Drawing On the Right Side of the Brain by Betty Edwards

Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert
Your Brain on Art by Susan Magsamen and Ivy Ross

Free Play by Stephen Nachmanovitch

Blessed Are The Weird: A Manifesto for Creatives by Jacob Nordby

Opening Up: The Healing Power of Expressing Emotions by Dr. James W. Pennebaker

A Whole New Mind by Daniel Pink

The War of Art by Steven Pressfield

The Creative Habit by Twyla Tharp

Spilling Open by Samantha Ward Harrison

Pink Flowers Blossom

The Power of a Writing Prompt

"If I’ve learned nothing else, I’ve learned this:  a question is a powerful thing, a mighty use of words."
— Krista Tippett

 

I believe that writing is self-empowering, that writing connects us to our own wisdom and helps us find our own answers. But sometimes life is so overwhelming, it's hard to know where to start. That's when we need a writing prompt.

A writing prompt is like a question you ask yourself.
When you write, your intuition/soul/higher-self answers you. It's amazing and mysterious but it happens. Writing is how we remember the things we didn't know we knew.

If you
email me a question you're grappling with, something you're stuck on or trying to figure out, I will send you (and post here) a writing prompt so you can use it (and everyone can use it, because we're more alike than we're different) to connect to your own power and solve your own problem.


Even if you doubt it's possible, try it anyway. The Magic is inside of you—and you will find it when you write

Questions + Prompts
(Writing to find your own answers!)

Letter to a Young Woman*

(This letter was inspired by the book Letters to a Young Poet by Rainer Maria Rilke. I wrote this in 2012, back when I was still creating this program and full of fear—and needing courage.)

I remember how hard it was. I remember the pressure and the fear and the way I lost myself. It is because of you that I’ve launched The Intuitive Writing Project. It belongs to you. It belongs to all young women. It is for you to write and to speak and to express the things that have been building inside you for a million years.
 

I want you to know how important you are, the indescribable importance of everything you think and feel and write and say. Now, more than ever, the world needs the wisdom of women, young and old together, all women together, declaring what we know to be true.
 

I also want you to know what it’s taken me a lifetime to learn, to know that you are brilliant and brave and can always trust yourself. I want you to know that everything you need is already inside you. I want you to know that your intuition is wisdom. And the next time you’re talking with friends about a decision, I hope you will remind each other of this, that you will ask: what’s your intuition say?

​

Most of all, I want you to know that your intuition will always tell the truth and that you will always be able to hear it—through your heart and your body and the words you write on paper.
 

With unconditional love,

Elizabeth

Additional Resources
 

If you'd like to try one of our free intro classes, contact me here. If you're struggling and need someone to talk to NOW, consider reaching out to one of these amazing orgs:

​

YouthLine:  A teen crisis helpline with teen-to-teen support

Lines for Life: Crisis hotline + mental health services, available 24/7

The Trevor Project:  A crisis line for LGBTQ+ youth

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