Writing Our Mother Wound is a 6-week, multi-genre writing workshop in which we will explore the deep complexities of our relationships with our mothers in the hopes of illuminating and untangling from what is known as The Mother Wound.

What is the Mother Wound? According to Bethany Webster, author of Discovering the Inner Mother: A Guide to Healing the Mother Wound and Claiming Your Personal Power:

The Mother Wound is the pain rooted in our relationship with our mothers that is passed down from generation to generation in patriarchal cultures and has a profound effect on our lives. When left unresolved, we pass on the Mother Wounds our mothers and grandmothers before us failed to heal, which consist of toxic and oppressive beliefs, ideals, perceptions and choices about ourselves, others, and all of life itself. 
Using craft, peer discussion, and working in different writing formats we will look at this harmful dynamic in ways that we never before considered and create work that much of the world can relate to. 

This class was birthed from teaching my Writing Our Family class for many years and seeing this topic arise more than any other.

Look at the most popular memoirs of the last few years and you’ll see that writers around the world are finally ready to address, and hopefully heal, this deep, generational wound. 

By using my multi-genre approach (epistolary, fiction, poetry, non-fiction, memoir), we will be tapping into our deeper selves and unearthing new perspectives on the matter. By focusing on craft and peer critique, we will be creating work that transmutes dysfunction into art. 

Each week, every class participant will craft a short (1000-word or fewer) piece to be workshopped, so everyone will leave the class with five pieces of writing that can either stand alone for publication or be expanded later into longer story/poetry collections, novels, or memoirs. 

This class is open to all levels (please note that we will be addressing the craft of writing as opposed to the basic mechanics of a sentence and paragraphs).

COURSE TAKEAWAYS:

Five Polished Multi-Genre Pieces: Students will complete five distinct 1000-word pieces across different genres (fiction, poetry, memoir, epistolary, non-fiction) that can stand alone for publication or be expanded into longer works like novels, story collections, or memoirs.

New Perspectives on Generational Patterns: Through craft techniques and peer discussion, students will uncover and examine the Mother Wound from angles they've never considered before, gaining a deeper understanding of toxic beliefs and patterns passed down through generations.

Tools to Transform Personal Pain into Art: Students will learn specific craft techniques to transmute family dysfunction and personal wounds into compelling, relatable creative work that resonates with readers worldwide.

Experience in Multiple Writing Genres: Students will gain confidence experimenting with genres they might not typically explore, discovering new creative strengths through epistolary writing, poetry, fiction, and memoir formats.

Valuable Peer Feedback and Community: Through weekly workshops and online classroom interaction, students will receive detailed feedback from both instructor Kate Hill Cantrill and fellow writers, building a supportive community for exploring difficult family dynamics through writing.

STUDENTS LOVE KATE:

"I am writing review as recipient of a gift from my husband to participate in this course. What a lovely course I experienced with Kate Hill Cantrill. I was a newbie to a formal writing course and also busy with regular life in the meantime. Kate was gracious, passionate, and kind. She was supportive and inspiring in her guidance and feedback. I appreciated the well prepared content and writing prompts, and loved the idea that we could be honest and open about the difficult topics we approached in writing about family. I felt Kate was also particularly patient and encouraging to newcomers to the process. I would recommend her course highly, and also hope to take a future course with her when I have the time." -Richard J.

"I appreciated the ability to experiment with writing genres I would not have ordinarily have had the courage (& maybe even interest) to play around with, e.g., poetry, but surprisingly I really enjoyed writing a freeform piece. The class was life-changing for me because it provided an environment to explore how some of my childhood experiences affected me in a creative way; I am strongly considering sharing these with others." -Sonya C.

"I would recommend Kate's class very highly. The class FAR exceeded my expectations! Kate is a fabulous teacher. She provided excellent input and a reading list of suggested authors that has been inspirational. Kate's feedback was so helpful for my personal growth as was her reading list, positive attitude, and her knowledge about writing was exceptional." -Ellen G.

"Kate Hill Cantrill's class Writing Our Family was excellent! The group of students worked well together, Kate's comments were precise and helpful and I learned a lot. I would do it again!" -V.S.

PAYMENT OPTIONS:

ONLINE COURSE STRUCTURE:

This class will have a weekly Zoom meeting, weekly deadlines, and plenty of interaction with Kate and your peers with the addition of Wet Ink, a dedicated online classroom. Craft materials, lectures, reading assignments, and writing prompts are all available through the online classroom. Students also post work and provide and receive feedback within the online classroom environment. You can get the work done as you see fit week-to-week, so it is perfect for any schedule. There are discussion questions each week inspired by the assigned readings and topics in the lecture notes. Students are encouraged to take these wherever is most compelling and/or useful for them. Each writer will have the opportunity to submit their work, receiving detailed feedback from their peers as well as Kate; follow-up questions and conversations often occur. Kate engages with these discussions throughout the week.

WORKSHOP DETAILS

• Instructor: Kate Hill Cantrill

• Class size limited to 8 writers

• Class Starts Monday, November 3rd, 2025
  

• Class will meet weekly on Monday Nights via Zoom, 7PM EST - 9PM EST.

• Note: We will skip Thanksgiving Week and finish on December 15th.
  

• The course is fully online, with students participating in a weekly Zoom meeting and working according to their own schedule within weekly deadlines in Wet Ink. Once you have enrolled, the instructor will send you a link to our online classroom, provided via Wet Ink.

If you have questions, please contact us HERE.