Marn Norwich
Q What do you do?
“I offer creative corporate Lunch + Learns and longer corporate creativity workshops.”
I offer online writing workshops for women.
I coach writers using a combination of editorial consulting and energy-work techniques.
Q What steps did you take to get to where you are now?
I completed a degree in journalism and worked as an indie journalist on my passion issues: women and complementary health. I also fell in love (read, obsessed!) with energy work, took all kinds of courses and started practicing.
Working as a community journalist made me desire a more direct approach to social service. So I facilitated writing workshops in any venue that would take me, from prisons to universities.
I also worked as a writer, editor and consultant on a wild variety of projects — everything but technical writing, when avoidable!
In the 90’s, I wrote short stories and wrote and prematurely produced a play that I am now fairly embarrassed about. It featured an eight-by-three-foot painted wooden penis that ended up in my parents’ garage, if that gives you a sense of my shame. In the early 2000’s, I wrote poetry and performed around town, sometimes with an ensemble of dancers and musicians called Bad Poetry.
I published a book of poetry with the support of a community of artists and was thrilled when it won an Indie Publisher Book Award.
Since 2014, I’ve focused on combining all my passions with workshop facilitation. I offer writing and intuitive development workshops that foster mutual support and self-empowerment while growing participants’ capacity through a focus on the creative or intuitive process.
In 2021, after years of online dating, I was determined to wring the honey from the morass. So I braved up and tried my hand at playwriting again, with the writing and production of a musical comedy, A Coveted Wife of East Van. It was a lot of fun to co-create with a brilliant team who were jonesing to get back on stage after Covid.
This lead me circuitously to work as Artist in Residence for a nearby city, which was also a tonne of fun and considerable work with adorable little kids, which I hadn’t anticipated!
I’m currently focused on offering corporate creativity workshops. I’m very excited to be moving my work into the larger community and cherish the opportunity to connect with wonderful new people!
Q How do you stand out in your field?
My workshops blend mindfulness, self-empowerment, creativity and community-building.
My workshop structure differs from standard writing-workshop tradition: It supports the archetypal feminine through its emphasis on significant inter-connections, creative process (as opposed to product) and a model of sharing writing that is not based on critique, but on support.
In my work as writing-coach, I blend my background as a professional writer and consultant with my energy-work practice to support writers to heal underlying creative blocks, write from their points of highest energy and organize their writing with flare and precision.
Q What are you working on right now?
I’m currently working on a non-fiction manuscript, and I’m looking to hire a composer to work with me on the new, 75-minute version of Coveted Wife. I’m also seeking a publisher for two poetry manuscripts. I’m excited to be marketing my Lunch + Learns and corporate workshops to businesses and organizations!
Q What’s your style?
My facilitation style is warm, engaged and empathic. I deeply support participants to thrive creatively and personally, to be empowered and to forge connections with each other.
I hold space for participants and coaching clients to connect with their emotions, needs, desires, underlying truths and core selves.
My strength as a facilitator and coach is my passion, my compassion and my capacity to hold the energy of a group in a manner that inspires creative exploration and the safety to share.
I believe my other asset is my sense of humour and playfulness! I keep the possibility for levity at my right side, ready to pull out when appropriate. So much of life is serious, but I believe that fun is a core element in creative work and a necessary component in learning.
My musical, A Coveted Wife of East Van, is pretty reflective of who I am. It’s a farce, in that the protagonist is a caricature of a codependent woman in search of love, and the dates she goes on are cartoonish in their exaggeration of what can go wrong! It’s kind of an LGBTQIA2S+ version of Fiddler on the Roof, and along with making merciless fun of New Age guys (I’ve paid my dues!), I take a stand for women, for oppressed peoples and for the journey toward liberation we’re all on.
Q Out of all your slashies, which one do you wish you could do more often?
I wish I had more time for writing poetry and plays. I know I need to create that time myself (something I’m happy to tell all my clients!), but I also honour that life can distract us for good reasons.
Q What is frustrating you right now?
I have found a lack of places to market my writing-coaching and my services in general. I welcome input!
Q If you could hire someone for $20/hour, what would you have them do to make your day easier?
My wish-list of services exceeds a $20/hour rate, alas! But I’d love to have weekly therapeutic massage in my life, a frequent cat visitor who I could send home when they get too obsessed with sitting on my laptop and a cupboard full of custom-made clothes that actually fit!
Q What do you wish you could have told yourself, when, and why?
Oh, such a great question! Yes, please learn from my missteps if you can. This also humours the codependent in me who always wants to help!
I wish I could have told myself that I will find my own way to serve the world, and it won’t be by way of any 9 to 5 or salaried position. When I was in my 20’s and having the nervous breakdown sometimes referred to as the Saturn Return, a wise woman told me that I could be a powerful contributor to the society, even though I did not see myself as fitting into that society. I believe this is true for so many artists.
Q If you could talk to an expert to gain more insight on something, what would it be about?
I would talk with a marketing expert or exceptional business coach. In fact, I will!
Q What kind of opportunities/projects are you looking for?
I’m seeking opportunities to facilitate corporate workshops and Lunch + Learns. I’m always open to working with new writing-coaching clients. I welcome new participants to my online women’s workshops, too!
Q Describe your ideal job/client/collaboration.
My ideal corporate client has a bright team that is enthusiastic about trying something new! They may want to have me in for a series of sessions so that we can build on the work. They possess a sense of humour and are ready to laugh and also have the desire to support each other’s authenticity. My ideal collaborator is creative, fun, empathic, intelligent and of high integrity. Stretch my concept of how I work in this world and expand my senses by pitching me with projects that blow my mind around the power for good we can yield together!
Q What is your rate?
Cost of one Lunch + Learn or discounted 6-pack rate: Please check my site.
Cost of corporate creativity workshops: based on your requirements, please check my site.
Workshops are available to meet the needs of your team, and full cost is dependent on duration, single versus series, group size, location and add-ons.
One-on-one writing-coaching: packages of 6 and 12. Please check my site.
Q How should someone approach you about working together?
Through my website or via marn@vancouverwritingcourses.com. Please feel free to me know your goal and how I might support you.
Q Who is a creative you admire?
April Bulmer — April is my favourite living poet! The fact that her brilliant work has been well-recognized and awarded gives me hope for humankind. She’s also a dear friend with a huge heart.
Q Oh! and… how do you stay creative?
Ocean. Forest. Yoga. Dance. Wander. Wonder. Friends.
This member profile was originally published in May 2024.