My Story

The photo features Lissa M. Cowan, Author, Creator and Storyteller in front of a white brick wall. She is the owner of this website. She smiles, has brown shoulder-length hair and wears a large white scarf with magenta circles and a modern black design of lines and interlocking patterns. She also wears a grey bomber jacket and black pants. Her hands are at her sides and she looks ahead.

My Story

If you feel you've a story or stories inside you that you want to explore, then welcome!

Maybe you’re stressed, exhausted, or feeling like writing might help you to follow something that's stirring inside you. Or maybe you're itching to complete a writing project, yet you don't know quite where to start.

I offer course for individuals to experience the joy and craft of writing, and to be more present in their writing lives.

Some of these courses and one-on-one writing coaching will allow you to put the necessary steps in place to complete a project if that's your wish.

My courses make use of “somatic-based” writing techniques, which refers to expressing yourself creatively by way of the body instead of solely through the head. It means allowing the body to lead your writing process and trusting that process as you feel into your emotions, intuition, and physical sensations. Somatic writing gives you a way of writing and being in the world that strives for wholeness and presence, bringing immediacy and liveliness to your writing and your life.

Whether you're working on a short story, memoir, novel, or whether you just want to experiment with words and language and see where that takes you, these online courses and one-on-one sessions will enable you to experience the power of writing and learn to enjoy the journey.

If you're a writer, creator or entrepreneur who's feeling unmotivated or having a hard time starting or finishing a creative project, then welcome!

Learn what you would like to create or make and I'll help you to develop a plan that allows you to do it.
Establish a writing practice that you do every day.
Discover that creative work is not separate from life but an integral part of living.
Think of your writing as a meditation practice that you need to do in order to maintain life balance.
Gain ideas for your brand that you can use for your business.
Write stunning copy for your beautiful website.

The photo shows arms of a young woman entrepreneur wearing a watch on her wrist; one hand typing on a laptop keyboard while the other writes a note on a small notepad. To the left is a fancy coffee in a white cup while pink hydrangeas sit beside her to the right. Sunglasses rest in a pink lined glasses case beside the hydrangeas. A small globe of the world is partly shown at the top left. In front of the computer sits a white iPhone.

Calling All Humans

Inspiration can come from anywhere, yet sometimes you may feel like you’ve been sucker punched by too much busy. My online courses are all about helping you come back to yourself (remember that person you used to be--and still are somewhere in there?) and feel amazing again. Many people experience profound healing from writing. My somatic-based writing courses can help connect you to your body, allowing you and your writing to feel more alive and grounded.

This image shows an open notebook lying on its spine. In the middle of the notebook are several coloured pencils with their tips pointing forward. One of the other pages is open slightly and there is some indistinct writing on it.

Calling All Writers And Creators

I offer tailored one-on-one writing and creative coaching, and story mentoring to help you make sense of your wild and wonderful ideas. Whether you’re writing an e-book, a book of poems, painting a series of still lifes, a memoir or completing a short film, and just need some guidance to develop a work plan to start and keep going, together we’ll work through any blockages you have and design a path forward.

The black and white photo features Lissa M. Cowan, Author, Creator and Storyteller in a front view. She has shoulder length hair and smiles with her mouth open. She wears a simple chain-link necklace, a white rib-neck shirt and dark grey motorcycle style jacket with zipper. She has dark features and a simple nose ring. Her earrings are a black and white geometrical pattern on an upside down triangle reminiscent of the 1920s.

Enter...moi

My name is Lissa and I'd love to help you write and/or finish your dream writing project. And, if it’s creative guidance you’re after then we'll go together to that happy place of creating—like the fort made of cushions in the living room, or that little table in the kitchen of your childhood that’s covered in crayon, ketchup and paint. As a writer and creator I'll work with you to uncover the story or stories burning inside you. Together, we'll bring your writing and life into razor-sharp focus and produce some heart dances and inner high fives along the way. My one-on-one writing coaching and somatic-based writing courses offer a selection of different options to help you achieve your writing dreams and enjoy the journey.

You Want to Know More About Me?

The photo shows a lush forest scene with a deciduous tree in the foreground and a close up of grass, rocks, sticks and leaves on the ground. In the distance dim light breaks through trees.

I grew up climbing trees and pretending I was sick (sorry, Mum) so I could stay home from school and read books.

I have always been fiercely independent and nurtured big dreams.

This photo features the author as a seven or eight-year-old child standing in a small, round kiddie pool. The water is grey-green and is below her knees. She wears a tomato red two-piece bathing suit with white ribbing around the neck. She stands in a pool, a toddler (her sister), crouching at her feet. The author has her knees bent, legs open and her hands resting on her thighs. She is sticking her tongue out and her eyes are squinting from the sun. In the background is a forest and pond to the left.

In grade three I won a writing contest and decided to become a writer. From then on I wrote stories and poems and scribbled in my diary.

The photo shows a vintage 1930s or 40s black typewriter on a white surface. The view of the typewriter is from the top. There are gold words inscribed on the machine that say “favorit” in stylized capital letters with an illustration of something resembling wings underneath. There is a piece of paper sticking halfway out of the typewriter with some illegible words written on it that look like a title.

In university, I studied English Literature to read books and eventually write some. In my early 20s I became a feminist and activist, and continued to write fiction, later receiving awards for my writing.

This image shows a close up of hands cupping light-coloured fir needles. The person’s hands are together so that the hands look like a bowl holding these leaves or fruits. The background is blurred green and looks like grass.

I learned early on that I was an artist yet needed my left brain to keep my big ideas and me in line.

This photo shows a woman from the knees down, her arms loosely wrapped around her legs. She wears a long red dress or skirt and is seated barefoot on a parquet floor with toenails painted blue. Her laptop computer, smart phone, teapot, a half-eaten apple, teacup, notebook, muffins on a plate and black high-heeled shoes surround her on the floor. She sits by her coffee table that is mostly hidden from view. The table is low, sits on a tan shag rug and is made of rustic wood painted white.

I once co-ran a publishing house and communications company where I launched brands, books and magazines, translated a book of poetry and raised money for kickass causes.

The photo is of Lissa M. Cowan, Writer, Creator and Storyteller. She stands in an alleyway in front of a brick wall that is painted beige-pink. She smiles and gently clasping her hands. She has brown, shoulder length hair, dark eyes and eyebrows. She wears a metallic 20s style dress with a short-sleeved V-neck covered one third up by tan mesh. She wears long earrings that are geometrically shaped and with a black and white design.

Biography

Lissa M. Cowan is the author of Milk Fever, a historical fiction novel (Demeter Press, 2013), co-translator from French of a book of poetic prose, and other fiction, non-fiction, and journalistic articles.

Her courses and coaching help to bring immediacy and liveliness to her students' writing and their creative lives by guiding them to connect to their bodies, their senses, and the world around them.

She offers one-on-one Heart Writing for people who long to uncover their unique stories and aren't sure where to begin. Uncovering stories that live deep within us can produce a lightness of body and spirit, carrying us to a higher level of engagement with our lives, relationship to the world—and greater joy. Lissa tailors her one-on-one writing coaching and story mentoring sessions to individual needs, whether that's working on personal pieces of writing to completion, doing somatic-based writing exercises, and meditations to hone in on a person's story that's waiting to be told, and helping them to develop that story.

Her signature 21 Day Writing Meditation Course has close to 3,000 students and is featured on DailyOM, a popular website offering a universal approach to holistic living for the mind, body, and spirit.

Lissa's intuitive guidance and writing practice are informed by years of bodywork encompassing craniosacral therapy (CST), yoga, Radical Wholeness embodiment techniques; Jungian dreamwork; and her own journey living with chronic pain over 20 years and coming home to her body. She follows a daily meditation that draws from Vipassana meditation and from Tibetan Buddhism, primarily Vajrayana practices and techniques.

She holds an MA in English Studies from the Université de Montréal and a post-graduate diploma in writing from the University of Victoria. Her writing expertise is informed by over 20 years of working as a professional copywriter, publisher, and communications generalist, and as a published author of fiction, poetry translation, and non-fiction.

She runs thewritewords.ink, an online writing service for companies, businesses, and organizations looking for professional writing expertise. She also teaches online in the writing program at Calgary University and lives in the Gatineau Hills (Quebec, Canada) in a house high in the trees.