Writing Together: A Year of Meaning-Making and Friendship

It takes courage to

WRITE

For those who have ever felt intimidated by writing, who have stories waiting to be explored, or who long for a deeper connection with a friend, Writing Together offers a transformative journey of self-discovery.

“Writing Together is a unique dual-memoir that guides readers to pen their own creative journeys. A real gift. It’s a beautiful model of the kind of friendship that can make us better people and make the world a better place.”
—Parker J. Palmer, author of Let Your Life Speak, A Hidden Wholeness, and On the Brink of Everything

Read more… / See Press Kit

Details

Dimensions

6 x 9

Pages

228

Paperback ISBN

9781959921066

Ebook ISBN

9781959921073

Paperback price

$21.99

Ebook price

$12.99

Pub date

October 7, 2025

Give the gift of friendship and meaning-making. Order today. Start writing 1:1 !!

Hover your mouse over any logo. We’d love for you to request Writing Together from your favorite, local independent bookseller!

We’re offering 20% discount for orders in the US and UK through December 31, 2025. Please allow a couple of weeks for print-on-demand delivery.

20% discount available in the US and UK through December 31, 2025

Enjoy our hour-long author conversation here, and also follow Penny and Darcy on Substack with shorter clips and writing prompts.

Meet the Authors

Penny Williamson, ScD, is an internationally recognized facilitator, educator and coach for leaders in health care and other serving professions. She is retired Associate Professor of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and a founding facilitator and mentor for the Center for Courage & Renewal. Her work focuses on living and working with authenticity, courage, and heart. Her other joys include cooking, hiking, reading and travel.

See longer bio | Contact Penny

Photo credit: Mike Styer, Mike Styer Photography, Philadelphia, PA.

Darcy Shaw, DVM, MVSc, MBA, Diplomate ACVIM, is an award-winning veterinarian and Professor Emeritus of Small Animal Internal Medicine at the University of Prince Edward Island, Canada. His work spans clinical medicine to communication skills teaching and leadership development. Darcy is also a facilitator for the Center for Courage & Renewal. He sees animals as guides to integrity and wholeness. Darcy’s other passions include cooking, cats, cycling, and travel.

See longer bio | Contact Darcy

Photo credit: Michael Needham, UPEI Marketing & Communications, Canada.

“Writing Together is a unique dual-memoir that guides readers to pen their own creative journeys. A real gift. It’s a beautiful model of the kind of friendship that can make us better people and make the world a better place.”
—Parker J. Palmer, author of Let Your Life Speak, A Hidden Wholeness,
Healing the Heart of Democracy, and On the Brink of Everything

About the Book

What if Connection, Not Critique, Made Your Writing Come Alive?

What happens when two unlikely friends—separated by age, gender, profession, and geography—commit to writing together for a year? They surprise themselves with what author Parker J. Palmer calls “a unique dual-memoir that guides readers to pen their own creative journeys.” Writing Together is an exploration of connection, vulnerability, and the transformative power of shared storytelling.

Penny Williamson—a facilitator and leadership coach—and Darcy Shaw—a veterinary professor—discovered something remarkable. Writing together could be a way to reflect on your life, deepen friendship, and create a powerful antidote to loneliness in a time when people are so disconnected. Using poetry as a catalyst for carefully crafted prompts, they created a process for writing in a trustworthy space that anyone could use.

More than a traditional writing guide, Writing Together offers a reflective journey of self-discovery. As two professionals trained in scientific observation, Penny and Darcy approach collaborative writing not as a path to publication, but as a profound method of meaning-making. Their work transcends typical memoir, revealing how deliberate, compassionate dialogue can transform personal narrative into a shared exploration of identity, integrity, and human connection.

This is not a book about writing perfectly but about writing courageously. As they learned, writing with a friend reveals unexpected insights. It’s an invitation to:

Flex your intellectual, emotional, and spiritual muscles
Reconnect with your most authentic self
Explore life’s pivotal moments through a supportive, creative lens
Deepen friendships through vulnerable storytelling
Make sense of your life’s unfinished stories

Ideal for professionals, creatives, friends, and anyone feeling stuck or seeking renewal, Writing Together proves that our most profound insights emerge when we create a safe, nonjudgmental space to listen—to ourselves and to each other.

In a world hungry for authentic connection, this book offers a beacon of hope: that true understanding can emerge when we write from the heart, bridging differences and finding belonging through shared stories.

Sharpen your pencil, charge your laptop, and prepare for a journey of unexpected discoveries. This is writing not for publication, but for the most important audience of all—yourself.

Advanced Praise

“Often we think of writing as a solitary act, but Writing Together celebrates the intimacy, joy and connection that are possible when we choose to share in this creative process—how beautifully we might grow together, even as we grow ourselves. I love how curiosity, open questions, and authenticity are at the heart of this book. It’s an inspiration for poetry lovers, friends and writers of all kinds.”

—Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer, poet and author of The Unfolding and All the Honey

“Writing Together is a love story about a friendship. I love reading the authors’ stories, and I am inspired by the ways their writing allowed them to see their hidden wholeness. I can’t wait to follow their suggestions for my own writing.“

—Sally Z. Hare, Endowed Professor Emerita, Coastal Carolina University, and author of The ElderGarten

Penny and Darcy have co-authored a remarkable book. I have savored it and believe it will change my life.

—Lorna Lynn, MD, Vice President, Medical Assessment Engagement, American Board of Internal Medicine

“While writing is often a solitary feat, this book proves that there is another way. It models a rare alchemy of inner work, writing, and friendship. Over a year of Zoom calls, Penny and Darcy engaged in courageously writing their stories, both deepening their friendship while also befriending their unknown selves. Their narratives served as a siren call to my own stories that lie buried and long to see the light of day. I can hardly wait to try this process with a close friend.”

—Caryl Casbon, author of The Everywhere Oracle and Side by Side: The Sacred Art of Couples Aging with Wisdom and Love

Ever want a writing buddy but felt insecure or vulnerable about what that could look or be like? In Writing Together, Penny and Darcy craft a journey into what the process of being in trustworthy relationship while writing together can look like that is grounded, bounded and creates space for two people to express themselves deeply while being met with open honest questions and the opportunity for reflection rather than critique. Weaving in their own experiences of life with a trustworthy process for writing together—not as a perfectionistic pursuit of prose but as a process for connection, meaning-making and wholeness—Darcy and Penny chart a path that many others could use, whether they ever decide to publish their work or not. I only wish I had had this book a couple years ago, when a friend and distinguished author offered to write together—and, despite having been published myself many times, I felt too intimidated to do it. Thanks to this book, I have a process I can use to try again.”

—Somava Saha, MD, MS, President & CEO, WE in the World Institute; Faculty, Harvard Medical School

Writing is a generally a solitary pursuit, but Penny Williamson and Darcy Shaw demonstrate that writing can be a shared process of deepening friendship and exploration of life’s important questions. Writing Together is a lovely book, filled with the search for meaning rooted in friendship, that can transform the solitariness of reading and writing into a shared journey of discovery.

—David R. Kopacz, MD, author of Caring for Self & Others and Becoming Medicine

Deeply and remarkably one of the most moving pieces of collective work that I have read in some time. When I finished Writing Together, I realized I had a smile on my face and tears in my eyes. I was swept away—taken up and held by the storytelling, by the deep sharing between two friends grounded in truth-telling, mutuality, and humanity. I didn’t want the book to end.
The generosity, graciousness, and respect that Darcy and Penny extend to each other—and now to us, the readers—are both inspiring and instructive. They show us not only how to write, but how to live and love. How to honor our buried and untold stories, and how to harness them for fulfillment and growth as we move through the stages and ages of life.

—Cindy L. Adams, PhD, MSW, co-author of Skills for Communicating in Veterinary Medicine, Emeritus, Professor of Veterinary Medicine, University of Calgary

Writing Together is more than a guide to creative practice; it is a heartfelt tribute to the transformative power of friendship and shared expression. Williamson and Shaw offer an inspiring example of how writing can nurture connection, purpose, and emotional resilience.
Williamson draws on her experience in leadership and coaching to bring clarity, courage, and emotional depth to the narrative. Shaw, with his background in veterinary medicine and education, brings a thoughtful and observant voice, blending analytical perspective with honest introspection. Together, their collaborative storytelling creates a sincere, balanced, and enriching reading experience.

—Suzie Housley, Midwest Book Review