Ann Dowsett Johnston

06/24/2025

For those who have been waiting, the time has arrived! Registration for September's Writing Your Recovery (which will include an evening class option) is now open!

Please go to my website and follow the links to sign up.

Workshops Writing Your RecoveryA powerful 8-week online memoir-writing course.We all have a story—our stories—to tell. Excavating those narratives, finding the courage to give voice to our secrets, takes time. I believe that writing is a process of discovery. At the heart of good writing is find...

01/22/2025

Join Jan Winhall, myself and a few other fabulous guests for a special free two-hour edition of the Embodied Dialogue Series. We'll be exploring how Polyvagal Theory intersects with Twelve-step Programs, to enhance addiction treatment.

Learn how these global support groups emphasize community, spirituality, and the idea that addiction is a brain disease, while Polyvagal Theory frames addictive behaviors as adaptive responses to trauma and the nervous system’s need for emotional balance. By merging these perspectives, we'll continue to reshape the conversation around recovery, focusing on safety, community support, and emotional regulation.

11/13/2024

There is a new newsletter in my substack. To find it, please look for it through the link in my bio.

10/08/2024

My beloved friend, the brilliant writer Laura McKowen, has just turned 10! In a decade, she transformed the face of modern recovery for thousands, wrote two bestsellers and gave us the Nine Things. We are the luckier for it!

09/18/2024

Discover the power of your story with bestselling author and the original Quit-Lit memoirist Ann Dowsett Johnston. Writing Your Recovery is a live, transformative writing course that offers a supportive space for women on a recovery journey. Get practical, and empowering tools to craft your personal narrative.

This course will connect you with like-minded women and help you to turn your life experiences into a meaningful memoir.

Join by using the link below.

https://members-writingyourrecovery.thinkific.com/

09/11/2024

I hesitate to write the following sentence without touching wood, but here it is: in my life, this is the season of small miracles. This summer will go down as the one I lived in Los Angeles with my son and his wife and their young daughters—Frances and the newborn Pearl. This is the one I will always remember, the summer I traded a golden Canadian season by the lake for the better part of three magical months in LA—“balls hot,” according to my son—with questionable air, bad traffic and congestion all around. Frankly, I couldn’t be happier.
In my latest newsletter, I share about this precious time, and question my own earliest childhood memories. I also share details about the upcoming Write Your Recovery workshop. ✍️ Link pasted below.
❤️

08/24/2024

is a magnificent event that brings together women of all ages for a night of storytelling. It began in NYC, but , who’s a force for good within the recovery community, and Toronto’s arts and culture scene, brought it to Toronto. I’m pleased to be a speaker at the Oct 17 event, representing Team 70s. The theme of the night is My Alter Ego, a subject that demands reflection and vulnerability. I’m excited and nervous to share some truths that didn’t make it into Drink.
Fall fills up quickly. I’d love to see you.

07/07/2024

Welcoming Pearl, born June 18. Our hearts are so full. ❤️

07/04/2024

I am reading nightly to Frances, picture books of my youth, and my son’s, and more. Two nights ago, she recited every page of Margaret Wise Brown’s The Little Island, to the letter. Nothing defines intrepid so much as a two-year-old: sallying off her change table, leaping onto her bed, tackling the big-kid slide at the park. I learn from her every day.
In my latest newsletter, I share more on the word “intrepid,” and how I’ve been letting it guide me lately. Link below to read more, and wishing you an adventure-filled July. -Ann ❤️

06/28/2024

Last month, I delivered an in-person version of my writing course at The Retreat in Wayzata, Minnesota. For three intense days, 21 women dug deep, mining their memories, producing remarkable pieces. Invigorating, inspiring, intrepid women, bonding in the woods, sharing laughter and tears and yes, dreams: to be published, to be heard, to be whole.
The course—From Memory to Memoir—was hosted by . We did restorative yoga, bone danced to incessant drumming (you had to be there). We made new friends, confiding our secrets, our challenges. On the last night, the irrepressible Sally Murphy from Donegal, Ireland paid me the ultimate compliment: “You are a lighthouse.” To which I replied: “If I am a lighthouse, you are the boats, steering yourselves towards the light.” ✨
It was an invigorating and life-changing four-day retreat. I hope to capture that same energy in the writing retreat that I’ll be hosting in South Africa next year, at the beautiful Bodhi Khaya retreat. Curious? I share more details, including my personal connection to South Africa, in my latest newsletter. ❤️ Link in bio.

05/12/2024

Maxie—she hated her name—is so missed, today and always. She taught me my love of writing, my love of my siblings, my love of children, my love of art. Missed terribly. Cherished forever. ❤️

04/17/2024

Spring has arrived in Toronto. 🌱Scylla, forsythia and hyacinths have brought bright pops of radiant blue, yellow and white to my garden. The cherry blossoms are approaching full bloom outside my front bedroom window.. After a hectic month of dragging my suitcase across North America, I’m grateful to be home right now, to take in this magnificent moment of bursting life. For me, spring has always been an invigorating time for creativity. If you’re feeling inspired to start something new, to embrace the joy, please consider joining one of my two Writing Your Recovery workshops.
The eight-week memoir-writing course kicks off April 24, and there are only three remaining spots. This is my customized course for those who want to tell their stories, perhaps getting published. Please note: this is the only opportunity of 2024 to enroll. Link in bio for more details.
This photo was taken last year in my front garden, where I’ll soon be spending lots of time, pen in hand.