Warrior Candy Man
And the Characters Who Give Us Hope
Want to dig deeper in your writing practice, converse about creativity, practice yoga, eat delicious food, soak in the Hierve el Agua springs, sweat in a Temazcal, and experience the sensory explosions of Oaxaca? There is still time to sign up for Writing from the Soul, a six-day/six-night retreat from March 15th to 21st, 2026 in Oaxaca City, Mexico.
Over the past several months, I’ve seen a man around my neighborhood. Nearly every afternoon, he makes his way down Cuauhtémoc Avenue with crutches tucked under his arms and a basket of candy hanging around his neck. I’d often see him from a distance as I trudged home from physical therapy. I was still recovering from knee surgery, wincing at the pain I felt with each tiny step. He didn’t have a right leg but there he was, moving up and down the street at an alarming speed. I started calling him Warrior Candy Man. He embodied a sense of courage and resilience that I wanted to cultivate in myself. Every time I saw him, I noticed a shift in how I was experiencing the pain within my own body. As anyone with chronic pain can tell you, when you focus on the burning sensations in your nerve endings, they tend to compound. But when you reframe the story of suffering in your mind, the brain interprets these sensations differently. Pain doesn’t disappear but you can give it less power.
On Friday night, I was walking home and we saw each other each other face-to-face on the street for the first time. It was like running into a celebrity. “Do you have any gum?” I asked. He rummaged through his basket and found a pack of Trident. Then he gave me a Catholic newspaper and told me how much God loves me. I listened to his pitch for Jesus and pulled a few coins out of my purse. It was a sweet moment—I had always sensed that he wasn’t just selling candy. For the many months I had seen him at a distance, he did in fact remind me of Jesus. Or at least of the qualities I would imagine of God embodied in human form. “Thanks for everything,” I said when we parted ways.
In January, I was trying to write a Free Bird about my favorite books I read in 2025 and it was not coming together. Ironically, I was trying to talk about “Reading from the Soul” and how it connects to “Writing from the Soul” (which is what I am teaching on my upcoming retreat!) But I wasn’t writing from the soul at all. I was trying to make some hot takes and intellectual observations without facing the tender and vulnerable feelings these books had brought up for me. Under the pressure of working, keeping to my monthly publishing schedule, and planning my retreat, I couldn’t access anything deeper.
Running into Warrior Candy Man on the street reminded me of what I actually felt when I read my favorite books of last year. What stayed with me wasn’t the plot or the prose, but characters who expanded my sense of possibilities. Stories that give me permission to think about myself or my experience in a more expansive way. I read a lot of memoirs and speculative fiction about witches and warriors and barren landscapes and dystopic deserts and jungles. I was drawn to the stories of people who lost everything—their societies and families and homes and health—and then sifted through the rubble to create meaning. People who found strength and power not because life went their way, but because it didn’t.
My favorite memoir was We Will Be Jaguars, the story of a woman who grew up off-the-grid in the Amazon rainforest. Her Waorani family sustains themselves through hunting and foraging until the missionaries and oil companies come and contaminate the land. The main character, Nemonte, grows up doubting herself and questioning her family’s way of living. She pulls out her teeth so she can look more white and moves to Quito to study with the missionaries. It’s a sad story of how the colonists ravaged the Amazon but there are glimmers of hope and cosmic justice. Eventually, Nemonte finds her way back to her culture and becomes the leader of an international movement to protect the Amazon rainforest from the oil companies.
The stories we read shape our consciousness. We’re shadowing characters and absorbing how they think and behave and react. When I see a powerful person fighting for a cause, I initially assume they are different from me. Surely, they are braver and more courageous than I could ever be. But memoirs let us into their internal world. We see their doubts and insecurities and understand how they had to take thousands of missteps steps in order to find their path. This book filled me with hope, not just for my own life but for the world. A story can give us permission. A character can expand or limit our own potential.
I also loved Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler, which was published in 1993 but depicts a dystopic society from 2025 to 2026. The story is set amongst wildfires searing the coast of California, the colonization of Mars, and mass societal upheaval. In the midst of all of the destruction, the narrator, Lauren, writes down her observations and ideas and comes up with Earthseed, a new religion centered around her notion that “God is change.”
Whenever I sit down to write, I always feel like I could do a million other things that are more productive or socially acceptable. Sometimes, it straight up feels silly. Lauren, who is facing the death of multiple family members and the collapse of her neighborhood, says writing about Earthseed is what keeps her going. “I’ve never felt that it was anything other than real: discovery rather than invention, exploration rather than creation,” she says of her process. I feel like this a perfect description of Writing from the Soul. Writing is not another task on the to-do list or an opportunity to be productive. It is a spiritual process of remembering our inner strength and spirit so we can go out into the world with more purpose and intention. Our words can become our own religion. We create the stories that carry us through.
The third book that settled deep within my bones was Uprooted, by Naomi Novik. This is a speculative fiction witch novel inspired by Polish fairy tales. The heroine of the story, Agnieszka, never looks quite right. Her hair is always messy and she is always spilling on her dress or getting stuck in a thorn bush. She feels inferior to her beautiful and poised friend, Kasia. But ultimately, being exactly who she is, emotional and imperfect and intuitive, becomes her magical power.
In the book, the characters are fighting against the Wood, which is a sprawling plot of magical evil trees and rivers that capture human spirits. When someone disappears in the Wood, they get “corrupted” and then the Wood feeds on their human spirit to grow stronger. The Wood is an inhuman enemy that no one fully understands, especially in the beginning. Throughout the book, they realize that the Wood has an intelligence to strategize and plan and corrupt human spirits in myriad ways beyond their initial understanding. I kept thinking of the Wood as a metaphor for AI. Anytime, I spend too much time on Instagram or ChatGPT, I feel “corrupted.” Like Big Tech dug its claws in my brain, fragmenting my attention and my capacity to think for myself. I don’t think this metaphor was intended by the author, but that is what I love about books. Fiction is a mirror—we see things that may not be there but what we are carrying in our subconscious. Metaphors allow us to approach big and scary subjects with more distance. We can examine things that we can’t really even process or understand without all of the heaviness of actually really talking about it. Agnieszka is able to lead the fight against the Wood using her connection to the Earth and raw intuitive magic. The wizards in the story, especially the analytical and studied Dragon, are humbled when they realize she has a power they don’t. We will never beat AI by emulating what AI is best at— logic, pattern recognition, and rationality. Any chance we have to survive this new era will come from honoring our feminine, the intuitive, embodied wisdom that we all carry deep inside of us.
The best stories remind us of our own power. They give us hope and purpose and meaning, no matter what the raw clay of the human experience is delivering. Life is not easy— illness and injury and war and the climate crisis weigh on us all. When we pay attention to stories about courage and resilience, we start to see more possibilities, not just ourselves, but for our communities and the world. We can choose the characters we model ourselves after. We choose how we move through this world, how we carry our own pain, and how we stand up for what we believe in.
Even if our story never makes it to the page, we are all the narrators and meaning makers of our human experiences. We don’t choose what happens to us but we have so much agency in how shape our stories. How can you take what you have and make it beautiful?
What characters (real or fictional) resonate with you? What stories inspired you when you really needed it?
Thank you for reading.
Love,
Emily
Writing from the Soul Retreat
What is it?
Writing from the Soul is a 6 day/6 night retreat centered around transforming the feelings, emotions, and experiences inside of you into creative expression. Through writing workshops, live music, yoga, nature outings, and cultural experiences, you’ll inspire your inner artist, awaken your voice, and find the courage to tell the story only you can tell.
When is It?
Sunday, March, 15, 2026 to Saturday March 21, 2026
Where is It?
Oaxaca, Mexico is a sacred land nestled in the foothills of the Sierra Madre Oriental mountain range. Native to the Zapotecs and the Mixtecos, this region is rich in history and home to a number of significant archaeological and spiritual sites. We’ll be staying in Oaxaca City, an artist’s paradise filled with galleries, museums, markets, an iconic botanical garden, and some of the best food in the world. Mole, tamales, tlayudas, and quesadillas with squash blossom flowers are some of the regional specialties. We’ll spend six days and six nights experiencing some of the best nature, art, culture, cuisine, and healing practices that this region has to offer.
Who is Invited?
This retreat is open for new and seasoned writers of all genders, ages, and nationalities. We gladly welcome anyone looking to deepen their creative expression, regardless of your level of experience. Come solo or with a friend or partner. The retreat will be conducted in English.
Where are we staying?
We’ll be staying in a beautiful private villa in the heart of Oaxaca City.
Daily Themes
Every day will be dedicated to a different theme to guide us in our writing, exploration, and creative expression.
Sunday: Ground & Relax. Arrive and check in to the villa anytime after 2 PM. We’ll have a delicious Mexican welcome dinner at the villa so we can relax, get to know each other, and set our intentions for the week. In the evening, Oaxacan musicians David and Adrianna will lead us in a therapeutic sound healing so we can unwind after a long day of travel.
Monday: Awakening the Artist Within. On Monday, we will wake up fresh and ready to ignite the inner creator. Our workshop will focus on awakening the muse, listening to your intuition, and opening yourself up to divine inspiration. We’ll practice poetry-infused yoga in the morning, set our creative intentions for the week, and spend the afternoon soaking in the magic of the city around us.
Tuesday: The Past. On Tuesday, we’ll visit Monte Alban and reflect on the history of the Mexican land where we are staying. We’ll dedicate our writing workshops to reflecting and writing about our personal history. Emily will lead the workshop on the Alchemy of Memoir and we’ll dive into the process of turning our personal experience into story.
Wednesday: The Purge. As we reflect on our past, we may realize that some of our stories and limiting self-beliefs are better left behind. Local musicians David and Adrianna will lead us in a vocal activation workshop, designed to access our inner creative power through music and sound. We’ll also offer an optional Temazcal (a traditional Mesoamerican sweat lodge ceremony) for anyone seeking deeper purification and spiritual connection.
Thursday: the Present. On Thursday, we’ll travel to the mountains and spend the day immersed in nature. We will let the Earth be our guide as we soak in the Hierve el Agua Spring, walk through the trees, and journal while overlooking sweeping views of the mountains and petrified waterfalls. Our workshop will focus on how to draw upon the natural world for inspiration, symbolism, and metaphor.
Friday: The Future. We will enjoy one last day in Oaxaca together with plenty of time in the afternoon to explore the city. Today’s workshop will be focused on our central theme—writing from the soul. In the evening, we will celebrate the end of our retreat with an integration ceremony so we can set intentions about how we can channel our creativity and stay committed to our projects when we go back home.
Saturday: We’ll share one final breakfast together at the villa and then depart.
Investment
$1600 for a private room.
A discount is available for couples who want to share a room/bed.
What is included?
Accommodation for six days/six nights in a private room at a beautiful villa.
Mexican Welcome Dinner on Sunday.
Daily breakfast, coffee, and tea at the villa.
Daily workshops on writing and creativity.
Yoga classes with live music.
Sound healing.
Welcome Gift.
Drinking Water.
What Will We Eat?
We’ll enjoy a traditional Oaxacan breakfast every day prepared by local chef, Ari. The menu is mostly vegetarian with vegan options available.
What is not included?
Flights to Oaxaca City.
Taxi to Villa (We will be happy to arrange your pick-up from the airport with a secure taxi service for an additional cost. We will try to coordinate group pick-ups to make this more economical)
Outings and excursions. (These activities are optional and will have an additional cost as outlined below)
Hierve el Agua ($25 USD entrance fee)
Monte Alban ($5 USD entrance fee)
Temazcal (TBD based on our group size but probably between $40 to $50 USD)
Dinner (We will offer a daily breakfast/brunch but lunch and dinner will be on your own. We’ll suggest group dinner outings but these are optional and everyone is free to make their own plans. You can easily get by on $25 per day or less.)
Travel Insurance.
How do I sign up?
You can find more information and sign up at the link here.
We offer a variety of payment plans so you can make this retreat work for you. Email me with any questions.