The Unwriting Café
The only writing circle where nobody writes and everything gets written.
Practicalities
- A shared space around unwriting and unmarketing
- Recurring Zoom sessions
- Facilitator: Youri Hermes
- Options: Casual Café, Craft Café, Client Café
- Fee: based on your option
When the writer steps aside.
At The Unwriting Café, we don’t “do” the writing. We let it be done through us. This is unwriting: writing rooted in undoing.
As writers, we constantly interrupt ourselves. Is this good enough? Am I inspired? Will anyone care? The moment these kind of questions arrive, it becomes about us. The writer takes center stage.
But here, we don’t motivate the writer or push the writing forward. We leave space, and the writing moves on its own. When our attention shifts toward the writing itself, something transforms. It appears more naturally, more authentically, with less effort.
Why join The Unwriting Café?
Feel supported by peers who write alongside you
See how writing can flow even more joyfully
Enjoy gentle structure without any pressure
What outsiders expect...
- Teaching a "right way" to write
- Turning it into long discussions about writing
- Feeling pressured to share your writing
- Needing to perform or prove your writing
- Following a fixed structure or curriculum
What members experience:
- Celebrating the variety of writing that shows up
- Immersing yourself in the art of unwriting
- Noticing you've been writing all along
- Sensing how writing moves through all of us
- Seeing your writing evolve inside a community
Visit your favorite café.
Casual Café – sharing space for unwriting
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Freeform Unwriting Sessions (45 min) – Weekly
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Open group Chat
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Receive Unwriting-by-Stepping-Aside Letter
Craft Café – uncovering
our skills
.
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Unwriting Workshop (90 min) – 2 per Month
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group chat on Skills
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Access to Unwriting Content Library
Client Café – bringing
our work out
Includes Craft Café
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Unmarketing Workshop (90 min) – 1 per month
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Business Group Chat
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access to Advanced Unmarketing Assistant
The Casual Café.
Each week, there is a 45-minute online space where you can write alongside others. People drift in and out, new faces appear regularly, and the open chat is there if you feel like connecting.
This café is simply about unwriting in shared presence and letting the field do its graceful work.
The Craft Café.
Here the focus is on the craft of unwriting itself. You’re among peers who enjoy refining their voice, language, and way of writing.
During the 90-minute workshops twice a month, Youri offers inputs such as exercises, tools, and pointers related to unwriting and craft.
We all work with writing in one way or another, and right now, with AI everywhere, staying close to our own voice and being precise in what we express is no longer optional if we don’t want our words to drown in the AI noise. Between sessions, the group chat and content library support ongoing exchange.
Join (or watch back) 2 workshops each month.
Youri hosts the Craft Café, with two unwriting workshops each month on the 2nd and 4th Friday at 17.00 – 18.30 CEST.
Can’t make it live? No problem. Sessions are recorded for paid members to watch back. If you prefer not to appear in a recording, you can always turn off your camera.
Get full access to the Unwriting Content Library.
Aside from the recorded workshops, you’ll also find other resources to deepen and sharpen your unwriting skills, which has become increasingly relevant in the age of AI.
Get the support from peers with our group chat.
Each Café has its own chat space:
- The Casual Café is open to everyone and meant for simple exchange.
- The Craft Café is where we focus on unwriting skills and share advice and resources.
- The Client Café turns toward unmarketing.
The Client Café.
- This includes the Craft Café.
A monthly 90-minute workshop focused on using your writing in relation to your work with clients. We explore how you share your message on platforms like LinkedIn or Substack, how your writing can support your practice, and how clients find their way to you through what you put out.
We work with what’s alive in the group and learn from each other’s experiences across different marketing channels.
The six principles of unwriting.
Whichever café you join, you’re welcome in the shared space. The essence of unwriting runs through them all.
Unwriting has a clear foundation. A 333-page book outlines its six principles. The Unwriting Café is built on these principles. The book gives context to the Casual Café and comes fully alive in the Craft and Client Café. It’s available on Amazon.
Three ways of writing: Two feed the writer, one frees the writing.
| Writing as a hustle | Writing in flow | Unwriting | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Focus | Overly relying on systems, plans, techniques, discipline | Trying to write from the heart and cultivate flow | Erasing the self-oriented writer from the writing |
| Intention | Performing the writing, being the one in control | Letting the writing manifest, hoping inspiration strikes | Getting out of the way so you can listen to the writing |
| Result | Forced and frustrating | Vague and unfocused | Instant movement and authentic expression |
| Problem | Blocked and inauthentic from pushing too hard | Constantly waiting for clarity and permission | Non-existent due to absence of the writer |
Three ways of writing:
Two feed the writer, one frees the writing.
Writing as a hustle
Writing in flow
Unwriting
Focus
Overly relying on systems, plans, techniques, discipline
Trying to write from the heart and cultivate flow
Erasing the self-oriented writer from the writing
Intention
Performing the writing, being the one in control
Letting the writing manifest, hoping inspiration strikes
Getting out of the way so you can listen to the writing
Result
Forced and frustrating
Vague and unfocused
Instant movement and authentic expression
Problem
Blocked and inauthentic from pushing too hard
Constantly waiting for clarity and permission
Non-existent due to absence of the writer
Stop trying to write. Let the unwriting happen, together.
A shared space where your writing is carried by the support of peers, and where your craft keeps evolving in community.
FAQ
What happens in the gatherings?
The Open Café runs for 45 minutes. We begin with a brief round where everyone shares what they’ll focus on, then we write.
The Member Café runs for 1.5 hours and includes input:
- Opening (15 min) – Youri offers context about unwriting while people share what they want to explore. No formal introductions, just popcorn-style sharing as things arise.
- Writing (60 min) – We drop into unwriting itself: writing without the writer steering or correcting.
- Closing (15 min) – Space to share what moved. Struggles, shifts, insights beneath the surface. We don’t read out what we’ve written.
When do the workshops take place?
- Casual Café meets every Tuesday at 17.30 – 18.15 CEST for a quick freeform writing session.
- Craft Café hosts two unwriting workshops each month on the 2nd and 4th Friday at 17.00 – 18.30 CEST.
- Client Café hosts one unmarketing workshop each month on the 3th Friday at 17.00 – 18.30 CEST.
Are the sessions recorded?
The Casual Café sessions are not recorded, as they’re simply shared unwriting without input.
For the Craft and Client Café workshops, just the opening and closing parts are recorded and shared exclusively with paid members, so those who couldn’t attend live can watch them back. The unwriting exercise itself is not recorded. If you prefer not to appear in a recording, you can turn off your camera.
What if I can’t attend live?
No problem. All workshops are recorded and available to watch back.
On top of that, the session times rotate every other month to make it easier for people in different schedules and time zones to join live.
Do I have to be a writer or author?
Whether you’re working on a poem, social content, an article, or an essay, it comes down to the same thing: step aside as the writer, and you leave space for the writing to surface naturally.
P.S. For those focused on books: While non-fiction writers naturally gravitate here, fiction writers are just as welcome. The book isn’t strictly one or the other anyway. The “writer” is the actual fiction.
Who facilitates the sessions?
The café’s are facilitated by Youri Hermes, author of The Art of Unwriting. He has published four books, and guides writers in letting their books come into being.
How is the café different from the mentoring program?
The Open Café is casual and open. Simply a shared presence where writing moves together.
The Member and Business Cafés include input on unwriting and/or unmarketing from Youri and Katrijn, relevant for the whole group.
The Free Your Book program is a much deeper journey: guided 1:1 mentoring with full support and clear holding until your book is free.
What is the VAT policy for EU and non-EU customers?
- EU Consumers: The price of the training is subject to an additional 21% VAT.
- EU Businesses: If you provide a valid VAT number, the reverse charge mechanism applies, meaning no VAT is charged. This mechanism shifts the responsibility of accounting for VAT to the buyer, simplifying cross-border trade within the EU and avoiding the need for the seller to register for VAT in the buyer’s country.
- Non-EU Customers: The price of the training is VAT exempt as sales to customers outside the EU are not subject to EU VAT rules.
How do the trial, payments, and cancellation work?
The Craft Café starts with a two-week free trial. After the trial ends, it automatically continues as a paid monthly subscription. You can cancel anytime before the trial ends via your profile, and no payment will be taken. If you cancel during a paid month, your access simply continues until the end of the current billing cycle.
The Client Café starts immediately and does not include a free trial, unless you registered in the month of December, 2025. If you cancel before the next billing cycle, no further payment is taken. If you continue, the subscription renews at €95 per month for access to both the Craft Café and the Client Café.
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