Artists
Perform with BYHO
Do you make original art about heartbreak, love, loss, redemption, grief or transformation? Tell us about your work and we’ll follow up personally.
Perform with BYHO
Mingjie Zhai · Break Your Heart Open
Journaling the art of transforming the broken heart
I’m Mingjie Zhai, founder of The Love Story and creator of Break Your Heart Open: evenings of live original music, art and guided journaling in an intimate shared space. Bring your diary. Share only if you want to.
The waitlist isn’t a ticket or a reserved place. It’s how you hear about future sessions.
What it is
An evening of art, music and your own pages
Break Your Heart Open brings people together to journal alongside artists.
Original art about heartbreak, love, loss, grief and transformation sets the tone. Live original music fills the room. A facilitator offers gentle writing prompts, and you write in your own diary, for yourself.
It’s for anyone moving through heartbreak, grief or a life transition who would like a quiet, creative way to sit with it, in good company. Nobody needs to know your story.
See how a session works
The experience
About 90 minutes, in three movements
Listen
Live original music and an artist’s work open the space and set the mood.
Write
Guided prompts help you put your own experience on the page, in your own diary.
Share, if you want to
Some people read a line aloud. Many don’t. Sharing is always optional.
Phone-free. No phones, social media, photos or recording during a session. Your phone gets you there and gets you home.
The atmosphere
A small room and close listening
Think of a coffeehouse after hours: low light, a musician a few feet away, an artist sharing their work, and a room full of people quietly writing.
No cameras and no feeds. Just music, creativity and the attention of people who showed up for the same reason you did.
Meet Mingjie
Educator, author and nonprofit founder
My work centers on helping people give creative form to personal experience. In 2016 I founded The Love Story Media, Inc., a nonprofit that brings people together through artist interviews, live showcases, inspired journaling and the chance to share personal writing.
I call myself a Journal-Artist. In everyday terms, that means turning personal experience into fiction and creative expression. That practice, Journal-Artism, is the foundation Break Your Heart Open is built on.
- Master’s in Secondary Education
- California Single Subject Teaching Credential in English
- 13 years of teaching, 10 years of entrepreneurship
- Author of The Producer’s Playbook
Ways to take part
Bring your art, or open your space
Hosts
Host a session
Have a space that could hold an intimate evening, like an after-hours coffee shop or a creative venue? Let’s talk about bringing a session to your community.
Host a session
A separate program
Deeper writing practice with The Love Story
Individual and group coaching in creative fiction based on true stories, offered in collaboration with The Love Story. It’s separate from Break Your Heart Open’s events.
About coaching with The Love Story
Practical questions
Good to know
Do I have to share what I write?
No. You write for yourself. Reading aloud is always optional, and you never need to explain your story.
What should I bring?
Your diary or journal and a pen. Or choose the planned $69 option, which includes a journal and writing materials.
Is joining the waitlist a ticket?
No. It doesn’t reserve a place or charge you anything. It lets us tell you about future sessions as they take shape.
Stay close
Hear about the next session
Join the waitlist to hear about future Break Your Heart Open sessions. Tell us your city and whether you’d like to attend, host or perform.