When you’re honest, people connect with you, and it enables them to feel into themselves and possibly understand something that they hadn’t found words for. I also try to put some skin in the game and reveal a fairly personal side of myself. I write about things that are current in my life - that have currency and are moving through me. My aim is to model the kind of writing I teach, essentially saying to people, if you’re drawn to my writing perhaps you’d like to work with me, perhaps you’d like to learn how to write your own stories. So instead of the big sales pitch where I have to talk people into why this is beautiful work, I choose to blog, to write stories about writing, about my life and what triggers, troubles and inspires me. I really just want to write and teach, but if people don’t know I’m here then it’s beans and rice for months. And while I have a fair amount of Rah! Rah! – the energy you need to wave your arms and set off little pop rockets alerting people that you’ve got something they might want to check out – it can also be exhausting and feel offensive at times. The Selling Season happens all year round. So the thing about teaching writing for a living and doing it under my own roof is that I also have to sell myself + my classes in order to put bread on the table for the children. ![]() How does my work/writing differ from others of its genre? Wild Writing is my practice, and the foundation for everything I write - which these days means blog posts and content for some of my online classes. It’s healing for two reasons One, because it’s a break from all that damn trying, and two, because beautiful writing comes when we’re relaxed and natural and trusting our own voice. So what I teach is the antidote to that a messy, beautiful, lay-it-on-the-line, show up in curlers with a cigarette dangling, haven’t washed in days, kids nipping at your heels writing practice. It’s unconscious, a throw-back from the days when it was dance or be eaten. It’s not a joke - it’s a totally freeing way of getting past our ingrained attempts at looking good, smart and clever - which is pretty much what we’re trying to do most of the time - on the page and off. That’s one of the tenants of the class - to write as poorly as possible. For two hours, five mornings a week, I have the pleasure of sitting around a table with 8 other women writing really quickly and really badly. ![]() Most of my writing these days happens in the Wild Writing classes I teach each week here in the Bay Area. ![]() Next week, two wonderful friends of mine and writers - Sherry Richert Belul and Jill Salahub will share their thoughts on writing via their blogs. B elow are my answers to the four questions traveling from blog to blog. When my friend + long time student, Lisa Sadikman asked me if I wanted to participate in a blog hop where writers get a chance to write about their writing process I said sure, then immediately regretted it because I had just promised myself that I wouldn’t say yes to anything more until I’d completed the pile of projects on my desk.īut if I’m anything, I’m a girl who stands by her commitments - which isn’t always smart, but in terms of commitments, writing is probably the best thing you could say yes to because everyone knows that those deadlines are everything to getting ink onto the page.
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