Thursday, March 17, 2011
All righty then: The Writing Workshop
Hi All!
The dear, I- miss-him-so-much-Todd P. wrote me to "Please blog!" ...and those two little words woke me up from this San Francisco dream I have been delighting in, where each day i spend hours at my writing table overlooking Lombard Street, then going to the gym, spending free hours with Peter going to all the artistically nourishing events we can squeeze into our schedules......and I again apologize! So let's see how I can catch you all up on what it's like here:
TO begin with, the 1st writing workshop I've been taking with the gifted and delightful Adair Lara is soon over - the 12 weeks have flown by - and I will take her Memoir Workshop next, which starts in mid-May.
Adair is a gifted, funny, wry, observant humorist, a popular SF literary figure, with a fan base devoted to her column in the Chronicle, which she no longer writes, but many of which are gathered in several published collections I highly recommend...she is a wonderful, entertaining and honest writer. .and a very very good teacher. Gentle, supportive, but specific in her critical observations, and very very helpful. I have learned so much from her , so far , and intend to learn more. Within this 12 -week period of time, I have written more than I have ever written in my life, on the widest possible variety of subjects, each one a learning tool for a new part of the technique I've wanted to learn for so long.
The month of April, many of us from this current workshop will continue to meet here at my place on Lombard until the Memoir Workshop starts, and continue we'll continue writing, giving each other critiques, encouragement, partnering, writing prompts (ideas to inspire more writing),etc...and we will meet weekly, consume a bottle of wine or two (there is not a bad wine in this city , and if there is I've yet to taste it)...and well...we'll keep on writing and begin to send our stuff out to various magazines and newspapers...that is the next step for the current workshop: getting the 1st person essays and articles in good enough shape to start sending them to publications that may want them.
Over these past weeks, I've written essays on these topics:
- moving to San Francisco (Reclaiming My Heart),
-getting the grand piano up the Stairs (My Bargain With Buddha),
-noticing young mothers using the city as a gym (The Women of Russian Hill),
-my experience of the World Trade Center 9/11 event (The Day Broadway Stopped Dancing),
-audition advice to young actors (Claim It and Re-Name It),
-a prologue and Chapter One to the book I want to write (title still undetermined),
-Martha Stewart (My Martha Thing or Making Water With an Ex-Con),
-the Star Spangled Banner (The National Anthem and Me),
-clutter (Mother Nature Abhors My Vacuum),
-my grand piano (Travels With a Diva),
and several more topics....
Enough of these are in a sort of shape that I am able to begin to send them out without wincing too much, though I am sure my collection of rejection slips will soon grow large, making me feel more like a true writer than anything else possibly can, I will complete this particular workshop mission and send as much out as I can !! I've become fond of this first-person essay form, and since it's sort of like a structured blogging, with more of a point and an epiphany in each one, I'll probably continue to write them...and continue to send them out as well, until someone wants one! Or maybe I'll print them here in this blog...we'll see.
I've also used this time to work on several short stories for a theatrical collection I want to put together called Ghost Light Stories - I've got about 4 of the stories in the works with titles like "Magic Time", "Lamp In The Window", "The Casting Call", "Oceans", "The Mystery Mime Troupe",etc...
I've written a character sketch or two for a San Francisco collection, or I may evolve one or two of them into an essay about street people I am becoming familiar with here....and on and on the possibilities grow, every day, which thrills me more than I can say! WHY? Because I realize that I've wanted the time and space to do this - to write - for as long as I can remember ! And now I am doing it.
I am writing! One day , I will call myself a writer.
By the end of the Memoir Workshop, I hope to have at least an arc and rough first draft of the book done....it will be much tougher than I ever thought it could be, as I begin to understand how difficult it is to craft an entire BOOK! Pages and pages of a story I feel passionate about sharing with others, but how to make it readable for all those others? Ah! There 's the rub, and therein lies the craft and technique I'm talking about!
But I am determined...and I will do it or die trying...so stay tuned for the struggle....it's worth every moment of it, at least for me, and I'll try to supply you with the agonies and the ecstasies of it all! I've begun to understand that writing is never easy for any writer, and that struggle, insecurity and outright dis-belief in one's own worth are a well-known pat of every process..oh goody! Thank God, I really want to do it. I truly do.
Now onto Peter: the best and dearest husband ever in the entire world! We luxuriated in the first three months being here by taking the time we wanted to get our home in order, sort things out to get our financial and business lives in shape here, scope out al the museums and theaters we wanted to further explore, go every day to run our pups on the beaches, drive over to the Marin Headlands, have picnics wherever the spirit moved us to sit and enjoy the stunning beauty of this coastline,etc...it was idyllic...and yes, we caught up on sleep too! Neither of us realized how thoroughly exhausted our years had been, and how the journey, the move, the packing,etc had worn us thin....we needed the time to recover, and we took it.
But when he decided he felt like getting to work, he went into an office a friend sent him to - an agency that places support people in all these different industries and companies,etc - aced every test they gave him, impressed them with the Yonka charm and abilities, and the next week he was placed in an office, earning well, and now they are making noises about hiring him permanently....the pay would be swell. And the job is okay. But he still believes in non-profit theater, so when a dear pal asked him to help out at The Magic Theatre with a few things (this is the 44 year old theater where Sam Shepherd's plays were first produced) - and since we are both thoroughly enrolled in Loretta Greco's vision for this marvelous theater - Peter said yes and he is now volunteering some time to assist them in various areas. I know this will be helpful for all concerned...but for now, it's a bit of a balancing act, as he feels his way through two entirely different worlds....i know where his heart is though.
Our home gets more and more comfortable by the week, as we hang a few more pictures, sort out a few more piles, and allow the gorgeous light that pours in through the many windows to heal us every day. The fog horns at night have the same effect, and we love this city more and more.
We've both joined the 24-Hour Fitness gyms and are on a regular schedule of workouts, with (yes, we are now pure Californian in this way) with our trainers, we work hard and feel so good!
My days start with good coffee (like the wine, there seems to be no bad coffee here), and I sit down and do not get up from the computer for three hours at least....this will continue for many days to come and that makes me so very happy.
Tomorrow night we meet a dear friend for dinner (we've chosen a few regulars places we love, including the best vegetarian Chinese place I've ever experienced called The Golden Era, down on O'Farrell, and Friday once more we attend the SF Symphony , this time to hear the Bach BMinor Mass....Saturday, we hear Amanda McBroom at the Razz Room....and Sunday we meditate with our friends at SF Insight Meditation ....we have such a good time here, such a fortunate life. Aside from missing you all, we are thoroughly content.
More soon...truly.
The dear, I- miss-him-so-much-Todd P. wrote me to "Please blog!" ...and those two little words woke me up from this San Francisco dream I have been delighting in, where each day i spend hours at my writing table overlooking Lombard Street, then going to the gym, spending free hours with Peter going to all the artistically nourishing events we can squeeze into our schedules......and I again apologize! So let's see how I can catch you all up on what it's like here:
TO begin with, the 1st writing workshop I've been taking with the gifted and delightful Adair Lara is soon over - the 12 weeks have flown by - and I will take her Memoir Workshop next, which starts in mid-May.
Adair is a gifted, funny, wry, observant humorist, a popular SF literary figure, with a fan base devoted to her column in the Chronicle, which she no longer writes, but many of which are gathered in several published collections I highly recommend...she is a wonderful, entertaining and honest writer. .and a very very good teacher. Gentle, supportive, but specific in her critical observations, and very very helpful. I have learned so much from her , so far , and intend to learn more. Within this 12 -week period of time, I have written more than I have ever written in my life, on the widest possible variety of subjects, each one a learning tool for a new part of the technique I've wanted to learn for so long.
The month of April, many of us from this current workshop will continue to meet here at my place on Lombard until the Memoir Workshop starts, and continue we'll continue writing, giving each other critiques, encouragement, partnering, writing prompts (ideas to inspire more writing),etc...and we will meet weekly, consume a bottle of wine or two (there is not a bad wine in this city , and if there is I've yet to taste it)...and well...we'll keep on writing and begin to send our stuff out to various magazines and newspapers...that is the next step for the current workshop: getting the 1st person essays and articles in good enough shape to start sending them to publications that may want them.
Over these past weeks, I've written essays on these topics:
- moving to San Francisco (Reclaiming My Heart),
-getting the grand piano up the Stairs (My Bargain With Buddha),
-noticing young mothers using the city as a gym (The Women of Russian Hill),
-my experience of the World Trade Center 9/11 event (The Day Broadway Stopped Dancing),
-audition advice to young actors (Claim It and Re-Name It),
-a prologue and Chapter One to the book I want to write (title still undetermined),
-Martha Stewart (My Martha Thing or Making Water With an Ex-Con),
-the Star Spangled Banner (The National Anthem and Me),
-clutter (Mother Nature Abhors My Vacuum),
-my grand piano (Travels With a Diva),
and several more topics....
Enough of these are in a sort of shape that I am able to begin to send them out without wincing too much, though I am sure my collection of rejection slips will soon grow large, making me feel more like a true writer than anything else possibly can, I will complete this particular workshop mission and send as much out as I can !! I've become fond of this first-person essay form, and since it's sort of like a structured blogging, with more of a point and an epiphany in each one, I'll probably continue to write them...and continue to send them out as well, until someone wants one! Or maybe I'll print them here in this blog...we'll see.
I've also used this time to work on several short stories for a theatrical collection I want to put together called Ghost Light Stories - I've got about 4 of the stories in the works with titles like "Magic Time", "Lamp In The Window", "The Casting Call", "Oceans", "The Mystery Mime Troupe",etc...
I've written a character sketch or two for a San Francisco collection, or I may evolve one or two of them into an essay about street people I am becoming familiar with here....and on and on the possibilities grow, every day, which thrills me more than I can say! WHY? Because I realize that I've wanted the time and space to do this - to write - for as long as I can remember ! And now I am doing it.
I am writing! One day , I will call myself a writer.
By the end of the Memoir Workshop, I hope to have at least an arc and rough first draft of the book done....it will be much tougher than I ever thought it could be, as I begin to understand how difficult it is to craft an entire BOOK! Pages and pages of a story I feel passionate about sharing with others, but how to make it readable for all those others? Ah! There 's the rub, and therein lies the craft and technique I'm talking about!
But I am determined...and I will do it or die trying...so stay tuned for the struggle....it's worth every moment of it, at least for me, and I'll try to supply you with the agonies and the ecstasies of it all! I've begun to understand that writing is never easy for any writer, and that struggle, insecurity and outright dis-belief in one's own worth are a well-known pat of every process..oh goody! Thank God, I really want to do it. I truly do.
Now onto Peter: the best and dearest husband ever in the entire world! We luxuriated in the first three months being here by taking the time we wanted to get our home in order, sort things out to get our financial and business lives in shape here, scope out al the museums and theaters we wanted to further explore, go every day to run our pups on the beaches, drive over to the Marin Headlands, have picnics wherever the spirit moved us to sit and enjoy the stunning beauty of this coastline,etc...it was idyllic...and yes, we caught up on sleep too! Neither of us realized how thoroughly exhausted our years had been, and how the journey, the move, the packing,etc had worn us thin....we needed the time to recover, and we took it.
But when he decided he felt like getting to work, he went into an office a friend sent him to - an agency that places support people in all these different industries and companies,etc - aced every test they gave him, impressed them with the Yonka charm and abilities, and the next week he was placed in an office, earning well, and now they are making noises about hiring him permanently....the pay would be swell. And the job is okay. But he still believes in non-profit theater, so when a dear pal asked him to help out at The Magic Theatre with a few things (this is the 44 year old theater where Sam Shepherd's plays were first produced) - and since we are both thoroughly enrolled in Loretta Greco's vision for this marvelous theater - Peter said yes and he is now volunteering some time to assist them in various areas. I know this will be helpful for all concerned...but for now, it's a bit of a balancing act, as he feels his way through two entirely different worlds....i know where his heart is though.
Our home gets more and more comfortable by the week, as we hang a few more pictures, sort out a few more piles, and allow the gorgeous light that pours in through the many windows to heal us every day. The fog horns at night have the same effect, and we love this city more and more.
We've both joined the 24-Hour Fitness gyms and are on a regular schedule of workouts, with (yes, we are now pure Californian in this way) with our trainers, we work hard and feel so good!
My days start with good coffee (like the wine, there seems to be no bad coffee here), and I sit down and do not get up from the computer for three hours at least....this will continue for many days to come and that makes me so very happy.
Tomorrow night we meet a dear friend for dinner (we've chosen a few regulars places we love, including the best vegetarian Chinese place I've ever experienced called The Golden Era, down on O'Farrell, and Friday once more we attend the SF Symphony , this time to hear the Bach BMinor Mass....Saturday, we hear Amanda McBroom at the Razz Room....and Sunday we meditate with our friends at SF Insight Meditation ....we have such a good time here, such a fortunate life. Aside from missing you all, we are thoroughly content.
More soon...truly.
Labels: SF 2011
Thursday, February 17, 2011
The Perfect Rainy Reading Day in San Francisco
She and Cyrano are cuddled right now on the sofa looking out onto Lombard Street...no matter where we settle, they always find something interesting to look at and bark at outside our windows. But right now, they both seem to be falling asleep.
It's a good day for a nap, but I have much workshop writing to do, and a thoroughly interesting book about Hewlitt-Packard to read, given to me by its author , Chuck House, who is in my writing workshop, and who has become a true writing partner for me. This book surprises me with its ability to not only hold my interest, but entertain me as well. Chuck is a superb and engaging writer. And I am grateful for the gift of his book called The HP Phenomenon.
Back to it. More soon. Love from a very liquid San Francisco. Beautiful, nonetheless.
Labels: SF 2011
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Almost Heaven - Carmel-By-The-Sea
 |
| Carmel Beach at Sunset |
And the canvas I am stretched on holds all the magical colors: the crisp white beige of the sparkling sands, the deep green-yellow of the washed-ashore seaweed, the sliver glints sparkling on the tips of the waves, the purple/turquoise/deep blue/aquamarine water itself, the white clouds, the yellow gold rays of sun, and all the dots of red/pink/blue/lime/peach/brown/orange of the people and dogs walking by me: all small dabs of shiny oil that make up the entire perfect picture. It all looks like so much art to me.
There are people who feel this way when they are in the mountains, and others who feel most free in cities ringed by tall buildings they feel they have to climb. Yet others find unlimited creativity in the small cubicle they’re assigned on a job, and there are ever those who are able to find freedom in a jail cell. Buddhist sages speak of finding the limitless freedom of enlightenment within one’s own consciousness, and there’ve been plenty of ancient Buddhist saints who’ve lived alone in freezing mountain caves to prove it. One of the great appeals of falling in love is that feeling of limitless joy and power experienced in the first part of that falling: thousands of songs have been written about it.
But give me the Ocean, the beach and the wide sky every time. And give me time to sit on that beach, breathing it all in, and you’ll find me a happy, calm and everything-is-possible woman. A shack on the beach would serve as well as a mansion. All I really require is the vast water and sky, and the luxury of time to be near both. All I need to feel strong again is a one-on-one with water and sky.
So, a weekend in Carmel is exactly right for me. A week would be better, and a month, the best of all. But for now, I’ll settle on the glories of this weekend, and count myself lucky that I now live near enough to it to come every weekend if I want to. For now that we have made San Francisco our home, I am nearer to my idea of Heaven than I ever have been.
And I wallow in the realization that , even at my age – not a youngster anymore – I had the strength and courage to make this happen, to make the difficult move out of a well-rehearsed NYC way of life, to leap off the cliff and trust that I would not fall, but, rather, fly straight to the places I have always dreamed of being: my almost Heaven, my picture postcard , this place called Carmel-By-The-Sea.
Labels: SF 2011
Monday, January 03, 2011
Happy New Year: Leaping Off the Cliff!
Happy New Year to all! May the year be blessed for each and every one of you, filled with health, creativity, good fortune and love. May we all meet over terrific meals, good wine, talk of important, interesting things, and resolve to love each other always, with open hearts, caring thoughts and generous actions. Love is truly all we have, so let's invest it wisely and grow it well.
As for me: we spent the last day of 2010 in interesting ways. Peter, Paul, Stephen and I started out the day, bright and early, at the marvelous Asian Art Museum, down on Larkin Street, at a special Buddhist bell-ringing ceremony. Paul and Stephen holiday gifted us with a membership to that wondrous museum, so all 4 of us went at the special "members' only" early hour to stand in line to get tickets in order to actually ring the bell, which was a 16th century Japanese bell, huge and ornate, with Buddhist inscriptions all over its large brass body, very grand and gorgeous. It was hanging from a specially built "bell tower", constructed so that people could stand next to the bell, take the large wooden "clapper", made of a log some 6 feet long all tied up in intricate secure ropes, and with the force of 2-6 people at a time, ring that bell. Our little group of four was number 48 in the line of 108 groups. The number 108 is significant in Buddhist practice - the mala - the prayer beads - are always 108 in number...exactly what the number's significance is, I am not sure. But the bell was to be rung 108 times, thus the number of groups to ring it was also 108.
Before the actual ringing, the Abbot of a Northern California zendo gave a blessing and read from the Heart sutra, some very beautiful Japanese storytelling about the Buddha and the nature of reality and emptiness. It was a lovely ceremony. And right in the middle of a museum! Pretty impressive, actually. This museum is unique in certain ways, and this ceremony, which they've been performing for 25 years now, is one of the many ways they are special. When I first read about the ceremony taking place, I knew it was the way we should all be together for our last day of 2010. To mark the start of our San Francisco time together, and to recognize the special courage it took for us all to make this time happen the way we have been envisioning it. I still look around and have to more or less pinch myself, it still seems so unreal to me: we now reside in San Francisco! it is our home. Still feels sort of odd. Right...very right...but odd. I am now a Californian...something I never thought would be true for me.
It does feel - like the title of this blog entry states - like i am leaping off a hugely high cliff, spreading my wings, which , god knows, after all the years I've been living should feel strong and capable to me - but nonetheless, a leap is a leap, and with no familiar space beneath your feet, it feels like there is nothing at all beneath them, so trusting is important, yes..but there will be that moment before the wings start flapping ...that moment where you think: HOLY SHIT! I just stepped off a cliff! And the drop is a Looooooooong loooong way down, it seem to me! Oh yeah, start flapping! Get 'em moving! FLAP, dammit! The turning of new year is another slightly disorienting factor: everything is NEW!
The passing of time has always seemed particularly real to me at New Year's. The dripping of the years through the glass of time....my aging gets more and more real to me. And in that way - that totally solitary way - one meets oneself in an extremely intimate way in the growing and aging process. No one else can do it for you. Aging. Growing older. One can only do it by oneself. We can gather all we want to into groups, support groups, discussion groups, book clubs, etc. but the final experience of it all - unto death - is done in solitude. Yes the Spirit is with us ...there is that brain of ours that produces the ever - narrating voice, the announcer of our entire lives, who has been and is always with us - but aside form that little voice, our constant companion, we are utterly alone. We all know this. It's part of our awareness from the moment we are conscious beings. And we know it because that little voice inside our heads tells us it's so. The voice is particularly loud when leaping off a new cliff.
My commitment to writing in this new year - writing above all else - is scary for me. I have so much I want to write...so many things i've already written I want to get out into the world - so many new things I want to do....it's overwhelming me as I think about it all....but, I am a smart organized, courageous and clever woman, so I will conquer the overwhelm eventually....and the new writing workshop I am starting in a week, with Adair Lara, will be helpful, I know. It will mean more guided, assigned writing, but it will also mean more guided, wise learning from a woman I respect, and who can teach me many practical things. Right now, there is an embarrassment of riches pouring out of my files, piles and stacks and stacks of writing I've done through the years. Is it of any interest to ANYONE? Only time and lots of effort on my part will tell....and, patience...i must remember patience.
So, off we go...into the wild blue yonder of an extremely unknown unknown....when is it ever thus? Only when we fool ourselves that we are actually in control. Let go , let fly! See you in the mid-air!
As for me: we spent the last day of 2010 in interesting ways. Peter, Paul, Stephen and I started out the day, bright and early, at the marvelous Asian Art Museum, down on Larkin Street, at a special Buddhist bell-ringing ceremony. Paul and Stephen holiday gifted us with a membership to that wondrous museum, so all 4 of us went at the special "members' only" early hour to stand in line to get tickets in order to actually ring the bell, which was a 16th century Japanese bell, huge and ornate, with Buddhist inscriptions all over its large brass body, very grand and gorgeous. It was hanging from a specially built "bell tower", constructed so that people could stand next to the bell, take the large wooden "clapper", made of a log some 6 feet long all tied up in intricate secure ropes, and with the force of 2-6 people at a time, ring that bell. Our little group of four was number 48 in the line of 108 groups. The number 108 is significant in Buddhist practice - the mala - the prayer beads - are always 108 in number...exactly what the number's significance is, I am not sure. But the bell was to be rung 108 times, thus the number of groups to ring it was also 108.
Before the actual ringing, the Abbot of a Northern California zendo gave a blessing and read from the Heart sutra, some very beautiful Japanese storytelling about the Buddha and the nature of reality and emptiness. It was a lovely ceremony. And right in the middle of a museum! Pretty impressive, actually. This museum is unique in certain ways, and this ceremony, which they've been performing for 25 years now, is one of the many ways they are special. When I first read about the ceremony taking place, I knew it was the way we should all be together for our last day of 2010. To mark the start of our San Francisco time together, and to recognize the special courage it took for us all to make this time happen the way we have been envisioning it. I still look around and have to more or less pinch myself, it still seems so unreal to me: we now reside in San Francisco! it is our home. Still feels sort of odd. Right...very right...but odd. I am now a Californian...something I never thought would be true for me.
It does feel - like the title of this blog entry states - like i am leaping off a hugely high cliff, spreading my wings, which , god knows, after all the years I've been living should feel strong and capable to me - but nonetheless, a leap is a leap, and with no familiar space beneath your feet, it feels like there is nothing at all beneath them, so trusting is important, yes..but there will be that moment before the wings start flapping ...that moment where you think: HOLY SHIT! I just stepped off a cliff! And the drop is a Looooooooong loooong way down, it seem to me! Oh yeah, start flapping! Get 'em moving! FLAP, dammit! The turning of new year is another slightly disorienting factor: everything is NEW!
The passing of time has always seemed particularly real to me at New Year's. The dripping of the years through the glass of time....my aging gets more and more real to me. And in that way - that totally solitary way - one meets oneself in an extremely intimate way in the growing and aging process. No one else can do it for you. Aging. Growing older. One can only do it by oneself. We can gather all we want to into groups, support groups, discussion groups, book clubs, etc. but the final experience of it all - unto death - is done in solitude. Yes the Spirit is with us ...there is that brain of ours that produces the ever - narrating voice, the announcer of our entire lives, who has been and is always with us - but aside form that little voice, our constant companion, we are utterly alone. We all know this. It's part of our awareness from the moment we are conscious beings. And we know it because that little voice inside our heads tells us it's so. The voice is particularly loud when leaping off a new cliff.
My commitment to writing in this new year - writing above all else - is scary for me. I have so much I want to write...so many things i've already written I want to get out into the world - so many new things I want to do....it's overwhelming me as I think about it all....but, I am a smart organized, courageous and clever woman, so I will conquer the overwhelm eventually....and the new writing workshop I am starting in a week, with Adair Lara, will be helpful, I know. It will mean more guided, assigned writing, but it will also mean more guided, wise learning from a woman I respect, and who can teach me many practical things. Right now, there is an embarrassment of riches pouring out of my files, piles and stacks and stacks of writing I've done through the years. Is it of any interest to ANYONE? Only time and lots of effort on my part will tell....and, patience...i must remember patience.
So, off we go...into the wild blue yonder of an extremely unknown unknown....when is it ever thus? Only when we fool ourselves that we are actually in control. Let go , let fly! See you in the mid-air!
Labels: SF 2011
