Open Words Workshops are on hold until further notice, probably early spring 2010, due to the flurry of activities related to buying a house as well as the need for time to keep up with my own writing practice.
This past year has been one of amazing discovery and fellowship with my fellow writers. I'm grateful for all of your gifts.
Be well and keep writing!
9.11.09
29.7.09
Comments from Participants
"I have really enjoyed the writing workshop. It is very relaxed but serious about the work... I’m feeling more comfortable and inspired to write." – M. G.
"Your constructive comments pertaining to my writing skills are very much appreciated. These along with the critiques of the attendees will give me plenty of incentive to continue my efforts." - A. B.
"I have learned that I am a writer; I have confidence in my ability to write and to write well." - J. D.
"Your constructive comments pertaining to my writing skills are very much appreciated. These along with the critiques of the attendees will give me plenty of incentive to continue my efforts." - A. B.
"I have learned that I am a writer; I have confidence in my ability to write and to write well." - J. D.
26.6.09
Reflections on Writing
Pearl S. Buck wrote almost 100 books, according to the Writer's Almanac. She said: "I don't wait for moods. You accomplish nothing if you do that. Your mind must know it has got to get down to work."
Jodi Picoult is a prolific novelist as well as a mother. In an interview for Time, she said: "When I started writing, I had a newborn baby and then I very quickly had his brother and sister. I didn't have time for writer's block. I wrote every few minutes that the kids were napping or at nursery school or watching Barney on television. Because of that, I learned how to really sit down quickly and focus when I needed to. I've always sort of believed that writer's block is a luxury for people who have time on their hands. If you don't, you don't get it."
Nita Sweeney, author of the blog Bum Glue, offered this quote from A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway: "I would stand and look out over the roofs of Paris and think, 'Do not worry. You have always written before and you will write now. All you have to do is write one true sentence. Write the truest sentence that you know.' So finally I would write one true sentence, and then go on from there. It was easy then, because there was always one true sentence that I knew or had seen or had heard someone else say."
And, one of my favorites, from Bonnie Friedman, in her book Writing Past Dark: "Successful writers are not the ones who write the best sentences. They are the ones who keep writing. They are the ones who discover what is most important and strangest and most pleasurable in themselves, and keep believing in the value of their work, despite the difficulties."
Jodi Picoult is a prolific novelist as well as a mother. In an interview for Time, she said: "When I started writing, I had a newborn baby and then I very quickly had his brother and sister. I didn't have time for writer's block. I wrote every few minutes that the kids were napping or at nursery school or watching Barney on television. Because of that, I learned how to really sit down quickly and focus when I needed to. I've always sort of believed that writer's block is a luxury for people who have time on their hands. If you don't, you don't get it."
Nita Sweeney, author of the blog Bum Glue, offered this quote from A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway: "I would stand and look out over the roofs of Paris and think, 'Do not worry. You have always written before and you will write now. All you have to do is write one true sentence. Write the truest sentence that you know.' So finally I would write one true sentence, and then go on from there. It was easy then, because there was always one true sentence that I knew or had seen or had heard someone else say."
And, one of my favorites, from Bonnie Friedman, in her book Writing Past Dark: "Successful writers are not the ones who write the best sentences. They are the ones who keep writing. They are the ones who discover what is most important and strangest and most pleasurable in themselves, and keep believing in the value of their work, despite the difficulties."
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