Written on 6-13-13.
I am sitting alone in the Cultural Center at San Juan College. It’s lunchtime, and everyone else has left me here with my thoughts and my laptop. I am a returning fellow for this summer’s Bisti Writing Project, invited back after a bit of a hiatus. Two years ago at about this time, I was having problems with headaches and getting sick. Then my co-director leadership was sliced in half after a fateful MRI that put everything on hold.
It’s been a fabulous return. I was a bit nervous. I have some terrible memories, of course, (wonkiness, pain, vomiting, etc.), and it was no fault of the Writing Project; it was just the timing of it all. I so enjoy the Bisti Writing Project; it’s a family where I feel honored to be a member.
The new fellows are...
amazing, a super group of dedicated educator artists. I sat in awe while listening to their thoughts, professional attitudes, and of course, their writing.
The veteran fellows have helped me feel right at home. I gained that sense of belonging again immediately due to their kindness and inclusiveness. Thank you Vicki, Sarah, Melissa, Stephen and Frances. It’s great to be back, and I look forward to our future endeavors.
This morning, we were treated to a “demo” with children’s book author Uma Krishnaswami. She signed my copy of The Grand Plan to Fix Everything. I told her I would have had her sign it earlier, but a brain tumor got in our way. Her demo was intellectually stimulating, but her lessons were always that way when I took writing classes with her years ago. I am constantly in awe of her skills, and I hope she isn’t freaking out when I stare and listen so intently. She has had a positive influence on me as a writer.
My big takeaway from her lesson today was that the reader does not care one bit about the writer’s connection to the material (something I intuitively knew, but she brought it to the surface), although she did pack in many other precious blossoms of wisdom in a blur of two hours. I asked the group to give me their best writing tips as a part of the writing prompt on Tuesday. Her piece of advice to writers is this: If you get stuck, go READ! Great advice. The best writers are also the most avid readers, something I could work on.
I am sitting alone in the Cultural Center at San Juan College. It’s lunchtime, and everyone else has left me here with my thoughts and my laptop. I am a returning fellow for this summer’s Bisti Writing Project, invited back after a bit of a hiatus. Two years ago at about this time, I was having problems with headaches and getting sick. Then my co-director leadership was sliced in half after a fateful MRI that put everything on hold.
It’s been a fabulous return. I was a bit nervous. I have some terrible memories, of course, (wonkiness, pain, vomiting, etc.), and it was no fault of the Writing Project; it was just the timing of it all. I so enjoy the Bisti Writing Project; it’s a family where I feel honored to be a member.
The new fellows are...
amazing, a super group of dedicated educator artists. I sat in awe while listening to their thoughts, professional attitudes, and of course, their writing.
The veteran fellows have helped me feel right at home. I gained that sense of belonging again immediately due to their kindness and inclusiveness. Thank you Vicki, Sarah, Melissa, Stephen and Frances. It’s great to be back, and I look forward to our future endeavors.
This morning, we were treated to a “demo” with children’s book author Uma Krishnaswami. She signed my copy of The Grand Plan to Fix Everything. I told her I would have had her sign it earlier, but a brain tumor got in our way. Her demo was intellectually stimulating, but her lessons were always that way when I took writing classes with her years ago. I am constantly in awe of her skills, and I hope she isn’t freaking out when I stare and listen so intently. She has had a positive influence on me as a writer.
My big takeaway from her lesson today was that the reader does not care one bit about the writer’s connection to the material (something I intuitively knew, but she brought it to the surface), although she did pack in many other precious blossoms of wisdom in a blur of two hours. I asked the group to give me their best writing tips as a part of the writing prompt on Tuesday. Her piece of advice to writers is this: If you get stuck, go READ! Great advice. The best writers are also the most avid readers, something I could work on.
No comments:
Post a Comment