Meditation

Natalie Goldberg wrote: Meditation teaches you that no matter what is going on, you continue to sit. You learn to not be tossed away no matter how great the thought or emotion. With writing, you must be a great warrior when you contact first thoughts and write from them. Especially at the beginning you may feel great emotions and energy that will sweep you away, but you don’t stop writing. You continue to record the details of your life and penetrate them into the heart of them.

I love this from Patti Smith:

Why is one compelled to write? To set oneself apart, cocooned, rapt in solitude, despite the wants of others. Virginia Woolf had her room. Proust his shuttered windows. Dylan Thomas his modest shed. All seeking an emptiness to imbue with words. The words that will penetrate virgin territory, crack unclaimed combinations, articulate the infinite.

Why do I write? My finger, as a stylus, traces the question in the blank air.

Who do we write?  A chorus erupts.  Because we cannot simply live.

PROMPT:  10 minutes

READ POEM: WHAT DO WOMEN WANT?

Lets’ talk about your writing experience this week. I have read about a clock and a miner, a man’s sweatshirt, a father leaving behind a large family, a kidney donor,   VICKIE, a tryst, a homeless boy, a cat and a grieving woman, and a traveling statue called Jazzman. All had my full attention. Some are complete, others are not. Our gut tells us when they are ready.

I’m going to ask Anita to read her story. It is concise, and has been revised.

My goal now is for each of you to form a small collection of work and then we will start deciding what you want to present at the final reading.

I’d like to talk a bit about your process this past week. I’d like you to share how you came up with your story. How were the one on one’s?  Did you have a chance to read each other’s work?

When you meet on Monday, for every story, ask yourself in the beginning:

1. What do you know so far?
2. What are you curious about?
3. Where do you think the story is heading?

Keep these questions in front of you.

LECTURE:

Stories are not a slice of real life. What often happens is, a memory forms, and then we write. This is a first draft. We are using real people, and recording the story on paper. But in the second draft, something happens.

ANOTHER way of saying that is life will rarely inspire complete good stories, though it offers endless moments that may contribute to a story. We are not into memoir yet, but it is memory that forms the story we are telling. And memory is true for you.