Writing Left

How does one do it, "write left"?  We write about what we care about and stand up for what we believe in, whether it's prison reform, the right to union representation, free speech, or equal rights.  My life has been immersed in liberal, or should I say "progressive," thought since I was a child when my father went off to march on Washington to protest the Vietnam War and the Civil Rights Movement.

Mansfield Frazier (a man for his times) is as much a believer in writing left as I am to just plain writing because you want to, and we've started a salon for writers and thinkers.  Our first gathering will be at Visible Voice books on Saturday, April 30, from 2-5.  Mansfield, who wrote a book of essays on doing time in a Federal prison called From Behind the Wall: Commentary on Crime, Punishment, Race, will talk about not being afraid of saying what you mean, and I will talk about the best way to say it and get it out there for people to read. If we get some readers and thinkers who want to keep the pens moving and the conversation steady, we'll keep it going.

Spring Retreat Musings

There's something about being in the company of other writers that's almost holy. I have a friend who's a writer and a minister and he told me that what we have in our writing group is God connected.  It's much like the writing process, how when you write and especially when you really get into it, you feel that it's not just you doing the typing. 

Someone asked me this weekend why I started doing the Word Lovers retreats. Giving to others is what looms as the biggest reason--I think we all have a story to tell and we should give it voice. Since writing is a solitary experience, we need to be with others for encouragement. In a way, the Word Lovers retreats are my ministry. I do feel called to do them.

It was an excellent weekend in every way except that the weather should have been warmer for April.  We wrote, talked, walked, ate, drank, and learned.  We escaped for the weekend, but someone at the retreat said the writing life IS her reality and the day-to-day job is not.  I like that thought.

Word Lovers This April

I'm looking for another fun weekend in Lakeside this Spring.  Les Roberts will be back, and his enthusiasm for the craft of writing will ignite us with endless possibilities for using words. In addition, award-winning writer Marsha McGregor will lead a session on writing personal essays. Friday evening dinner, Saturday and Sunday breakfast, and Saturday lunch will be served, with the help of Mary Bodnar, pictured below while dancing in the street last year. The cost is $110 for the weekend plus cost of a room at the Idlewyld, and there's a Saturday-only option for $70. Send me an e-mail at ctallerwrites@wowway.com to reserve your space. 

Here's the Itinerary:

FRIDAY

Arrive any time after Noon

Italian Dinner – 6:00 PM

Listening is an Act of Love, Writing From Life – 8:00 PM

SATURDAY

Breakfast Served – 8:00 AM

An Interlude with Les Roberts – 9:00 AM

Preparing for Publication – 11:00 PM

Lunch -- 12:15 PM

Personal Essays – 1:00 PM

Book Reviewing and Writing Well – 3:00 PM

Dinner at Mon Ami Winery or Crow’s Nest Pub – 6:00 PM

Trouble Shooting or Movie Night with Popcorn – 8:00 PM

SUNDAY

Breakfast Served – 8:30 AM

Show-off Time – 10:00 AM

Encouraging Words and Closing – 11:00 AM

Session Descriptions:
 
Friday Evening Program: Listening is an Act of Love: We will begin by reading stories from the Storycorps Project Listening Is an Act of Love and then we will write our own stories using writing prompts to illicit emotions, images, and deep writing. This will also serve as a way to get to know each other as we read our work out loud. Surprise yourself.
 
An Interlude with Les Roberts: Whether you write fiction or nonfiction, your story must have a beginning, middle, and end, a story arch, and riveting writing. Plot, characterization, dialogue, setting, and everything else you need to know about telling good stories will be covered in this morning session with Les.
 
Personal Essays with Marsha McGregor: This workshop will explore how to access our most meaningful material and apply writing tools that bring it into sharp focus. It will be hands-on, so bring your pen and paper to access your earned wisdom and transform your stories into gifts for the reader.

Preparing for Publication with Claudia Taller: We will talk about everything you need to know to get your article, poem, story, or book ready for publication, from editing to tone to writing deeply. Then we’ll talk about markets and how to break into them and where the best places are to start.

Book Reviewing and Writing Well with Claudia Taller: Book reviews can give us an idea for what critics and readers expect out of writers. We’ll read some book reviews and talk about how to do a book review, then we’ll turn the tables and talk about what we learned about how to write from book reviewing.

Trouble Shooting: Having trouble finding the right structure for your novel or trying to end a short story? Does one of your characters sound false? Need help figuring out what it is you want to say? During our afternoon roundtable, share your writing issues and get some help. If all else fails, we should be able to find guidance in Claudia’s traveling library.

Show-Off Time: Read your writing out loud and capture the audience’s response immediately. Then hear what your fellow word lovers have to say about what you said and how you said it. All show offs are allowed three minutes.

GOD

Joan Barris lent me her book of Parallel Sayings that takes Krishna, Buddhism, Christianity, and Tao, and compares them.  They all say the same thing about God being in us and part of us and how we are the conduit of the love of God that's in us and are called upon to seek God and show love to others.  It's important to know that Jesus never said he was the Messiah and that wasn't what people thought he was until almost 200 years later when people wrote the Gospels to tell the story and spread The Word.  The the story became what the 2nd century Christians wanted it to be even though their message that they shared with the world was from God.  Jesus showed us the way but there are many routes to one-ness with God.

Morning Pages

At the beginning of 2010, I was unable to sleep one night.  I've learned that there's no point in staying in bed, so I got up, made my "to do list, and went back to bed.  I intentionally woke Paul who wisely told me I had to deal with sleeplessness on my own.  Back in my retreat room, I wondered where the anxiety came from when my life felt balanced.  I did some deep ugi breathing and meditated to the ocean sound of my own breath.  I watched my thoughts and let them flee freely. When I opened my eyes, they were drawn to Julia Cameron’s book Walking in This World.  Cameron reminded me that morning pages are therapy so I began to write them in earnest again the next morning.  The universe was telling me that.  I recognize it as another form of meditation, letting the thoughts flee into words on the paper is a way of letting them go.

Eat Pray Love, and Connect with Your Authentic Self

Eat Pray Love, a Connecting with the Authentic Self Retreat, will be held on February 19 from noon until 4 at North Olmsted United Methodist Church. Are you seeking beauty, spiritual connection, and love? All these come through God, if you connect with Him and all He has to offer you. So, where's God in your everyday life? Join the journey with Claudia Taller for Eat, Pray, Love, a Connecting with the Authentic Self Retreat. We will explore our experience of God through His expression of beauty, spiritual connection, and love in this scripture-based quest. The event begins with eating lunch and being thankful, proceeds to creation of beauty through our gifts, moves to the spirit and being close to God, and ends with finding where love resides in our lives. The cost is $35 with proceeds being donated to NOUMC. Please RSVP to Claudia at ctallerwrites@wowway.com.

Word Lovers Retreat - April 1-3

Creating Fiction and Publishing Your Work, a Word Lovers Retreat, takes place April 1-3 at the Idlewyld Bed and Breakfast in historic Lakeside, Ohio. Novelist Les Roberts will join us for a weekend of creating good stories, critique work, and trouble-shooting. We'll share our writing with each other, using writing prompts, and write throughout the weekend. We'll laugh and sign songs and traipse all over the Lakeside community as we talk about our lives.  Ample time is built into the weekend's itinerary for writing, which follows: 

FRIDAY
12 - 6 Arrive Any Time After Noon for Writing and Wandering Time
6 - 7 Opening and Italian Dinner with Wine
7 - 8:30 Writing Together about Life
8:30 - 9:30 Movie Time or a Traipse Around Lakeside (Movies and Popcorn provided)
SATURDAY
8:00 Rise and Shine Yoga and Meditation on the Deck
8:30 Breakfast Served 
9:30 Fiction Workshop with Les Roberts
11:30 Break/Writing Time (Writing Prompts for Fiction, Memoir, Poetry, and Non-Fiction Provided)
2:00 Editing and Writing for Publication
4:00 Roundtable/Critique/Writing Time (Troubleshoot Issues, Get Critiqued, Write Some More)

6:30 Dinner at Mon Ami Winery or Crow's Nest Pub

8:30 Film and Discussion

SUNDAY

8:00 Rise and Shine Yoga and Meditation on the Deck

8:30 Breakfast Served

9:30 Roundtable/Critique/Writing Time

11:00 Show-Off Time (3-minute readings)
12:00 Encouraging Words and Closing

We will form several informal and optional critique sessions throughout the weekend for those who would like their work reviewed by others.  Les Roberts will participate in the critique sessions.  The work will be distributed prior to the weekend and must be sent to Igniting Possibilities, 26408 Chapel Hill Drive, North Olmsted, Ohio 44070, by March 15.  Registration for the weekend is made by sending a $50 deposit to the same address.  The cost of the weekend is $110 plus the cost of a room at the Idlewyld.  Those who would like to come on Saturday-only pay $70.