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Occasionally Asked Questions...
...and a few that come up rarely, if ever
What do people
ask most often? What is your response?
People often ask: "Do you work with beginners?" Or they will say: "I'm
not a writer." "I've never been published." "I've never gotten an A on an English paper."
"I just don't like to write."
My
response is: Everyone has stories, everyone
is a story teller: if you can talk to a close friend, you can
write. What a person needs in order to write is a setting
where it's safe to experiment; an invitation to explore; and
the company of other writers.
How is your approach different from that of other
workshop leaders?
I
believe that everyone is creative, everyone has
stories, and everyone can write. Writing - strong writing that
captures the reader's imagination - begins with a story. So
we build on the natural story-telling abilities that people
already have.
If you were looking for a writing workshop, what
would be helpful to know ahead of time?
Degrees and publications
do not necessarily make a good teacher of writing. In fact, I don't believe writing is "taught," so much as practiced.
After someone responds to your writing: if you find
you can't wait to get back to the piece and work on
it, their comments have probably been helpful. If, on the other
hand, you find yourself putting the piece aside, planning
to get back to it tomorrow or next week - or never - that
person's comments were probably not helpful.
Pay attention to this: it tells you which teachers are a good match for you, and which ones probably are not.
What do people write in your workshops?
People write poetry, fiction, journal entries, dreams, questions,memoirs, lists, recipes, editorials, capital-T Truths, small-t truths, myths,
short stories, long lies, descriptions, ads, gossip,epics, aspersions, tributes, eulogies, lyrics,
fables, and notes they don't intend to send. Not necesssarily in that order.
What do you like most about your work?Helping people write involves
knowing that whenever a person puts pen to paper, they are saying
something important. Whether it is fiction or fact; dialog or
college essay: anything that is worth the effort it takes to
write is important.
What I love about my work is the
courage people bring to their writing; what I love about
my work is what I see when a person first looks up after
reading something they have just written - when they have discovered,
through their writing, something they hadn't fully understood.
Whether the participant is a confident writer or an uncertain
beginner, adult or child, writing brings new images, new
stories, and new understandings into the world.
What advice do you have for someone who is looking for a writing workshop?
Writing is a highly personal
practice; what helps one person hinders another. The best way
to find out if a workshop or a course is a good match for you
is to talk with the teacher or leader and, whenever possible,
visit to see how it feels.
How
did you decide to get in your line of work?
For
a while, I ran a spear-packer
machine on second shift in a pickle factory. I also cleaned
houses for professors, and took extended breaks to read the books
they left lying around. Eventually I graduated from college and
taught science to students ages 4-17; then I shifted to counseling.
I paused to raise children for several years, and it was in
that sleep-deprived state that I began to experience the scraps
of stories littering my brain as interesting company. I joined
an Amherst Writers & Artists workshop; listened in wonder
and disbelief when the leader assured us that people are
creative, people have stories, people can write; and I have been
writing and helping others write ever since. Which is a long
time, as I've been leading writing workshops for about
18 years, give or take a few.
What
are your most common types of jobs?
- Offering College Essay workshops to
high school students
- Running Creative Writing workshops for men and women
- Editing
- Writing
- Helping organizations learn how to use
Stories and Voice
as instruments for change
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