a new adventure

Well I have gone and done it.I am giving a writing seminar in July at Studio thirteen. I have been thinking about doing something like this for several months so today I called Chris Taylor Block and it set for July 10th Now I have to prepare materials and a poster to get people interested. Scary but life needs challenges.

Challenging yourself is like standing at the door of an airplane ready to free fall. You want to jump but that strap you are hanging on to feels really good. The known is comfortable and safe; the new stuff could backfire and fail. Tough decision but making that jump and plunging into something new can open new worlds. New ideas and new ways to do things enrich a life but taking that jump that is not easy.

Still teaching is something I do. Creative writing is a course I have taught. But this is different. I am asking people to pay me for two hours ,and they are doing it for the fun or joy of doing it, not for a grade. Can I keep their interest; can I help them tell their story? Will they want another session? I think I can, but it is still new uncharted territory. I fi it fails, how will I feel? Well I have failed before and I am still here. So that is settled. If you ever try , you never know.

At the moment I am trying to work on my own memoir as I have mentioned. this too is new territory but it is becoming more focused. I found by doing some of the exercises I intend to teach I can unblock things. For example I sketched thoe house I lived in where one incident took place and before I knew it, I had drawn every house I had eve lived in. Not well, mind you but roughly and I could even describe some rooms in detail as to their color and wallpaper. Memories( stories really) came with every floor plan. Heavens the mind can hide tons of impressions until one calls them out.

I firmly believe that every one has at least one story in them, and it is worth telling. I am also coming to think that many families are not sharing their stories even with family members because social media keeps us texting and tweeting. So I hope some of those who still believe in the stories will join me in July.