Drought, Missing Out, and Writing

We are always haunted by the myth of our potential, of what we might have it in ourselves to be or do... We share our lives with the people we have failed to be. – Adam Phillips 

Recently I hiked out to Prosser Reservoir via the Sagehen Creek trail with Stoli. The water was a sunken blue meniscus in the dirt surrounding it, the area it used to fill, what it used to be, and what defines it now. I was thinking about the quote from Adam Phillips, that our lives are informed by the lives that got away from us, what we feel we are missing.



I just returned from a road trip to Colorado to reconnect with who I was in my 20's, when it was easier to stand still, listen, and breathe in beauty. I am surprised there is any water in the reservoir today. The Manzanita leaves have begun changing to yellow and Cottonwood leaves have fallen golden to cover the winding trail. That person I was - where is she now?

As Phillips wrote in Missing Out, "we may need to think of ourselves as always living a double life, the one that we wish for and the one that we practice; the one that never happens and the one that keeps happening." When I write I sense this same gap between what I want the shape to be and what the shape becomes. On the page is the double life of the piece - what it becomes and what it could have been. I think forgiveness in writing is saying this is who I am. I want to bring this forgiveness into my writing this fall, to take this windy path towards an original expression.

I'm really excited about the new series of workshops starting mid-September in Fiction and Non-Fiction. If you are working on a book project and want to ready it for publication (or finish it), these workshops are for you. The Tuesday night workshop is a fun and generative workshop for beginners as well as experienced writers who want to learn new methods to be creative and develop a variety of writing tools. All of these workshops are particularly effective at breaking through writer's block and building a sense of community.

The Literary Arts & Wine reading series at Coffeebar every third Sunday of the month is taking off! Great readers and a relaxed venue has made this a fun event where you can listen to talented regional authors. Don't miss the new open mic series at Darkhorse Coffee in Truckee every 2nd and 4th Sunday at 7 pm. Untitled: a word jam is a place to read your own words or the words of another who has inspired you. We start each open mic with an interactive prompt writing at each reading to generate new work.

I'll be reading from my poetry chapbook Bite and Blood at the Sacramento Poetry Center October 17th. The book is now available at Bookshelf in Truckee ,Sundance Books in Reno, Bespoke in Downtown Truckee, and Trunk Show in Tahoe City!

I'm always available for individual coaching, content editing and manuscript review. I find this work incredibly fulfilling for myself and productive for writers who want to develop and complete a writing project. I work with adults and students of all ages.

Happy Writing!
Karen

Young Voices: Part 2

Here’s the follow up to my last blog about 6^th grader Cody Wilson, the thoughtful, original and witty writer I’ve been working with since he was in second grade.  

At first we started writing comic books that he also illustrated – action adventure stories with elaborate battle strategies.  As Cody developed his skills, depending on the mood of the day, we alternated between exploring what makes a story a story and the fundamental yet not so fundamental variety of ways to use the tools of writing such as image, sentence structure, and figurative language.  Along the way we discussed what he was reading and practiced levels of interrogation of that material.  Each writing session involves combining recent experiences with a focus on a theme and a prompt. 

I’m so excited for his first publication, a one page spread in our very own Moonshine Ink!