The time at my writing class just flies by. The 23 women in the class really really want to be there. I hardly detect any apathy or casualness in the group at all. Everyone listens intently and enthusiastically participates in the discussions. Sometimes it feels that Theo is just barely holding back the flood of enthusiasm. And we all hang on her every word. We had a guest speaker (Carlene Cross, writer of Fleeing Fundamentalism) She gave a short introduction, questions and discussion started up immediately. Many, including me, had read the book in the intervening week.
'Snack' figures strongly. We break in the middle and we take turns bringing a fairly elaborate Snack. Somehow Snack holds the whole thing together. Hey, we're grown women and we're all really experienced in providing Snack for whatever group.
One new concept for me, or maybe I'm resisting the memory of how difficult this was in UCSC days is looking at a book as a writer. Looking for specific techniques, for structure (problem, activity, resolution). Memoir is somehow situated between fiction, non-fiction and journalism. New as a genre.
You try to judge on technique and structure rather than the story itself. You do not judge the narrator. For example, we've read "Riding in the Car with Boys" which did not touch me really; I did not sympathize with the narrator too much. However Theo keeps bringing up treasures from this book as illustrations of wonderful sentences and chapter construction.
For example, she loves this sentence because of the action vebs and the specific details:
Cal crammed a case of Colt 45 in the refrigerator, then stood in the doorway of the living room and said "Happy New Year!" as he slammed his heels together and pointed a can of beer in the air like a Nazi salute.
We all have to workshop a piece. The members of the Guided Autobiography class cringe at this. I've got my story to write....bet my readers can't guess it. The Priscilla story, of course. But when we falter, Theo alludes to the "Burning-Shame-Regarding-the-Quality-of-Your-Work" Yes, yes, it's all on our minds.
But these women have paid the money, they come to class, they're focused and determined. The goal seems to be traditional publication. But, I wonder, how does the ability for just about all to publish themselves via the internet. All these writers have blogs.
One thing I did question in Fleeing Fundamentalism...the narrator leaves her husband, has 3 school age kids, works full time, goes to school full time, yet she talks about going to special seminars, evenings in the library, long discussions with faculty and fellow students. I questioned this....like when WHEN would you EVER have time to do this? Theo dismissed me saying that "lots of us do this" Hey, I've managed plenty of activities with mirrors but I can't imagine being able to pull this off.
These days, almost every afternoon is dedicated to reading and writing activities. Writing this blog, reading all the books, doing the exercises, reading the others' workshop pieces, working on my own piece. I'm SO lucky!!!
Picture taken from some of the artwork from Theo's book "How to Sleep Along in a King-Size Bed" her memoir about living through divorce. Which I recommend.
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