TODAY WAS MY BIG DAY. I woke up nervous this morning at 4:30 AM and couldn’t go back to sleep. Finally, after being here for almost a week, it was time for me to teach! That’s why I came down here to begin with, and despite having 20+ years of experience teaching writing successfully, I […]
Live from San Miguel de Allende #8 Read More »
Today, I slipped out of the San Miguel Writer’s Conference with Maria Caponi, a multi-talented, adventurous world traveler I met at my writer’s retreat in Tuscany last spring. Maria is attending the conference, too, and we wanted to spend some time together. So we hatched a plan to take for the afternoon off from workshops
Live from San Miguel de Allende #7: In the Garden Read More »
I first learned of San Miguel de Allende forty of so years ago when I was in my mid-twenties and my mother was in her fifties. She raved to me about this place for twenty years before I ever saw it for myself. My parents divorced when I was a teenager, and my mother took
Live from San Miguel de Allende #4 Read More »
When I was a little girl, my mother worked for a while as a nursery schoolteacher. And for one year, when I was four, I was in her nursery school class. One thing, probably the only memory I have from back then, was that when the Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Circus came to town,
Live from San Miguel de Allende #2 Read More »
Well, I’ve arrived at the San Miguel Writer’s Conference in San Miguel de Allende! I flew in Friday night and have been enjoying the company and hospitality of my old friend and host, Susan Evans, ever since. Yesterday, we wandered the cobblestoned streets, walked through the Candelaria where blocks of succulents, cacti and herbs were
Live from San Miguel de Allende #1 Read More »
After last night’s celebration and Claire’s wonderful chocolate cake, it’s finally the last morning of the Writing as a Pathway Through Grief, Loss, Transformation and Change retreat. And what I see around me is laughter, hugging, connecting and yes, some tears. The tough part of a retreat is always when it’s over. So we always
Writing as a Pathway: Farewell Read More »
Before I left Commonweal, I had to take one last trip out to the Meditation Hut, aka the Chapel, aka the Shrine and probably a dozen other pet names. I like to lay on the straw mats out there, flat on the floor and talk to my mother. It’s one of the places I hear
Writing as a Pathway: Meditation Hut Read More »
We’ve entered the most sacred time of the retreat, what I like to call “the heart of the retreat.” It’s the time when people are open and connected to whatever it is they need to write about, and those stories are being written. There is a tenderness and vulnerability in the air and the whole
Writing as a Pathway: Sacred Time Read More »
This morning, I told everyone in the workshop how proud I was of where they started on Day 1 and where they are today. Faces that arrived guarded and tight have grown relaxed and open. The power of mourning—sharing our losses, pain and uncertainty—in the midst of a loving, accepting community has worked magic. As
Writing as a Pathway: Transformation Read More »
We are at the heart of this retreat—the time when the writing gets real and down to the bone, when true words are spoken, when risks are taken, bonds formed, when we become a living, breathing creative community. We are tracking each other hour by hour. Laughing and crying and hiking and eating and writing
Writing as a Pathway: Sitting In Uncertainty Read More »
I’m writing this from my annual Writing as a Pathway Through Grief retreat at Commonweal. Commonweal is a large, comfortable retreat center in Bolinas California, butted right up against the cliffs and the Pacific Ocean. It’s a center that focuses on healing gatherings for cancer patients, and the sacredness and energy of those gatherings can
Writing as a Pathway: Words on the Page Read More »
Much of today was spent writing stories of grief and bearing witness to each other. In the morning, Evelyn talked about the difference between grieving and mourning, a distinction I hadn’t really understood myself. I’ve always considered them synonyms. Grieving is our own private experience of loss, the way we experience it in our own
Writing as a Pathway: Diving Into The River Of Grief Read More »
It takes 3 hours to drive to Commonweal from my front door. It’s a beautiful drive really and Evelyn and I alternated between talk and silence on the road heading up here. But every time I turn onto Mesa Road, where a huge row of eucalyptus line the road, I go silent. That last mile
Writing as a Pathway: Arriving at Commonweal Read More »
ALL MY BAGS ARE PACKED AND I’M READY TO GO This is what my car looks like all packed up to drive to Commonweal. I’m carrying a case of Writer’s Journey sweatshirts, a Jambox speaker to play music and poetry, a shoe box full of evocative postcard images spanning 40 years to use as writing
Writing as a Pathway: Off to Commonweal Read More »
