Writing Where You Are

I'm on the Caltrain northbound - meeting up with a buddy - then driving north to Sonoma to attend a writer's workshop at the Sonoma Shambhala Meditation Center. The workshop is titled "Writing Where You Are" -

(from the website at SSMC) "The world always gives, the poet said.
We just have to get out of the way, said the sage.
In this writing workshop, for beginning and practiced writers alike, we'll write and explore principles and strategies for tapping into the richness of our lives. By the end, you may feel as though you've been "dreaming the same dream" with others in the room, yet you're sure to leave with a nugget of poetic prose that is very much your own....

The subject really gets at the core of why I'm a writer - that my writing is an extension of who I am. If I learned anything from the writing, editing and launch - and now the reediting and relaunch of HOUSE OF WOLVES - it's that this story was the germination of my move to San Francisco to reboot my life. In my heart I have no doubt about it. and I know that the ideas pouring out of me in "THE DO IT YOURSELF GUIDE TO GETTING OVER YOURSELF" (novel #2) are the beginnings of great NEW ideas that driving where I am RIGHT THIS INSTANT and where I want to go and where I want to be.

So I'll blog soon about the workshop and what it had to say, etc. :) It's going to be a frighteningly busy week - as I have a four day week followed by 9 days of vacation. (Houston Oct 29 to Nov 1, Washington DC Nov 1 to Nov 7) whew! Another reason to be glad for today's 'breaking from routine' and heading to this workshop. YAY!

The Misadventures of a Drag Queen named 'Souz Chef'

I spent a lovely day away at a writing seminar that was really good for what it WAS - but was rather disappointing for what it WAS NOT, as in nothing to drive an hour and a half to be part of. Enjoyed Matt Prather's company in ze'mazda all day - but it's good to be home.

I was expecting a bit more of "how to tune in your Buddhism practice to your writing" and instead I got a (for me) refresher course on brainstorming presented in a rather lazy and 'lets dream about writing' fashion. I had fun and made the most of it - but it was nothing I should have driven that far to participate in. It was mostly women in their 40's wanting to become writers. So - it was Me, Matt - and the girls. My final "essay" was about a drag queen named "Sue Chef" who was regretting buying her heels in the Dress Barn outlet in Sonoma. At least I had fun, right? :) LOL!

so - this is my final essay-lette - which was created with five or six lines offered up by other members of the workshop: (which we had to read aloud for the group)

Souz Chef

How did I become who I am - a drag performer in a sequined apron named "Souz Chef"? It was because my life as an observer could no longer sustain me! I put on my eyelashes and Max Factor Arabian Blue eye shadow because 'Souz' helped me pick up my life, warts and all, and find hope. The spotlight hits me and my gigantic purple hair, (because honey at 43, I'm just too old for pink), glistens and shines. Tonight's performance is a gift that will be remembered as a burden, like these cheap Chanel knock-off heels I bought at the Dress Barn outlet in Sonoma off of highway 12. Tonight? I will sing with someone elses tongue. Here, in Sonoma, without my best mascara is a place I never wanted to be. But this old boat has sailed through deeper and angrier waters than this, deary. Well, it's nothing a little Clinique concealer and a strategically placed Celine Dion number can't solve. Let's get to it!