I saw Natalie Goldberg at the Brookline Booksmith tonight. She is on a tour promoting her book on memoir, "Old Friend From Far Away". I have traveled to New Mexico four times now to study writing with Natalie. I have been a fan of hers since she wrote, "Writing Down the Bones" in 1986. I discovered in 2002 that I could actually study with her. She teaches in Taos, New Mexico. It is a special thing to find a teacher whose words go right to your heart. What an unexpected thing that that person would be Nat. I never would have guessed it, and I am never disappointed.
I have started leading writing groups based on what I have learned about writing from her. People I meet want to write but have a terrible time getting started. The inner critic is loud, and clear and forceful. So quick to sabotage our wildest dreams.
"Keep your hand moving" says our teacher.
"Don't be tossed away" she reminds.
"Stay true to first thoughts"
and finally,
"Enter the heat of the words and keep your pen
moving across the page."
Year after year, I have kept up this practice of moving my hand across the page.
I write with family members, I write with friends, I write with students, I write alone.
Sometimes I am surprised and thrilled by what appears.
Other times bored and disappointed, but I keep doing it.
Writing has become a practice.
After traveling many hours and miles to New Mexico to see Natalie,
it felt right to see her in old familiar Brookline; the town where I was a teenager.
In those days, I wrote fervently in journal after journal after journal.
I haven't changed much since then, though I may look a little different.
Her face lit up when she saw me in the front row.
She signed my book; NG, Boston, Mass.
Odd to put that name with that place when
I associate her with the high desert of the southwest, cottonwood trees, the Rio Grande,
cozy adobe buildings and walking meditation under a black sky filled with stars.
It was good to see her.
What else could I do when I got home but write?
3 comments:
How nice....actually, really neat, Barb.
When I saw Natalie in Boulder, I really felt connected too. BUT...no personals in the book. Only a simple Natalie Goldberg, w/ the heart! Neat that she recognized you since you told me that that really wasn't her style.
I have told so many friends about that evening and book. Thanks to you.
Something else I'm happy for....that the men in yellow are now down the list. Brrr. Two feet of snow on the ground here today!
You and Nat are my inspiration to get back to freewriting. "Just do it til the water runs clear." Easy for her to say...hard for me to do.
I loved the juxtaposition of you as a teenager writing in journals and you now with Nat still writing in journals in Brookline! Unlike some of us, you've stuck close to your roots.
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