• Home
  • Offerings
    • Typical Workshop
    • July 2019 Workshop
    • WRW May 2018
    • Wake Up and Write WRW Fall 2017
  • Our Team
    • Jason's Workshop
  • About
    • Gary, Gail, and WRW
  • Blog
  • Contact
  • Farewell to Janet
  • Category
  Wake Up and Write Writer's Retreat Workshop

dialogue with doc

Post workshop musings...

10/26/2017

 
Picture
Graduation cake
It's been three days since the workshop ended, and I'm late with the blog post. My dad and I just had new carpet put in the living room, and I had to get all of the lamps, candles, dvds, and various loose items scattered all over the living room and put them in the dining room. The carpet guys came this morning and blitzed their way through the installation, upending couches and moving buffets and end tables as if they were toothpicks instead of heavy furniture. Now the carpet is in and I get to put all of those items back.

It's not unlike the workshop experience. Life is full of lots of myriad things - commitments, family, schedule, work, play. Then you go to a workshop and if you are lucky, it's an intense, immersive experience, and you try to absorb every second, every bit of information. Then you go back home to your life. And you find that some things don't seem to fit or to look right any more. 

Lisa Cron jump-started the week with five classes in less than 48  hours. As I write that I have to check myself to see if that's really true, and it is. Monday night, Tuesday morning & evening, Wednesday morning & afternoon. Then she met with every student one-on-one Tuesday afternoon. She poured herself into the teaching with extraordinary generosity, and the students responded with commitment and enthusiasm.

For me, it was a flashback to my first workshop with Gary, who taught with the same generosity. It's the spirit of that generosity that for me, is the most important legacy of this workshop. And it was continued with Caitlin McDonald's visit Thursday afternoon. She talked with the group, then she too, met with every student and all of the staff as well. During my time with her she had some great suggestions for things we could try in future workshops if we have a bit more time.

The final three-and-a-half days were spent in classes, writing, and one-on-ones. The work never really let up, because the dedication of the students never ended. It was inspiring, exhausting, and when Jason and I sat on our stools at Primanti's Brothers in Pittsburgh, eating our sandwiches that came with coleslaw and fries in the sandwich, it felt pretty darn good.

I  won't be posting a new blog on Tuesday, Oct 31, since I was so late posting this one. Have a happy Halloween!

Take care,

Doc

Picture
Lisa Cron, teaching
Picture
Caitlin McDonald and Gail Provost Stockwell (co-founder of WRW)
Picture
Tired, and still talking...

Workshop wonders...

10/17/2017

 
This will be a fairly short post this week, as I'm in the midst of our fall workshop in Haverford, PA. I arrived a day early, and sometime in the first half of the Steeler game Sunday I made my way to Kelly's Pub up on Lancaster to grab a bite and watch the game. As it turned out, a gang of Steeler fans were there, celebrating someone's birthday, and I unwittingly became part of the party, even signing the birthday boy's t-shirt.
It's only my second time in Haverford, but it always reminds me of the Richard Powell book, The Philadelphian. It was a bestseller in its day and was made into the film The Young Philadelphians with Paul Newman, Grace Kelly, Robert Vaughn, and Brian Keith. It's another novel I first read in Reader's Digest Condensed Books, and then later read the unedited version. I finally have my own copy, battered from years of avid reading.

One of the things Lisa Cron talked about this morning was the importance of specificity - not being ambiguous. Powell's book takes you into the heart of what it was to live in Philadelphia at a certain time and place, and the hidden tensions of a society that came to be known as Main Line Philadelphia. I highly recommend it if you haven't read it. There's a great courtroom scene in both the film and the book that you'll enjoy.

Take care,

Doc

Picture

A Dickensian visitation...

10/9/2017

 
This past weekend I was visited by three spirits. I don't consider myself an Ebenezer Scrooge, or at least not the Scrooge we meet at the beginning of A Christmas Carol, and my three spirits weren't ghosts. They are very much alive, and their aliveness is a part of why they spoke to me.
Following the Dickensian path, my first spirit represents an important part of my past - my love of story. Herman Wouk is 102 and Saturday I finished reading his most recent book, Sailor and Fiddler: Reflections of a 100-Year-Old Author. I don't say last, though he hasn't committed to more, and for my sake and many others, I hope it isn't his last.

My first exposure to Herman Wouk was in Reader's Digest Condensed Books, when I read Marjorie Morningstar. It is one of those treasured books I re-read every year or two, which means by now I suppose I've read the un-condensed version at least 25 or 30 times. I still love it. I still ache for Marjorie as she grows up.

Picture
Herman Wouk, novelist and storyteller
Mr. Wouk is a gifted storyteller who held me enthralled through City Boy, The Caine Mutiny, and Youngblood Hawke. However, it was when I read Winds of War and War and Remembrance that I was lost in wonder, and at times horror, at the worlds he created. The two books cover the lead up to WWII and the entire war, and until I read those books, I didn't grasp what the words  "World War" meant. He wrote from a wide and deep perspective, and every time I re-read those books I am awed by their vast scope and their intimacy.

A friend (with whom I shared the books) and I were talking at a crowded dinner table one night, discussing the characters in the books and what was happening with them. Another friend, overhearing, interrupted and said, "Who are these people? Your family?" We burst out laughing and explained, and later agreed that our engagement with the characters was unusual, and the author deserved a lot of credit for that.

I watched Mr. Wouk in an interview in July 2017 with CBS Sunday Morning, and noticed that even at 102, there was a twinkle in his eye, and an irrepressible energy that made me smile. He was one of the most alive human beings on the planet, and his work has been an enormous part of my love of story.

Picture
Helio Castroneves, race car driver
The next spirit, representing the present, visited me via his first race after 20 years as an Indy Car driver - Helio Castroneves. My first encounter with Helio was his season on Dancing with the Stars. I was astonished that a race car driver could be such a great athlete, and I loved his exuberant energy and wholehearted and delighted participation. He won that season, and I started to follow Indy Car Racing so I could figure out why he had done so well as a dancer. Indy Car has become one of my favorite sports, and his exuberance there took the form of climbing the fence when he won a race, giving him the nickname "Spider-Man."
It is a time of transition for Helio, and for me. He is moving from 20 years with Team Penske in Indy Car to the Penske Sports Car program. While it seems clear he'd like to have stayed in the Indy Car program, he gracefully acceded to Roger Penske's request that he move to the other program. And in his first race, he won the pole (meaning they start first) for his three-man team, and the team had a podium finish, coming in third overall.

I've written of my own transition, of moving across the country, leaving my life in California to return to a new life in Pennsylvania. If I can handle my transition with a fraction of Helio's grace, I will be doing well.
The third spirit, the Dickensian future spirit, found me on Sunday morning, when I discovered Gal Gadot (Wonder Woman) and her monologue on Saturday Night Live. I'd loved her performance as Wonder Woman, and in the monologue, I saw the same joie de vivre that I'd seen in Helio Castroneves and Herman Wouk. Her picture, like the other two above, shows a person who is the embodiment of joy and delight.

I read later that she had given up on an acting career when she got word that she'd been cast as the lead in Wonder Woman. And in the monologue, she had such fun with the part in which she spoke directly to her family and friends in Israel, it was clear she was enjoying every moment of her opportunity.

Picture
Gal Gadot, Wonder Woman
While I can't say I see myself as Wonder Woman, one of the great gifts in life is not necessarily to have the life you think you should. As Emilio Estevez's character says in his film The Way, "You don't choose a life, you live it."

My three spirits have all shared something about how they've lived their lives with me, and now I share it with you. Like all of us, they have each had their griefs, their losses, and their heartbreaks. And still, the joyful glint is there in their eyes, in their being. May we all live our lives with that joyful glint, and share it with the world. The world could use a little joy.

Take care,

Doc

Check Your Ego at the Door...

10/2/2017

 
Picture
Deer in the headlights...me at my first workshop
You are attending your first writing workshop, a major investment of time and money, which you feel sure will pay off big-time. After all, you have in your work-in-progress the next Beloved, The Hunt for Red October, or Me Before You. You are certain that before dinner is over, everyone will know, without having read a word, that you will be the new David Baldacci or JK Rowling.
At the same time, you are thrilled to be at this workshop, with an opportunity to get feedback (which you are sure will be wonderful) from a writing teacher whose work you respect, and whose books have helped many an aspiring novelist. You want to bask in the opportunity to spend this time completely focused on your own work-in-progress and not have to worry about cooking your own meals and then doing the dishes. Here, you are a writer.

Without any maneuvering, the workshop leader sits next to you at dinner, and appears to be amused by your witty repartee. Everything seems to be working as planned.

A funny thing happens after dinner. The group gathers for the opening session, and lo and behold, you are the first one to share your book title and the hook you have crafted. Suddenly you discover that you don’t have a protagonist, you have a victim. To be a protagonist the main character has to act, rather than simply be acted upon. Yours doesn’t act, she reacts.


You also find out that your book title, which is your protagonist/victim’s first name (evocative, you felt), tells the reader nothing. And you realize that if all of this is true, you have to throw out everything you’ve written to date and start over.

After the session is over, you realize you have a choice to make. You can crawl into bed, pull the covers over your head, and wail that everyone is just jealous of your talents and it isn’t fair. Or you can face the fact that you are here to learn, and the first lesson was a tough one to swallow. You came to see what the experts could teach you, and now you have to decide if you are willing to be taught.

Picture
Pull the camera back a little and the deer in the headlights listening to wisdom from fellow students Rosemary and Marg
Feedback is one of the most difficult things to accept as a writer. It’s easy to convince yourself that the person questioning your choice of word, or character, or storyline, doesn’t understand your intention. And if they don’t, it isn’t your fault they’re dense. You’ve labored over this work for years, and you know you’ve honed it brilliantly.

Or have you? It can be enormously confusing to go to a workshop, sit through classes with one or more instructors, meet one-on-one with several mentors/editors, and have critique sessions with your peers, with everyone telling you something different. After a few days you are reeling from the contradictory suggestions, and it’s tempting to ignore all of it and go your own way.

However…

…if you put aside your bruised ego long enough to look at it clearly, you might realize several different people all seemed to be asking what your main character wants, what her story arc is. And almost everyone commented on how they wanted to know more about your villain, but didn’t seem enthusiastic about your protagonist. So perhaps there are a few things that keep cropping up that might be worth your attention.

Those first paragraphs were my experience at Writers Retreat Workshop with the late Gary Provost. Once I was able to let go of my disappointed expectations of glory, it turned out to be one of the most exhilarating experiences of my life. I learned more about writing a novel in that first 10-day workshop than I had in the 30+ years of my life to that point. In the years since, I have found enormous joy in being a student, learning from those who offer their expertise to my hungry mind and heart.
Picture
Gary Provost, kindly editing my umpteenth draft while a party carries on around us
Picture
Two of the greatest and most generous human beings and teachers - Gary and Gail Provost
This blog was first posted on Writer Unboxed, on 11 September 2016. Reposted here with permission.
One of the greatest experiences I’ve had in a classroom, was coming back to Writers Retreat Workshop as a scholarship student in 2012 (having taught the workshop from 1998-2000) and having as instructors some of the same students I taught at earlier workshops. Not only were they terrific teachers, I learned a great deal from them and my writing improved. None of that would have been possible, had I not been willing to let go of my ego, my cherished identity as a smart, talented person and a good writer.

Whatever story you have about yourself and your work, leave it at home when you head to a workshop, conference, or seminar. It is an opportunity to step away from the solitude of your desk and into the community of other writers. It is an opportunity to listen to the teaching and feedback of others, sift through the myriad viewpoints and techniques to discover what works for you, and put it into practice. It is an opportunity to check your ego at the door, and give yourself the freedom to grow. Have fun!

Have you found it difficult to accept and use suggestions from teachers/agents/editors/peers? What has been the hardest thing to hear? How was your first workshop experience?

Take care,

Doc

    Carol (Doc) Dougherty

    An avid reader, writer, and student, with a penchant for horse racing, Shakespeare, and the Pittsburgh Steelers.

    Categories

    All

    Archives

    December 2019
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
  • Home
  • Offerings
    • Typical Workshop
    • July 2019 Workshop
    • WRW May 2018
    • Wake Up and Write WRW Fall 2017
  • Our Team
    • Jason's Workshop
  • About
    • Gary, Gail, and WRW
  • Blog
  • Contact
  • Farewell to Janet
  • Category