Deb Lund ad lib

This morning a friend emailed to ask me why I thought he should invest in Christina Baldwin’s workshop “The Self as the Source of the Story.” (See my October 30 entry) If you know me, you may already be tired of hearing versions of this, but I’m pasting in my answer to him…

I’d love to chat with you about this — some question and answer time might be a better format, but here’s a few rambling thoughts:

When I’m working on something, there’s an urgency to get the words down, get it done, and that’s what I’m doing this month with NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). Quantity. I can fix all the bizarre details and loose ends later. Stuff like enhancing the emotion, discovering the theme–but it’s fiction. If it were memoir (not that it wouldn’t help fiction, because it has certainly helped mine), I’d be signing up for Self as Source all over again. There’s a level of writing that emerges and evolves during and after the exercises and circles with Christina that brings depth and meaning I would not have considered.

You’re a person who doesn’t hold back, so you’re a few steps ahead of the average writer, and I believe this will just accelerate your ability to get it out and onto the paper. But, I’m projecting based on what happened to me. I also left with an understanding of why I write. There’s a spiritual aspect to writing, as you know from your music and the writing you’ve done. In SAS, you’ll be connected to that spirit when you write, and you’ll connect with the others in your circle in a way you wouldn’t think possible in such a short period of time. It’s a catapult, and the distance you travel isn’t a one-time feel-good experience. You get to keep this one.

Everyone’s reactions to events varies, and I experienced The Self as the Source of the Story during a particularly vulnerable time. I remember being blown away by the sharing that happened right away, and at the level of writing that emerged. Later I asked Christina if it was always like that. “Pretty much,” was her response. SAS was one of the experiences that let me say, without any self-consciousness, I am a writer.

What more could you want? Check it out, friends.