New Writing Group

Now that I am settled in Mountain View CA, I wanted to find a local writing group. When I lived in San Francisco, there was a small group that were an offshoot of a Natalie Goldberg writing workshop who got together once a week to write. After I got out of the hospital, I took several online workshops through Gotham City. They were quite exhaustive but I learned the “craft” of writing. I also got to submit two pieces of my work to be critiqued by 15 other students in addition to a published author. It was a lot of reading and writing over 10 weeks and I often found it difficult to keep up.
I decided it was time to take a breather and to put what I have learned into my writing. I found a writing class by a published author in a local Los Altos community center. To my surprise, it was a large group (over 20) of senior citizens. Three classes were merged into one because of budget cuts. They welcomed me and I didn’t mind being the youngest one there.
Most of the three hours we spend with reading and critiquing. Although the writing style is elementary, I am mesmerized by the content. One woman read an essay about her recipe for fruit cake and how it was passed down from generation to generation. In the telling of the cake, she showed her family and her relationship to each of them.
Another fellow grew up as a son of a farmer who owned an orchard. He talked about the hard work and how he didn’t have time for his family and now with prostate cancer, he has vowed to spend time with his grandsons and enjoy the time he has left.
An elderly man wrote about his career after World War II and being the assigned Jew to assist Senator Mc Carthy during the Communist hearings. What a wonderful story that was!
Even though these senior citizens look healthy and are fit and active, their faces hide diagnoses of lymphoma, ALS, MS, and various other serious diseases. They talk more about life and family and personal interests than their aches, pains, or fear of death and dying.
What I didn’t know was that many of these people had been writing together for several years. One recently passed away and a black and white booklet was passed around. It was a collection of her writing over the years with comments and additions made by family members and friends. Photographs were also inserted along with the text. A copy was given to each person that attended the memorial service for her.
What a wonderful legacy!
This Friday is my last week with this group. It’s been a pleasure and an honor to work with this wonderful group. I have decided to spend more time now polishing my work and I look forward to two Saturday workshops with Martha Alderson in Los Gatos.

Tagged as: writing legacy disease