Page 20 – Lovely County Citizen – September 5, 2013
Village View
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Alison By Sandra TaylorSynar Brown
Writing from the Soul
oes this ever happen to you? You’re driving or folding clothes, mowing the lawn or waiting at the dentist, and you think about something that happened to you yesterday or long ago. Or you watch the news and think how you feel about it and how it feels to be living in this century and society. You think how times have changed in your lifetime, and you wish you could share some of your thoughts and impressions before the time slips away forever. But then, you go on your way, get back to what you were doing, and the moment passes. Inspirational writer Linda Apple (www. lindaapple.com), who has had 16 stories published in the Chicken Soup series, and who will teach next Saturday’s workshop, INSPIRE! Writing from the Soul, has this advice to you when those moments come. Write! Write the rippling circles of life around you. What happens in your home, your city, your state, your country, your world? Do it for our future children. Don’t put them at the
Village Writing School coming workshops • September 7–INSPIRE! Writing from the Soul Linda Apple www.lindaapple.com • September 21–CHARACTER Jan Morrill, author or The Red Kimono, U of A Press www.janmorrill.com • October 5–The Golden Trilogy Point of View, Sense of Place, & Internalization Pam Foster http://pamelafosterspeakerwriter. wordpress.com/ October 19 – MINDFUL Writing Find your deep writing voice Elizabeth Diane Newell-Mack MindfulWriters.org.
mercy of the news media and the talking heads. Even if you write a bit of information each day in the tiny square of your calendar, one day someone will read it. I found a book in the Springfield, Missouri library that was published from a year’s worth of calendars that a woman had kept and saved. She had information about the weather, the price of eggs, and the political news of the time. Write about your failures, mistakes, trials, disappointments. Tell us how you mustered the strength to overcome. What lessons did you learn? We have a choice about these shadowy valleys in our lives. Tell how you resisted the temptation to let adversity darken your perspective and instead how it deepened your character. I wrote earlier that my favorite season is autumn. With one whoosh the air is filled with swirling leaves. They carpet the ground in blazing red, bright golds, and warm browns. Just because they fell doesn’t mean they are no longer needed. They still nurture the tree by incorporating back into the earth, providing nutrients for future leaves. By sharing our lives through the tips of our fingers on our keyboards, we strengthen others. Write about your triumphs, your successes, the loves in and of your life. Make us smile. Make us laugh out loud till tears stream down our faces. Give us that merry heart medicine. Write from your soul. Be the hand that reaches through generations to comfort, encourage, and guide. Inspire! On September 7, Linda Apple will offer practical instruction for those who want to write with passion and purpose. The morning session (9-12) will focus on finding meaning and life lessons in your experiences, no matter what your worldview. Any religion or no religion. The afternoon session (1-4) will focus on writing for the Christian market. Each session is $25 or $45 for both. At the Garden Bistro on North Main in Eureka Springs. For more information and to register, contact me at alisontaylorbrown@ me.com or 479 292-3665.
Writers’ Night Out welcomes memoirist Annette Marquis, a Virginia writer currently in residence at the Writers’ Colony, will speak to the Village Writing School’s Writers’ Night Out on Thursday, Septem-
ber 5. Marquis will discuss her journey to writing memoir and why she has come to believe in the importance of this form. She is the author of Resistance: A Memoir of Civil Disobedience in Maricopa County. Her work has been published in several journals and anthologies. Writers’ Night Out is a free evening open to anyone interested in writing. It is held every Thursday at the Garden Bistro on North Main in Eureka, beginning at 6 pm. There is no charge.
Marquis
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Alison Taylor-Brown has an MFA in Fiction and a lifetime of teaching experience from preschool to university levels. She directs The Village Writing School, whose mission is to foster the development of area writers through workshops, writers’ circles, and coaching. Her column, Notes from the Village, appears weekly. To talk to Alison about your writing goals and dreams, contact her at alisontaylorbrown@me.com or 479 292-3665.