JW: Writing workshop with Janet Fitch

The writing class is off to great start ... I think it's going to be worthwhile. Homework is pretty intense and probably a challenge since much of it is related to scent experiences and I have a weak sense of smell. For instance, she wants us to write about 10 scent memories. We'll see if something shows up tomorrow morning.

Somehow, I volunteered to be a House leader so I was forced to dive into zoom and slack, but that will probably be good. After the 2 hours of workshop, we were sent to a chat room for a brief meet and greet

Sensory writing, describing things with each of the senses as well as using synesthesia, associations, and other levels. We did two exercises in class and both of them pretty easily led to memory associations so this might be a worthwhile journal exercise. I could give you the basics if you ever feel like trying it.

High points ... Observation is the first act of the imagination ... using a field notebook to capture and describe observations. Five sense are a bridge to the outer world and a gateway to memory and fantasy. This is a way to train our observation skills. We read the Proust/madeline passage (which I had never actually read) ... it was much more interesting than what I thought it would be.

Binders ... she keeps multiple binders of her observations synthesized from her field observations ... by sense, landscape, portraits, stories heard, weather. (This could be a practice we could incorporate in our retreats ... walking and stopping long enough to capture impressions.) Mentioned wine reviews as examples of sensory descriptions of wine.

She talked about "dry labbing" ... writing about something as if you had actually experienced it when you are just making it up ... phoning it in.

Someone in the chat talked about a course titled "How to smell like a dog" ... meaning skill rather than body odor I assume.

I'll keep posting notes here.

Saturday: The further we got into the class, the more I wanted to improve my observation skills but realized that the sensory writing she talks about is not really where I want to go. She provided quite a few writing samples of people she admires ... I disliked them all. One was a one-page Faulkner sample. On the entire page, there was ONE period ... after a 121-word sentence. I used to like Faulkner somewhat but this one didn't grab me at all.

Also, this may have been my last writing class and definitely my last zoom writing class. They worked hard to make it engaging but it didn't work for me. I think of the 100 or so people, there was one guy. All during the workshop ... even while the author was talking, participants were chattering on in the chat function. They set up a Slack account as a place to meet and post homework. That seemed like a good idea but didn't serve any purpose.

EWR: Thanks for posting your notes. For some reason after reading your post the phrase "apropos of nothing"* popped into my mind. I think because most of my inspirations come that way - out of the blue with no discernible antecedents. When I meditate there is no predicting where my mind will go , there's a kaleidoscope of associations that lead to  tangents upon tangents. Occasionally I try to focus on particular image or idea, all to no avail. I'm mostly ok with this monkey-minding except during those times when I am looking for something more circumscribed and want to stay within a certain arena, and then it's frustrating.  

1. *having no relevance to any previous discussion or situation.