by Laurie Wagner | Sep 30, 2014 | Blog
“Writing is how I round out my world, it’s how I unstick myself from the mud and make it across the meadow.” – Lisa Sadikman Readers, when I made a list of people I wanted to interview for this column, Lisa Sadikman quickly came to mind. She’s been a Wild Writing student of mine for years – a solid writer, and someone who has had to juggle the responsibilities of mothering three young girls, running a house and taking herself seriously as a writer. No small thing. Lisa is still at my Wild Writing table, but when she’s not here she’s scribbling notes for stories as she sits in carpool lanes, or in the wee hours before her kids get up for school. Her personal essays on parenting can be found on her blog, in the Huffington Post and many other magazines. (SEE below for links) If I admire anything, it’s someone who’s willing to sit there in the midst of her mental gunk, her exhaustion, her excuses and fears and lay some ink down on the page. Lisa does this and I’m happy to share her with you today. Lisa, I’ve been working with you for a bunch of years now and I’ve seen you go from someone who mostly wrote once a week in class — someone who knew she had more to say, but didn’t know exactly what that was — to someone who keeps a writing schedule, blogs each week and publishes regularly for the Huffington Post. I know a lot of writers who’d like to make that kind of journey with their work and I thought hearing from you would...
by Laurie Wagner | Sep 21, 2014 | Blog
I may have time to get to the Girl Scout store to get the new troupe numbers and Girl Scout USA insignia. I wonder if those jeans are worth patching? Is this middle aged spread or have I been eating too many nuts? Nuts are good, right? 229 days till summer. Still time to work toward that bikini My feet don’t hurt that much. You know, my shoulder feels exactly like it did during the racquetball days. Damn mosquitoes. I don’t need any more new clothes. I should make some soup this week. I loved Gina’s white t.shirt and long flowered jacket. She is so beautiful and neurotic. I felt pretty at the party but no one mentioned it. Prettier than I’d felt in a long time. Are they just used to my prettiness or am I not pretty at all? Do I have any underwear that he hasn’t seen? We should be getting that call from the basketball coaches soon. I hope practice isn’t on girl scouts night. Get to the bookstore. If I don’t invite more than two people over at a time we can all drink wine out of wine glasses. I hope they take those boots back. Mosquitoes. Will they retreat as it gets colder? What if I run out of money? Chocolate bacon, who would have thunk it? I can feel my hips. My breasts are like puddles. Exactly like my mothers. I think I said goodnight to him. One day...
by Laurie Wagner | Sep 15, 2014 | Blog
I’m starting a new section of my blog called The True Stories Series where I’ll be interviewing artists + writers + hard working creative types – people I admire and respect and who I’d like you to know about. Today I’d like to introduce you to Andrea Scher of Superhero Life. Artist + teacher, Andrea Scher was born under a lucky star. She might not agree with me because there are plenty of days she probably wishes — as do you and I — that the stars were shining a little more brightly on her. But then, one of her many super powers is an ability to create extraordinary things from the everyday ordinary aspects of her life. Andrea is the maker of incredible things — jewelry — photographs — stories and online classes. She’s an artist and a human being who I have tremendous respect for and I wanted to share her with you. Andrea, sometimes when I describe you to friends I say, “everything she touches turns to gold,” because you’ve been so incredibly successful with your e-courses Mondo Beyondo and Superhero Photo. When I say that what do you think? The first thing I think is, I’m so honored that Laurie sees me this way! Then I think, Is that true? And then I think of something that an astrologer told me recently when analyzing my chart. She said, “Do you know that Chinese proverb? Luck favors the prepared? Well that’s the kind of luck you have. You make your own luck because you are at the dock when your ship comes in. You’re ready to say yes.” And I think that’s true for all of us. We can make our luck by getting clear about what we...
by Laurie Wagner | Sep 9, 2014 | Blog
Writing about your real life is a tricky dance. Your life is your petri dish. You examine the things that happen, you make notes, you pay attention to small details and you consider whether you can unpack them to reveal something larger, something like a story. Moments become metaphors, lessons, things you want to understand better and share. If you’re good at it, you’re able to take these small moments of your life and crack them open to reveal the creamy center, the universal kung foo, the place where my story becomes your story, becomes a blessing or a teaching for us all. I believe we’re all made of the same stuff. We have different experiences and we have our opinions and different ways we stand in our stories, but we all understand what it is to long for something – love or connection. We all know what it feels like to feel small and overlooked, unseen and unimportant. We know exhaustion and defeat. We all know envy and what it is to have dirty thoughts about people we love. We know joy too – the feeling of riding a lucky wave – or just being suddenly happy for no reason except that the song on the radio has just changed your world. And that’s where telling true stories and using authentic, down to the studs language in your writing is really helpful. When you lay it on the line and don’t try to hide or be too clever, people can connect with you, and then they can connect with themselves. And that’s part of the...
