by Laurie Wagner | Apr 8, 2013 | Blog
“Everything in life is writable about if you have the outgoing guts to do it, and the imagination to improvise. The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt.” Sylvia Plath Wow. You go Sylvia Plath. And here I was all set to write a piece on how I was struggling to find an authentic voice in my blog. That might surprise people who know me. I teach folks how to find their authentic voice on paper – so if anyone should have one packed and ready to roll out for a weekly blog it would be me. Not so. When I’m with my Wild Writing students four days a week I write really honest, messy stories about my relationships, sexuality, addiction, aging, all the things I long for and struggle with. I show up naked and full of those unseemly thigh dimples. I think that’s why I have so many writers who come back and work with me year after year; I put myself on the line and model the kind of authentic writing that Wild Writing is all about. And when I forget how to do it, my students take the lead. Together we create a world where imagination and guts is golden, the thing we reach for. But the blog isn’t a room full of women who I’ve been writing with for months. I have no idea who is reading this, but moreover, I’ve been confused about what to share. My website and my more public persona is that of a writing teacher, but that’s just a slice of who I am. How do I find that middle...
by Laurie Wagner | Mar 20, 2013 | Blog
When I was in my mid 20’s and in art school, one of my roommates brought over an older French woman for dinner one night. At one point she got up close to one of my abstract watercolors, and reading it like a Rorschach test proclaimed, “you’re just like Sisyphus** – you’re going to be pushing this boulder up a hill your whole life.” I could say that she cursed me that night, but even then, all those years ago, I could feel the truth in her statement. I was then, and still am, in many ways, someone who will often work harder than I need to, throwing my whole self into something to get a job done. My motto was always, “give me a shovel watch me dig.” There’s pride in that. There’s also a ridiculous amount of burnout over the years. And while I can’t tell you I’ve completely changed, I can tell you that in the last few years I have begun to ease up and get some help. I’ve partnered, I’ve let more people in, and I’ve opened to suggestions from friends. Their vision, humor, their talent and love have been, in large part why I’m where I am as a teacher and creative entrepreneur today. I’ve been meaning to share a few of them with you – there are so many more. Stefanie Renee Lindeen – a photographer who took a picture of my home fire pit at least 3 years ago, and that had me understand who I was and what I doing over here at 27 Powers. Stef’s photos are like a...
by Laurie Wagner | Aug 13, 2012 | Blog
Andrea Scher’s Superhero Interview with Laurie Wagner is right here! So cool! So fun! What I value most in a person is honesty and authenticity, and so I aim for that as best I can. But it’s more than just a set of values, the truth is, I simply can’t tolerate the lie or the half-truth inside of me. If I’ve kept something from you, eventually it will come out. I must purge it or I can’t sleep. And this propensity to tell the truth reveals itself all over my life – in writing classes, at dinner parties, in relationships, good god – sometimes in professional meetings with strangers. That doesn’t always go so well. I can’t help myself. I tell the awkward truth, I point to the elephant in the room, I confess. And when I do this, when I take the first risk and sacrifice myself like that, what often ends up happening is that it changes the air in the room and people start telling the truth and taking risks around me. This going first business seems to have the effect of making it safe for people because it shows them how big the territory of our connection is, and it turns whatever space I’m in – a classroom – a dinner party – into a much more interesting and soulful experience because we all wade into deeper waters. read more…...
