by Laurie Wagner | May 6, 2014 | Blog
When my friend + long time student, Lisa Sadikman asked me if I wanted to participate in a blog hop where writers get a chance to write about their writing process I said sure, then immediately regretted it because I had just promised myself that I wouldn’t say yes to anything more until I’d completed the pile of projects on my desk. But if I’m anything, I’m a girl who stands by her commitments — which isn’t always smart, but in terms of commitments, writing is probably the best thing you could say yes to because everyone knows that those deadlines are everything to getting ink onto the page. So thank you Lisa. Below are my answers to the four questions traveling from blog to blog. Next week, two wonderful friends of mine and writers — Sherry Richert Belul and Jill Salahub will share their thoughts on writing via their blogs. What am I working on/writing? Most of my writing these days happens in the Wild Writing classes I teach each week here in the Bay Area. For two hours, five mornings a week, I have the pleasure of sitting around a table with 8 other women writing really quickly and really badly. That’s one of the tenants of the class — to write as poorly as possible. It’s not a joke — it’s a totally freeing way of getting past our ingrained attempts at looking good, smart and clever — which is pretty much what we’re trying to do most of the time — on the page and off. It’s unconscious, a throw-back from the days when it was dance or...
by Laurie Wagner | Apr 30, 2013 | Blog
In honor of Plant a Kiss Day ** (Sunday, April 29) I decided that instead of doing what was suggested – which was to spread a little love in the world – doing generous deeds like some of my incredible friends came up with – giving away bundles of lavender, setting up free lemonade stands and creating flash mob bubble parties in the park… Yes, instead of creating an act of kindness for others, I decided to take some advice from my very smart friend, Sherry Richert Belul (creator of Plant a Kiss Day), and plant a big fat kiss on myself, because if anyone needed some love it was me. Actually what I needed was a nap – which is pretty unheard of in my world. I’m terrified of them, certain if I give into my fatigue I’ll never get up. For 100 years I’ve been a steam engine, stopping only once a day – to collapse – in bed. But since I hadn’t gotten a lot of sleep the night before, I thought, well, I’ll just sit on the couch with this newspaper and catch up on some important reading. Important being the operative word here. I read a page or two about a doctor who was so consumed with being the top dog in his field that he made up research to support his thesis. Now he’s nothing. Minutes later I face planted on my couch where I dreamed of making love to a cowboy. No wonder I’ve been resisting those naps – they’re sneaky, insidious, only increasing your desire for even more rest. The next...
