Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Sell It: The Phase III Workshop
There is nothing like this moment in your life. Your book is in a bookstore and on the shelf. This is my fourth book and look at that smile!
Is it your turn? If yes, join me for this intensive, five week program that will give you the steps and framework necessary to get your book into the world.
Phase III: Marketing, Selling and Publishing
Learn how to create a market comparison & analysis survey
Discuss the publishing scene in the tech age
Discover how and when to approach literary agents
Learn how to build your platform
and more...
WHEN: January 8, 15, 22, 29, Feb. 4
TIME: 11:30-2:00 P.M.
WHERE: E. Burnside, Portland, OR
COST: $325.00 (15 spots available - spots will go fast)
Students leave with a Workbook & a CD of the class
Thursday, November 24, 2011
Thanksgiving Writing Prompt
Today is an essay in the making.
Don't miss the opportunity to write it down.
Here is your prompt:
1) Set the stage of your day, who is there with you, describe the room, the people, what everyone wears and says. Describe the smells.
2) How do you feel among these people, eating this food?
(Not how you are supposed to feel but how you really feel. Tell your truth in beautiful whispers).
3) Remember a Thanksgiving from the past and see how that one is different or the same as this.
4) Then come back to the room of your moment, see it all again, what detail stands out most for you?
If anyone asks, "what are you doing?" Tell them it's a writing assignment for a teacher and leave it at that.
Send it to me, or even do it in the comment box, and I'll post it here on the site (I might edit a few). The best essay will win a free signed copy of Found.
Monday, November 21, 2011
Writing Tip: Take a Good Class
I am so happy to announce our School Page on the Teaching Site. Here you will find all the classes for the winter term and soon there will be classes for the spring, summer and even the fall term of 2012.
No matter your budget or your location, there is a program for you. Please check out the new page by clicking here and help spread the word about these wonderful, illuminating and insightful classes.
We are here to help you write a beautiful memoir.
Prompt: Write about a time you attended a writing class. Stay close. Arrive in the place, describe the other students, describe the teacher and write about taking your seat. Include how you felt. Stay close to the body....GO!
Sunday, November 20, 2011
Listen In: 11/17 Teleseminar - Write a Beautiful Book
God lives in the details. ~ Tom Spanbauer
This call was dedicated to conversation about writing a beautiful book. Just how is it done? Here are a few highlights:
1) Write - a lot.
2) Surround yourself with beauty--music, art, nature.
3) Immerse your writing in details of your senses.
4) Find beautiful teachings and teachers.
5) Read beautiful books.
Friday, November 18, 2011
Announcements & Check In
A Little Moment: 
Jo Jo and I stroll along a windy morning. Casual.
I hold her hand in a gentle way. Light. Her fingers are tampered and delicate and it is easy to feel the bones through the soft skin. I call her hands "artist" hands. They are graceful hands with slim fingers.
The sidewalks are wet and the leaves are slick. We kick along as we go and it's the best part of my day. A walk with Jo before school.
This morning, she is in a pair of pants the kids call "skinny jeans" and they make her long legs longer. Over this she wears a new pink parka that is bright pink, vivid pink, pink on top of pink. There is no pink pinker than this pink jacket. The only break in all the pink is a span of brown gray fluff that lines the hood.
Her face is framed in this fuzz and all that pink.
We stop at the corner and wait for the cars to get through the intersection. Across the street, alone, is a little boy who walks with his head down. His jacket is half on and half off. It slides off one shoulder to show a thin t-shirt. His hair--a light red color--is wet. Jo is skinny but this boy is skinny and small. Slight. He's just bare sliver of a child. Six?
"There's that kid," Jo says."He's all alone."
"I wonder where his brother is?"
"I don't know," Jo says. "You think he had to walk alone today?"
"I hope not."
The crosswalk has been cleared by kids who hold blue and white flags. The crossing guard. Jo and I continue towards the school. The little guy is ahead of us and he walks in a kind of sloppy S. He weaves more than walks.
Over the last year we've watched him, always in the company of a not-much-older brother, forge his way to school without an adult. We always talk about it too: Why are these kids alone? Where are the parents? Why do some kids have to walk alone while others have parents or guardians or someone to help?
No matter how many times I answer her questions, they come up.
"Why is it like that?" Jo asks. "Why do mom's let their kids go it alone?"
I shake my head and shrug my shoulder since I don't have a damn clue.
"Maybe his mom has to work or she's sick in bed."
We cover the distance from the corner to the path that leads to the school and around us there is a funnel of human beings--big, little, short, tall, old, young. The little guy has been absorbed by the crowd and is gone.
"You know I would never let you go it alone, Sweets."
"I know," she says. "You're a good mom."
I stretch my arm long to get over her head and around her shoulder.
"Well, thanks but I'm not perfect."
"No," Jo says. "You're not perfect. But you are good, like all people in the world."
We have a thing in our house called "line of the day," and that is when one of us says something so perfect--each word forming an ideal message that is simple and exact--it must be noted. Line of the day is a writer's past time, a study of language and word choice.
This week, Jo has been on a roll. Her line yesterday was, "don't yell at the teacher, he has powers you don't." And today, this is it. "You're not perfect. But you are good. Like all people in the world."
Instead of taking the handle of the door, I bend down and wrap my girl from the back, pressing my chin into her neck and kissing her ear. The faux fluff around her new jacket is in my face and up my nose. I don't care.
"You just won the line of the day."
~
On my way to Reno--where fires blaze and wind blows and we are stuck in Portland until things get better.
- Tonight, a presentation at the Carson Library. Hopefully I'm there at six!
- Tomorrow, a class on how to write a scene and if you are in Reno, we have room.
- And below are new classes for the New Year. Do not miss them. Sign up. Hurry up now.
Six Writers – Six Weeks – A Critique Circle:
This class is for the more advanced writer who is progress on a manuscript or essay length work (articles are acceptable too). You needs to hear yourself read and to get skilled critique. You will be part of a very small group, just six writers and are invited to bring 8-10 pages of your current work per week. You’ll read and discuss your work in the circle.
Requirement: You must have taken a class with Jennifer/have an interview to discuss your project.
DATES: Jan. 9-Feb.13 - Tuesday 10:30-12:30 p.m.
Cost: $40.00 per class/$240.00
Memoir Technique Class:
Lists, prompt, write, share. This is a class for the more beginning level student. You are the writer who is just getting going and don’t feel as confident as you would like in the craft area of your work. You’ll enjoy this relaxed, playful class that gives you more ideas and techniques for dealing with writer’s block and memory doubt.
DATES: Jan 3-31 - Wednesday 10:30-12:30 5 week course
Cost: $220.00
The Master Class Series:
Create beautiful well crafted writing. Develop your writing muscle in the areas of scene, point of view, arc, plot, dialogue, setting and detail infusion. You will also learn about the skillful navigation of reflective writing and how to explore memory without being confined or limited. While this is a class geared toward the memoir writer, fiction writers are welcome too. There is prompt based teaching, there are handouts and we workshop two writers each week. There are 18 slots to read so you will surely get your pages worked over!
COST: $375.00 ($100.00 deposit to hold your spot)
REQUIREMENTS: Contact Jennifer at jennifer@jenniferlauck.com for waiver, instructions & space availability.
DATES: Sunday's, 3-6:00 p.m. Jan. 8, 5, 22, 29, Feb. 12, 19, 26, Mar. 4 & 11Subscriber Classes:
Each week, you get a video prompt with a handout of explanation and writing instruction. Also get a video teaching around a work shopped piece of work that will be discussed in a critique style format with an audience of students. You will receive a PDF of the pages discussed, so you can follow along with the teaching.
1 month - 1 class
3 month option - 3 classes
6 month option - 6 classes
1 year option - 12 classes
CLICK HERE to read more and sign up!
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Mayan Interpretations
Just when does the Maya calendar end? From one source, it has already happened--Oct. 18 of this year. Another source and one I consider highly reliable, has it all ending Dec. 21, 2011. And this information below has the calendar end Dec. 21, 2012. Personally, I could use another year to get my proverbial sh@# together so it's all good to go with the latter date.
What do you know? Share below please.
And enjoy the post below which came a therapist in Portland: 
Carlos Barrios, Mayan elder and Ajq'ij (is a ceremonial priest and spiritual guide) of the Eagle Clan. Carlos initiated an investigation into the different Mayan calendars circulating. Carlos along with his brother Gerardo studied with many teachers and interviewed nearly 600 traditional Mayan elders to widen their scope of knowledge.
Carlos found out quickly there were several conflicting interpretations of Mayan hieroglyphs, petroglyphs, Sacred Books of 'Chilam Balam' and various ancient text. Carlos found some strong words for those who may have contributed to the confusion:
Carlos Barrios: "Anthropologists visit the temple sites and read the inscriptions and make up stories about the Maya, but they do not read the signs correctly. It's just their imagination. Other people write about prophecy in the name of the Maya. They say that the world will end in December 2012. The Mayan elders are angry with this. The world will not end. It will be transformed."
"We are no longer in the World of the Fourth Sun, but we are not yet in the World of the Fifth Sun. This is the time in-between, the time of transition. As we pass through transition there is a colossal, global convergence of environmental destruction, social chaos, war, and ongoing Earth Changes."
He continues: "Humanity will continue, but in a different way. Material structures will change. From this we will have the opportunity to be more human. We are living in the most important era of the Mayan calendars and prophecies. All the prophecies of the world, all the traditions are converging now. There is no time for games. The spiritual ideal of this era is action."
Carlos tells us: "The indigenous have the calendars and know how to accurately interpret it -- not others. The Mayan Calendars comprehension of time, seasons, and cycles has proven itself to be vast and sophisticated. The Maya understand 17 different calendars such as the Tzolk'in or Cholq'ij, some of them charting time accurately over a span of more than ten million years.
"All was predicted by the mathematical cycles of the Mayan calendars. -- It will change --everything will change. Mayan Day-keepers view the Dec. 21, 2012 date as a rebirth, the start of the World of the Fifth Sun. It will be the start of a new era resulting from and signified by the solar meridian crossing the galactic equator and the Earth aligning itself with the center of the galaxy."
At sunrise on December 21, 2012 for the first time in 26,000 years the Sun rises to conjunct the intersection of the Milky Way and the plane of the ecliptic. This cosmic cross is considered to be an embodiment of the Sacred Tree, The Tree of Life, a tree remembered in all the world's spiritual traditions.
Some observers say this alignment with the heart of the galaxy in 2012 will open a channel for cosmic energy to flow through the Earth, cleansing it and all that dwells upon it, raising all to a higher level of vibration. Carlos reminds us: "This process has already begun. Change is accelerating now and it will continue to accelerate.
If the people of the Earth can get to this 2012 date in good shape without having destroyed too much of the Earth, we will rise to a new, higher level. But to get there we must transform enormously powerful forces that seek to block the way."
The date specified in the calendar Winter Solstice in the year 2012 does not mark the end of the world. Many outside people writing about the Mayan calendar sensationalize this date, but they do not know. The ones who know are the indigenous elders who are entrusted with keeping the tradition.
Carlos tells us: "The economy now is a fiction. The first five-year stretch of transition from August 1987 to August 1992 was the beginning of the destruction of the material world. We have progressed ten years deeper into the transition phase by now, and many of the so-called sources of financial stability are in fact hollow. The banks are weak. This is a delicate moment for them. They could crash globally, if we don't pay attention. Now, people are paying attention."
The North and South Poles are both breaking up. The level of the water in the oceans is going to rise. But at the same time land in the ocean, especially near Cuba, is also going to rise. Carlos tells a story about the most recent Mayan New Year ceremonies in Guatemala. He said that one respected Mam elder, who lives all year in a solitary mountain cave, journeyed to Chichicastenango to speak with the people at the ceremony. The elder delivered a simple, direct message. He called for human beings to come together in support of life and light.
"Right now each person and group is going his or her own way. The elder of the mountains said there is hope if the people of the light can come together and unite in some way. We live in a world of polarity -- day and night, man and woman, positive and negative. Light and darkness need each other. They are a balance."
"Just now the dark side is very strong, and very clear about what they want. They have their vision and their priorities clearly held, and also their hierarchy. They are working in many ways so that we will be unable to connect with the spiral Fifth World in 2012."
"On the light side everyone thinks they are the most important, that their own understandings, or their group's understandings, are the key. There's a diversity of cultures and opinions, so there is competition, diffusion, and no single focus."
Carlos believes the dark side works to block unity through denial and materialism. It also works to destroy those who are working with the light to get the Earth to a higher level. They like the energy of the old, declining Fourth World, the materialism. They do not want it to change. They do not want unity. They want to stay at this level, and are afraid of the next level.
The dark power of the declining Fourth World cannot be destroyed or overpowered. It's too strong and clear for that, and that is the wrong strategy. The dark can only be transformed when confronted with simplicity and open-heartedness. This is what leads to unity, a key concept for the World of the Fifth Sun.
Carlos said the emerging era of the Fifth Sun will call attention to a much-overlooked element. Whereas the four traditional elements of Earth, Air, Fire and Water have dominated various epochs in the past, there will be a fifth element to reckon with in the time of the Fifth Sun --- that element is 'ETHER'.
The dictionary defines Ether as a "hypothetical substance supposed to occupy all space, postulated to account for the propagation of electromagnetic radiation through space." Perhaps it could be defined as the "space between space". I would suggest it could be manifest as the alignment of charged particles from our solar system (Sun), and our galaxy (Milky Way) surge. The Ether element represents spiritual energy.
"The element of the Fifth Sun is celestial. Within the context of Ether there can be a joining of the polarities. No more darkness or light in the people, but an uplifted unity. But right now the realm of darkness is not interested in this. They are organized to block it. They seek to unbalance the Earth and its environment so we will be unready for the alignment in 2012."
"We need to work together for peace, and balance with the other side. We need to take care of the Earth that feeds and shelters us. We need to put our entire mind and heart into pursuing unity and unity now, to confront the other side and preserve life."
"We are disturbed -- we can't play anymore. Our planet can be renewed or ravaged. Now is the time to awaken and take action. Everyone is needed. You are not here for no reason. Everyone who is here now has an important purpose. This is a hard but a special time. We have the opportunity for growth, but we must be ready for this moment in history."
Carlos says: "The prophesied changes are going to happen, but our attitude and actions determine how harsh or mild they are. We need to act, to make changes, and to elect people to represent us who understand and who will take political action to respect the Earth."
"Meditation and spiritual practice are good, but also action. It's very important to be clear about who you are, and also about your relation to the Earth. Develop yourself according to your own tradition and the call of your heart. But remember to respect differences, and strive for unity. Eat wisely --- a lot of food is corrupt in either subtle or gross ways. Pay attention to what you are taking into your body. Learn to preserve food, and to conserve energy. Learn some good breathing techniques, so you have mastery of your breath. Be clear. Follow a tradition with great roots. It is not important what tradition, your heart will tell you, but it must have great roots."
"We live in a world of energy. An important task at this time is to learn to sense or see the energy of everyone and everything -- people, plants, animals. This becomes increasingly important as we draw close to the World of the Fifth Sun, for it is associated with the element 'ether' -- the realm where energy lives and weaves. Go to the sacred places of the Earth to pray for peace, and have respect for the Earth which gives us our food, clothing, and shelter. We need to reactivate the energy of these sacred places. That is our work."
"One simple but effective prayer technique is to light white or baby-blue colored candles. Think of a moment in peace. Speak your intention to the flame and send the light of it on to the leaders who have the power to make war or peace."
Carlos reminds us this is a crucially important moment for humanity and for Earth. Each person is important.
He said the elders have opened the doors so that other races can come to the Mayan world to receive the tradition. "The Maya have long appreciated and respected that there are other colors, other races, and other spiritual systems. They know that the destiny of the Mayan world is related to the destiny of the whole world."
"The greatest wisdom is in simplicity. Love, respect, tolerance, sharing, gratitude, forgiveness. It's not complex or elaborate. The real knowledge is free. It's encoded in your DNA. All you need is within you. Great teachers have said that from the beginning. Find your heart, and you will find your way."
Monday, November 14, 2011
Writing Tip #12: Everyone Needs an Editor
This is likely the shortest writing Tip you’ll get from me but likely the most helpful!
As my own literary agent told us on the call last Thursday, everyone, no matter how accomplished, needs a good editor.
William Stafford says it best, “an editor is a friend who helps keep a writer from publishing what should not be published.”
Since we all cannot afford an editor, especially in the early stages of our writing life, here is an affordable option: Autocrit.
This is a free editing program that will let you know, non-emotionally and efficiently, what you are doing on the page.
Using clichés? Autocrit will catch them.
Using the same word over and over again (unoriginal). Autocrit will let you know.
Have awkward construction—Autocrit is there for you.
As a writing teacher, I am begging you save yourself a ton of money. Invest in a subscription to this program and use it.
I hate to sound like an advertisement but I'm telling you, it works (and no, I don't get a kickback. I just love this program and you will too!)
They advertise this as "five minutes to a better novel." It's true. This program will help you be a better writer.
Sunday, November 13, 2011
Listen In: 11/10 Teleseminar - Agent Advice
"Write a beautiful book." ~ Anne Edelstein
I have had four literary agents and Anne has been with me since 2004. She is a keeper and has become a dear friend too. She was very generous and true on this call. She tells us about the publishing industry, how to submit work to an agent and if there is room in the market for fresh writing. Enjoy!
Listen In:
YOUR TURN: What made a difference to you? Did Anne give you insights and inspiration?
Friday, November 11, 2011
Announcements & Check In
November is "no school" month and it's delightful to have the little ones around and also, a bit undoing as I am a working/single mom too.
I have a couple questions:When do we work again? How do I achieve balance between mothering and working?
Okay, that was my three seconds of complaint. Look at these beautiful faces! How blessed I am to have children who are healthy and who have good schools. My gratitude to teachers and to any free time I can get to get some work done!
~
Classes are filling up and if you are interested in a Craft Class--don't miss the Winter Craft Series--which you take right from your home and also have the benefit of getting feedback from me over the weekend. How this class works is that you tune in for two hours of teaching, then go write and send your work to me which I will read that night and discuss as part of the lesson the following morning.
Your commitment is to show up, two hours, each morning--on Sat & Sun and to go write. It's a self styled, in house, life/writing retreat with teachings, prompts, writing and feedback.
What a fabulous idea!
I can only accept ten students per class so please, sign up and don't miss this opportunity.
~ 
The January Master Class is filling up too. We have a virtual option for up to ten writers and we have 15 spots in Portland. Don't miss this fantastic 3.5 hour class where you learn how to be a better writer through instruction and through example. We workshop one body of writing per class and give you specific instruction as well as time to write.
~
I'm in Reno Nov. 18 & 19th. I appear for Adoption Awareness Month, at the Carson City Public Library where I will read from Found and discuss the impact of adoption.
On Nov. 19th, I will be teaching a Scene Writing Class in Reno. Please write to me directly for info on these appearances. Jennifer@jenniferlauck.com
I'd love to see you there.
~ 
Last, what in the world is Adoption Awareness Month? Well, it's just like it sounds. All month is dedicated to increasing awareness around issues about adoption. As a two time adoptee, I have created a public service campaign that includes a series of informative conversations with adoptees and healers. Please CLICK HERE to learn more. I've also done an indepth interview with a wonderful young man, Kevin Ost-Vollmers (pictured here with his adorable son) who created a site titled Land of a Gazillion Adoptees. It was a deep conversation about changing the way adoption is managed in this world--and my conclusion was--well--GO LISTEN!
Monday, November 07, 2011
Writing Tip #11: Dialogue
Dialogue is basically one, two or more people in an exchange of conversation in your story. Dialogue is a tidy way to move a story forward without a lot of description. Characters can tell each other what is happening, describe locations, have judgments the narrator might not want to have and can move time along.
Here are four terrific dialogue insights to help you make good choices when approaching dialogue in your own storytelling:
1) Dialogue must characterize and capture the voice of the speaker…Everyone has a natural cadence and dialect to his or her speech. We nearly always speak in simple sentences, not complex compound ones. We might say, “When the rain comes, the grass grows,” which has one short dependent clause beginning the word with “when”; we aren’t likely to say, “Whenever it happens the rain comes, provided the fertilizer’s been applied, grass grows, unless it’s been masticated by cows grazing thereon”—a simple sentence or main clause (“the grass grows”) festooned with wordy subordinate clauses.
~ Brenda Miller & Suzanne Paola Tell it Slant:
2) The way you craft conversations between characters can effectively elevate the tension in subtle or overt ways. If your protagonist wants something from the other character but doesn't want that character to know, tension underlies the seemingly innocent conversation. Another character may want information from your protagonist, who sidesteps the issue. Or, the dialogue can be openly confrontational. In any case, the exchange pushes the story to the next plot point.
~ Laura Backes, Write4Kids.com
3) As with sentence length, avoid loose, baggy lines of dialogue. Cut to the chase.
~ Sue William’s Silverman from Fearless Confessions
4) My Rule is to not over-think dialogue and try to sound as natural as possible....Read your dialogue out loud and ask yourself--does this sound normal?
~ Paula Balzer from Writing & Selling Your Memoir: 
Now let's take a look at a solid example of very effective dialogue from Faraway Places by Tom Spanbauer:
“This boy’s too old to give a licking to, but I’m going to,” my father said.
“The boy didn’t do nothing,” my mother said.
“He jumped in the river!” my father said, and stood up fast, kicking the chair back, “and I told him to stay clear of that river and those people. Now, just look at this mess!” my father said, moving his face right up against hers.
They stood like there like that, the two of them, my mother and my father, squared off, my father’s hands becoming fists.
“You’re going to lose that boy,” my mother said. “You can’t beat that boy for this.”
“Mary,” my father said. I had never heard my father call my mother that. “Leave us alone now. This is not a woman’s concern.”
These lines are clean and mood is so well established by these sparse lines of dialogue that are as harsh and as controlled as the characters themselves. The two are not talking to the narrator but the narrator is witness to the moment. The lines of dialogue are haunting and more so because the listener (the narrator) is the one who is going to get the beating.
Now you go write.
The Prompt:
1) Imagine two people in a setting, on a stage almost and they are having a disagreement. It could be a big fight or more subtle. Write dialogue between these two and make each argument convincing. The goal of this exercise is to see how dialogue reveals character and complexity in human relationships.
2) Go to a public place and just write out dialogue around you.
Do one or both and see what comes up for you. Enjoy listening in. Enjoy writing dialogue and if you have more say (and I hope you do), put it below in a comment.
Sunday, November 06, 2011
Listen In: 11/3 Teleseminar - Uncertainty
How do I know how I think until I see what I say? ~ E.M. Forester
We look at how a writer can exists in "not knowing" how the book is going to turn out and how a writer can cope with so much uncertainty and still create!
Listen In:
Do not miss next week: Anne Edelstein, my editor, agent and friend will be on the call to take your questions on how to submit to a literary agent!
Friday, November 04, 2011
Friday: Catching up & Announcements
The best announcement is that this weblog is back on track! I have developed the new teaching site and that has been eating all my spare time and depriving this site of attention!
And there is a time when a writer has to wonder: "how many weblog's do I need anyway?"
The answer, for me, is that this page has been up and running since 2005. That's seven years of weblogging. My writing at this site dates back to a time when web-logging was just beginning and none of us knew what to do with this format of communication.
I am going to keep this site going and use this weblog for the less formal check in. This site is for "casual observations" and insights on writing. And it's a place to relax a little. That's the beauty of the weblog. It's personal.
Welcome and welcome back!
~
The photo up there was taken last week while I spent the day with my birth mother, birth sister and birth cousin. It's a lot of "birth" on the page but there you have it. I am an adoptee in reunion and we are in "the fun part" stage of reunion. The charge is gone and now it's the "get to know each other and relax phase." We had an all day spa treatment at a casino in Reno. That's something to love Reno for. You get an all-day pass to a spa for having just one treatment. We all had pedicures. I had a blast. And while I was here, I also did a live interview with Linda Joy Meyers who hosted her bi annual Memoir telesummit. Listen In.
The reunion with my mom is going as well as it can go. We are happy together. Forgiveness has taken place. I am blessed! My sister and I are on an even keel and I get to make friends with my cousin too. How can I wish for more than that?
This brings me to my first Announcement:
Every month, I am in Reno to teach a class hosted by the fabulous, inspiring and generous Carol Purroy. I will be there, Nov. 18th & 19th. On November 18th, I appear at the Carson City Library to read from Found and will teach a Scene Writing Class on Nov. 19th, in Reno. Write me for details! Jennifer(at)Jenniferlauck.com
Being in Reno each month gives me a chance to see my mom, build relationship and go home. It's fabulous. I'm over the "reunion hump."
Announcement #2: Adoption Awareness Month. I'm hosting several free conversations about adoption and healing. I talk with professionals and adoptees and birth mothers, all about this issue of getting through our adoption wounds. Please sign up, please spread the word, please sign up! It's free.
~
Those who are closest to me know that I was in a pretty nasty car wreck on September 11. This was following a reading at Powell's on Hawthorne, where I had read a very upbeat story titled Let it Be which is featured in this month's Shambala Sun. I am so honored to be included in Shambala Sun, which is an important publication. My essay was also tagged and placed in a collection on relationships titled Right Here with You: Bringing Mindfulness into our Relationships. Please go out, read these wonderful essay's and spread the word.
And, I'm okay. My beloved friend and co-teacher, Anne, was with me at the time of the accident. We were both badly hurt and shaken, of course. We are healing and have the best medical attention we could hope to get. Physical therapy from a remarkable German woman I am coming to adore, acupuncture from one of the authentic healers I have encountered in my journey thus far and energy work from a long time healer I also love. Anne and I will mend and we both agree, as we hike through the trees and replay the event again and again, we are better for the experience. Keep your eye out for the essay!!!
Final Announcement: Two Winter Classes worth taking. Please read about these on the other site and send me your questions. These classes are available now through streaming. You can participate! Join us.
Holiday Craft Series
Winter Master Class
See you on the site this week and please, leave your comments! Tell me how you are faring in this crazy world!