My church started at 10:00 AM this morning, and the 2024 Writing Intensive Workshop started again today at 11:00 AM, so I had the best of both worlds today. I could attend both!

My Church, Hope in the Desert Episcopal Church

I had choices this morning. Natalie Goldberg’s writing workshop offered Zazen (sitting meditation) at 10:00 AM which I love, but today is the second Sunday in Advent. Each week, I look forward to the music of Advent and the Scripture reading and hated to miss it this morning. I did the sitting meditation for most of the days this week, so I decided to attend church on Facebook Livestream. I wasn’t disappointed either but had to leave before the end which I don’t do regularly.

I’ve been attending church on Facebook Livestream almost every Sunday since the dog attack—five months today. I’m so thankful they offer online church!

2024 Writing Intensive Workshop

Natalie Goldberg’s Winter Writing Workshop began on Wednesday, December 4 and lasted five days. Surprised, I thought it was four days—so glad it was five. I’ve done several of her online retreats and trainings, in-personal book signings and presentations in Albuquerque. I’ve been a fan since 1992 when I bought her book.

I loved her focus for this workshop:

• Writing practice—She introduced writing practice to the writing world in her book, Writing Done The Bones in 1991. This is a timed writing with a pre-determined topic with specific guidelines:
  • Kept writing no matter what
  • No editing—just write
  • Freed to write the worst junk
  • No crossing out
  • And more
• Great literature—Natalie strongly believes and repeated often over the five days, “Reading books are your teachers.”

Schedule for 2024 Writing Intensive Workshop

Each day we followed the same schedule and all sessions are optional. Prajna Studio provide videos of Natalie’s teaching sessions to those in attendance.

• 10:00 – 10:30 AM – Zazen (sitting meditation)
• 11:00 – 2:00 PM – Class with Natalie. Teaching, writing, and sitting meditation. They provided a 15-minute break.
• 4:00: – 5:00 PM – Writing, Reading, and Listening with Dorotea Mendoza, Natalie’s assistant. Writing as one big group; reading and listening in small groups of four or five.
• 7:00 – 7:30 PM – Zazen (sitting meditation)

Natalie’s Rich Literary Focus This Workshop

Each Day Natalie focused on rich literature from a variety of cultures, then we did writing practice in response to topics she selected from each book. Here’s some highlights:

Wednesday, December 4, 2024

We started with a book of Annie Ernaux’s who won the 2022 Nobel Prize in Literature, but I didn’t get the title of the book Natalie read. Sorry about that!

Thursday, December 5, 2024

Natalie read to us from Dinaw Mengestu’s book, How to Read the Air. In a previous class with Natalie in 2021 we read Dinaw Mengestu’s book, The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears, and she asked us if we remembered reading that book before. I certainly did. Dinaw is an Ethiopian American novelist. Natalie features authors who have detailed rich prose.

Friday, December 6 2024

Natalie surprised us with guest writer, Jamie Figueroa. Jamie studied with Natalie and has used writing practice as the foundation for her own writing and her teaching of fiction and nonfiction at the Institute of American Indian Arts. We had a delightful time hearing Natalie read sections of Jamie’s new book, Mother Island: A Daughter Claims Puerto Rico. Jamie shared intimate details about her writing of this book. What an up-close and personal time this was!

Saturday, December 7, 2024

Natalie asked Dorotea, her assistant, to share her favorite author and not why he’s her favorite, but what is it about him that captured you? Dorotea’s shared her deep love and connection with Gabriel Garcia Marquez! Her choice excited me because I had studied him in my upper-level Spanish literature classes for my degree. What a tribute Dorotea paid this man, knowing more about him than I know about any of favorite authors. Dorotea first read his, The Story of a Ship Wrecked Sailor, and then went on to read all she could of Marquez’s work. A couple title she referenced: Love in a Time of Cholera and 100 Years of Solitude. I learned about the importance of translators of foreign authors.

Marquez pioneered a genre I love, magical realism, which I used in my poem, Coba—I Was There!

Sunday, December 8, 2024

Natalie began the day with Hunger of Memory: The Education of Richard Rodriguez by Richard Rodriguez. His quote she emphasized was “There are things so deeply personal that they can be revealed only to strangers.”  Natalie ended our time together with reading from her legacy book, The True Secret of Writing: Connecting Life and Language. I have that book and have pulled it out to re-read it—so rich!

Finally,

Today I attended church and celebrated Advent which fed my spirit. All week I participated in an amazing writing workshop that once again fed my writer’s soul, immersed me in compelling literature, writing practice that stretched me and the opportunity to listen to others reading their writing.

Natalie read and referenced many other authors and works too many to identify. I identified those that spoke to me!

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