So, where are you going to? I don't mind
If I live too long, I'm afraid I'll die
So, I will follow you whereever you go
If your offered hand is still open to me

Strangers on this road we are on
We are not two; we are one

                                           --Ray Davies

I am attending the Lynda Barry workshop Writing the Unthinkable this weekend with dear Sonali.  I am very excited as I learned so much the last time I enrolled in the class.  Lynda is a great teacher.  This class looks to have about double the number of students as the class I took a little over a year ago.

Since attending last year, I have become acquainted with Pat Schneider's Amherst Writers and Artists methodology, and I am meditating on her Five Essential Affirmations:

• Everyone has a strong, unique voice.
• Everyone is born with creative genius.
• Writing as an art form belongs to all people, regardless of economic class or educational level.
• The teaching of craft can be done without damage to a writer's original voice or artistic self-esteem.
• A writer is someone who writes.

Let's all write and write and write in 2008.

1. I steal flowers from my father's grave.
2. Aunt Susie stole her penny collection in 1965.
3. The neighbors all hate us.
4. Men grope her in choir practice.
5. People drive by in cars and laugh at her.
6. My dad had a crush on my best friend Lisa in 11th grade.
7. She can't be friends with people from the other branch of presbyterianism.
8. My brothers and sister and I are all jealous of each other.
9. Her friend Debbie pokes her daughter with a pin.
10. I do not love her because she is not perfect.

It ain't that hard!
 -Stephanie stean