Where Did My Time Go?

Today I made a priority list

I have a busy schedule this month and this long weekend, I thought, would be great to "get my ducks in a row."

Today I would work on my lesson plans for my weekly classes. But first I had to clean up my kitchen. I had left it quite messy after cooking last evening. And I always feel better when my kitchen is clean and neat. 

After all that work, (I make such a mess when I cook). I had to sit down so I sat down to the computer and checked my email. That led me to Facebook. Two hours later I realized it was time for lunch. After lunch I watched a TV show I had recorded with Oprah and Dr. Wayne Dyer. (Gosh he was young then, but she looked even younger, and thin.)

By this time it was late afternoon and rain sounded loud in the trees. I walked outside and took a deep breath. The cool air and the falling rain called me to sit outside for awhile. I've not sat on my lovely deck all summer. I wrote in my journal, read the newspaper and thought about happy times I'd shared there with Barry. Before long, it was getting dark and time to come inside. 

I feel I am in a tree house when I am up on my deck. 

So, my day had slipped away from me and my lesson plans had not been done, my two readings for September had not been planned, and several phone calls I had planned to make did not happen. 

When others were going to bed, I sat down at my computer and completed a blog post for Writers Circle and now for Writing Life Stories. 

Smokie

But I will spend tomorrow printing handouts and outlining my class work. I read something I had written in my journal many years ago. I was wishing for more time in the day, just a few hours tacked on to the 24. Back then I had far more claiming my time than I do now, but I got it done. 

Sunny

This week I will babysit Sunny and Smokie, the cutest little dogs in the world. I will host Coffee with the Poets and Writers on Wednesday. I will host Scott Owens, poet and teacher, Friday night and Saturday morning when he teaches at my studio. I will read with him at Writers' Night Out on Friday evening. 

Saturday night I hope I am not too tired to go to the Songwriters' Concert here in Hayesville. I've been trying to make one of them all summer. 

Now that I think about all this, maybe I should go to bed right now and store up some rest. 

Teaching Adults How to Leave a Written Legacy

About ten years ago when I began seriously teaching mature adults to write their life stories, I had been invited to a program called EAGLE held at Nacoochee Methodist Church in Sautee-Nacoochee, Georgia. Every Thursday classes in painting, fly-tying, chair caning, photography and other crafts are taught by volunteer instructors. My friends, Twila and Harvey asked if I’d like to teach a writing class for EAGLE.  It is nearly an hour’s drive over the mountains to reach the church where the members and the community have created an excellent program for retired adults and others who are free to attend day-classes.

A similar program has flourished at the Union County Methodist Church in Blairsville, GA where I have  attended as a student and as a teacher. This program is called OASIS. All those letters stand for words, but they all mean come and pay a small fee to take a one or two hour class, have lunch with friends, and enjoy an enlightening program after lunch. I don’t know who starts these kinds of opportunities in their communities, but I think this is one of the best ways churches can serve people.

My first class at the Nacoochee Church surprised me with the large number of students. Most of them were willing to work on writing at home and share it with us the next week. We spent our time on quality of the content, getting thoughts on paper, because none of them had done any writing of this sort. My purpose was to help them write their true stories so that family would want to read them. I asked them to write as if they were writing fiction, a short story or a small book. We discussed what kept them reading a novel or short story. The stories were simple with a beginning, middle and end. They caught on quickly to use active verbs and descriptive verbs to provide the reader an image.

After eight weeks of classes, several of the students were excited to read at the closing ceremony. I was proud when several in the audience came to me and said they wanted to sign up for the next writing class.

Moving on to teach closer to home

When gasoline prices rose up and up, I could not continue to drive so far and looked to teach closer to home. Nancy Simpson, resident writer at the John C. Campbell Folk School at the time, asked me to substitute for a writer who could not teach her scheduled weekend class at JCCFS. I was thrilled. After fifteen years of taking writing classes at this wonderful legendary place, I was going to teach there.

That weekend class led to week-long classes nearly every year for six years. Many of my students there have become dear friends whom I see and stay in contact with wherever they live in this country. They know they can ask me for advice, or ask me to connect them with writers or editors who can help them. They share their successes with me and I joy in their excitement.

Now I teach once a week at Tri-County Community College in Cherokee County about twenty miles from my home. I will begin a new course on Tuesday, September 1, at six o’clock in the evening. I teach two-hour classes and the courses last for four weeks. 

Ginny and Nadine were students in my first class at Tri-County College in 2008. Now we are great friends.

Again, these are beginning writers who are not looking to write a bestseller, but who want to write a lasting legacy for their families. My goal is to help them make their writing entertaining as well as informative. No one wants to waste time writing work that no one finds interesting.

I encourage my students to tell the most interesting stories about their lives, not lay out the daily facts of where they lived, attended school, and games they played. The writer must include the facts within a narrative that moves along and holds the reader's interest.

I look forward to next week when we begin a new class with some seasoned writers from earlier classes and new people who will begin telling their unique stories for future generations.

Behind Orchard House at Folk School