This is a post I wrote before the holidays and apparently it was never published. I have an update to it because last week I taught the four day Writers Studio at UCLA Extension, and this week I started a new course “Kicking in the Wall”. So let me just add that I’ve got a whole new batch of students who are making magic and I’m grateful to them and to all my previous students who have kept in touch and/or returned to my classes. You’ve all helped to sustain me this year.

This has been the first year without R.  Those of you who have lost a spouse or partner will understand what it’s been like. For those of you who haven’t, there’s no way to put it into words.  However since I’m a writer that’s exactly what I’m trying to do with a memoir. The Year Before/The Year After . 

Onward.

Belated Happy New Year, dear readers.

December 3, 2015

Have I told you lately how much I love my students? (Like the group above who came to the Lake Arrowhead Writers Retreat last month.) Maybe I just love people who have the guts to write. We live in a world full of acquisition, fear, lies, bad behavior, second guessing ourselves, et al. but when good writers sit down with pen in hand, they have the courage to reveal who they really are,cop to the fear and bad behavior. And  sometimes (best of all), to make humor out of the whole mess.

I taught a class with my friend Billy Mernit once and as our students did a writing exercise, Billy said, “Listen – ”  And we listened to the sound of pens and pencils scratching across paper. It was magical.

One of the great blessings of my life is that I get to experience that magic every time I teach.