Writing Home

 

I don't mean writing home like I did to my folks when I lived in Stuttgart in the 60s nor the emails I sent back to my former housemates when I moved from Boston to Switzerland.

This writing home is environment where I developed my craft in the warmth and safety that helped me each step of refining my craft.

They say you can't go home again, but last night I did on Zoom, featuring Susan Tiberghien, founder of the Geneva Writers Group (GWG) where monthly I attended her workshops for two decades.

The Zoom meeting was Mc'ed by Mohamed Tawfik, who had been a GWG member along with me. He brought together people from the group, including my writing mate, (we shared almost every word of our early writing) with writers from Egypt where he now lives and writes.

Those monthly sessions brought together writers in English from all over the world. Mornings were a workshop, afternoons were critiquing. Whether being critiqued or doing it is a way to improve one's own writing.

The workshops included information on how to publish, contests and more. I learned about my masters in creative writing at Glamorgan University in Wales from the GWG.

Besides honing my craft, the workshops provided another value--being with like minded people who cared about words and their placement.

In the Zoom meeting, Susan shared her story of an American who married a Frenchman, lived within the French language until 50 when she attended a workshop in the U.S. on writing. She returned to her native tongue, became not just a writer but a teacher and a one-woman role model for inspiring writers.

Listening to Susan speak, I was carried back to those workshops, which had become my writing home and saw some friends from that time. There were also Egyptian writers, which reinforced my experiences with the GWG where, although most writers were English mother tongue, many were dual language speakers.

The 90 minutes was like a visit home where the furniture people sat on had been converted to tiny squares. It recreated the moments of hope that the next sentence would work. It reinforced that language and stories need to be shared.

When I shut my eyes and listened to Susan's voice, I was transported back to the Café du Soleil and the Press club where the GWG has met. 

Back then if and perhaps when I was struggling with a certain piece of writing a GWG workshop gave me the same kind of push and confidence that my family had done--a you can do it moment.

Last night I went back to my writing home from the comfort of my couch.

My thanks to Mohamed and Susan for being you.