Kate Gale at AROHO: Play, Trust, Write

Kate Gale is a force of nature. Co-founder and managing editor of Red Hen Press, editor of the Los Angeles Review and president of the American Composers Forum, Los Angeles, she is a teacher, poet, novelist and playwright. She is also a board member of A Room of Her Own Foundation, which sponsors the weeklong biannual women writers’ retreat in New Mexico from which I just returned. She offered several workshops during the retreat, but one in particular I found particularly compelling and want to share with you here.

What she said, in essence, is this: Play, Trust, Write.

We writers take things so seriously. We sit down to write and expect a finished product. When it doesn’t seem to come, we get anxious, even distraught. Kate says just relax. Play! Approach your daily writing with lightness, with no expectation, with playfulness. (There will always be time for the hard work of revision later.)

Trust! That something amazing will emerge. That eventually, through journaling or just writing what comes, something important will emerge.

If you write something important, it will be at the intersection of imagination and intellect. Get rid of the “writing is not important” chatter in your head. Trust that what you are creating is worthwhile and worthy.

And, Kate said, be willing to have a relationship with silence. I spend at least an hour every morning with my journal, in silent testimony, in silent prayer, in silent entreaty to the universe to bring insight, words, extraordinary thought to the paper in front of me. Sometimes it eludes me; often it brings the grace of creativity and concrete movement: words – amazing, inspiring, powerful words.

In every writing project, Kate said, ask yourself, “What is it that I want to say?” Then find the most unusual, extraordinary and motivational way to say it you can imagine.

Because imagination coupled with intellect is the writer’s only true gift, a gift that can inform and inspire. So go on, inform, inspire – write!

AROHO at Ghost Ranch

Just returned from an amazing week of inspiration and encouragement at the A Room of Her Own Foundation's biannual women writers retreat at Ghost Ranch in northern New Mexico. A week of deep introspection, time away from daily distractions, and opportunities to meet some of the most incredible women writers you're likely to meet in a lifetime.

I love New Mexico. I've traveled there five times over the past twenty years, and hope to live there part-time some day soon. Santa Fe offers solitude, culture, a literary community and a spiritual dimension I've not felt anyplace else I've ever lived.

Ghost Ranch, near Abiquiu, was where Georgia O'Keefe lived and painted through a good part of the 20th century. Her paintings speak for themselves; the landscapes remain unchanged, even after half a century or more. I took some photos I will share here. The red cliffs, the vast indigo sky, the billowy cottony clouds that make one feel so small in comparison - all are reminders that we are just specs upon the Earth, lucky to be witness to some of nature's most impressive shows.

AROHO is a powerful force for women (www.aroho.org). If you love to write, whether it's fiction, poetry or creative nonfiction, AROHO is a source of support and provides an incredible opportunity for women writers to come together, write, share, network and come away inspired and motivated. I am so grateful to have been a part of the 2011 AROHO Retreat! Go to its website, get involved; come to AROHO 2013!

In coming days I'll be posting blogs on some of the wonderful workshops and inspiring talks I heard there, including from the inimitable Kate Gale of Red Hen Press and Marilynne Robinson, author of the luminous novels Housekeeping, Gilead and Home. Stay tuned!