An Author Reads and Writing Life Is Good

                                                             Caryn Mirram Goldberg

Sometimes the extra push at day’s end is its own reward. Yesterday we traveled to the east for a doctor appointment and figured the scheduled PSU reading would have to be missed again. We had actually heard Caryn Mirriam Goldberg read her poetry, but last night she was to read from her novel, Divorce Girl. I had read the book and originally figured I would not whine about missing another reading due to life’s interventions; so I was pleasantly surprised when we could make it after all.

 

Laura Lee Washburn announces the reader

But we arrived home early, so after a little rest,  we pushed on to the west. This was so worth our time. Ms. Goldberg gave a fantastic reading! Writer/teacher Laura Lee Washburn introduced the author and the rest of the hour was just getting a good story from the author’s own lips.

One comment the author made resonated with me. The statement was about her main character who manages to survive her parents’ divorce in the 1970s. She said her teenaged protagonist survived her difficult times because she leaned on community and her art. (Her medium was photography.) Goldberg said artists often find art communities helpful because it is there that one finds people who make them feel like they belong.

My experience with writing community is exactly that. Of course, some writers are competitive and jealous creatures. There have been some famous writers who struggled and squabbled…say Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald among others. The writers I have met support one another and lead fellow writers to reach their goals. I have been helped and supported by many writers out there, especially in Missouri, who have shared their knowledge of things with me. I appreciate them all.

 

                                             Wonderful PSU food after the reading

A check and second place win the Past Loves contest made a writing success for me this week. The letter from the editors that called my essay “heartwarming and inspiring” was payment of another kind. So the week ends with some satisfying moments connected to the writing life.