On Sunday, I travel to Santa Fe to take a five-day workshop with Natalie Goldberg at the Santa Fe Writers Lab. Most of us know her book, Writing Down the Bones, and have used it for inspiration and the creation of new work. When I got a brochure listing the workshops at the Lab (months ago), I 
phoned immediately. Her workshop was so popular, I was told that I was already applying for the very last slot in the workshop. Lucky me.
Since then, I’ve been reading recommended books to prepare for the amazing week I anticipate experiencing. We are preparing with readings, with some exercises from one of Goldberg’s books, and I already feel more energized about my writing than I have in some months.
Writing is such a strange pursuit, if you think about it. We engage with words, sometimes torturing ourselves over a single one. We dig deep into ourselves to try to write some form of what we think is “the truth,” but, in the end, it’s just one person’s opinion. What we really want is to write something that another person will pick up and say “I know exactly what s/he’s talking about? I feel that, too.”
At the same time, I’ve committed to something called 30/30, in which I last participated in August 2015. This is a fundraising effort sponsored by Tupelo Press. Each month, a small group of participants agree to write 30 poems in 30 days. These are mounted on one of the press’ web pages (https://www.tupelopress.org/the-3030-project/the-3030-project/ for the current month) and you can read a new batch of poems every day (we get Oct. 31 off). The combination of my time in Santa Fe and my commitment to 30/30 will make October a very special month. Interested in supporting my poetry effort and Tupelo Press? Here’s the link to my fundraising page: https://tupelopress.networkforgood.com/projects/58290-aline-soules-s-fundraiser
Image credit: ihmretreat.com