You will never know what a gift the course has been and what it has done for me, as well as the ripple effect my writing will have in the future. The gentle guidance and patience since then has given me the joy of believing in myself as well as the sheer delight of remembering and writing. A door opened for me that has led me to meeting wonderful people who also stimulate and affirm me. "Thank you" are such inadequate words, but I have no other, except to say that you have enriched my life immeasurably.
COURSE:
Rewrite Your Childhood
I found Dawn Garisch's Life Writing Workshop gratifying and inspiring in so many ways. Her approach to creative writing is uniquely her own, and one that effortlessly accommodates aspiring and published writers of memoir from a wide variety of backgrounds. I appreciate the lengths to which she goes to allow cross-subsidization of participants not able to afford the fees by those who can. Dawn guides and infuses the workshop process with her vast expertise, energy, and delight. She creates a safe place for participants to explore deeply both positive and negative aspects of their life stories. I highly recommend this workshop to anyone who wants to write their life story. It will allow you to write creatively, with integrity and honesty, in an environment with like-minded people guided by an excellent mentor.
REVIEW BY:
PHYLLIS ORNER, Cape Town
Applied Arts Practitioner
The practice of creative writing, and specifically of poetry within this sphere, has had a consistent, profoundly therapeutic effect on my life, my physical and psycho-emotional well-being. It has also had a collective healing and transformational impact on the audiences, participants and collaborators with whom I, as a professional arts activist/applied arts practitioner, have engaged over many years.
Thank you for a most wonderful course.
When I was younger I spent a year trying to wind surf. I tried and tried and the sail kept flopping into the water. A friend kept saying, Laura you won’t be able to do this until you put your foot behind the mast-boom. My brain heard her but I couldn’t figure out what she meant. I kept trying and trying to lift the sail with my foot in-front of the mast-boom. One day, my foot went behind the mast-boom and the sail lifted and I rushed into the ocean where I wanted to go.
Your course was like that day. Before it, I heard what people were saying about writing. I read what people were writing about writing. I entered a few competitions and did well. But, it didn’t feel right.
Now, when an idea springs into my mind, I refuse to use the computer at the first birthing. The perfectionist critiques every word if I use the computer.
I also, through your course, learnt to write what I want to write (not what I think other people want to hear).
I have learnt to use my own life (for this is the only unique source of inspiration there is). I can disguise my life as fiction. So, THANK YOU
REVIEW BY:
LAURA CAMPBELL, Durban
Dawn's memoir writing workshop was a finely crafted and facilitated process that encouraged and enabled us to write. My creativity was stimulated by her use of poetry and prose, her listening and sensing exercises, her considerable knowledge and experience of the act of writing, and her easy manner when it came to holding and guiding the group and the process. In short: an excellent and productive experience!
REVIEW BY:
JUDY BEKKER, Cape Town
