An Evening with Natalie Goldberg
Natalie was present at Bookworks tonight for a talk and signing of her new book, Old Friend from Far Away. It's a book about writing memoir. The room was packed. I knew it would be before I even entered the store, because the parking lot was full and I had to park down one of the dark, one-lane side streets so common in the North Valley. She was her usual humorous and charming self, and the audience was warmly receptive, eager for her wise words and to be entertained. Most of them were Natalie groupies. I recorded her talk with my handy little digital camera, videocam, voice recorder.
I was a little distracted, ruminating on the pronunciation of the word "memoir". Natalie, like some other I know, pronounce it as if it were spelled memwa, i.e. as if the "r" should be silent. I don't understand that, because the "r" is one of the final letters that IS pronounced. I just looked it up in my Webster's New World Dictionary, thinking I might be mistaken, but no, there was the "r" in the pronunciation guide. So, where does it come from?
Some of the writing cues that she read from the book (write for 10 minutes. Go!) are what is your secret vice? When did you pretend not to care? A hill you once knew. A moment in a library. The hottest place you've ever been (I think that must be Turkmenistan. When I was there, I kept saying, "It's hotter than Phoenix!" I wanted to say it was hotter than hell, but I didn't want to be rude.) What did your father never stop talking about? Details of a funeral you attended in winter. (That one should be easy. My father, my sister, and my mother all died in Chicago in the winter). So, all I need to do is give myself the time, and start writing. I ordered the book from the public library, but there are six people ahead of me in the line.
I was a little distracted, ruminating on the pronunciation of the word "memoir". Natalie, like some other I know, pronounce it as if it were spelled memwa, i.e. as if the "r" should be silent. I don't understand that, because the "r" is one of the final letters that IS pronounced. I just looked it up in my Webster's New World Dictionary, thinking I might be mistaken, but no, there was the "r" in the pronunciation guide. So, where does it come from?
Some of the writing cues that she read from the book (write for 10 minutes. Go!) are what is your secret vice? When did you pretend not to care? A hill you once knew. A moment in a library. The hottest place you've ever been (I think that must be Turkmenistan. When I was there, I kept saying, "It's hotter than Phoenix!" I wanted to say it was hotter than hell, but I didn't want to be rude.) What did your father never stop talking about? Details of a funeral you attended in winter. (That one should be easy. My father, my sister, and my mother all died in Chicago in the winter). So, all I need to do is give myself the time, and start writing. I ordered the book from the public library, but there are six people ahead of me in the line.
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