Hey Turq, A writer's compliment from you is much appreciated. What's that I hear...I think I can hear Nabby's teeth grinding!
Certainly from my journey on FFL anything I would write about my experiences in the movement would be kinder and gentler than what I would have written closer to the experiences. Processing things here has been very helpful personally. I did re-read your first chapter and enjoyed it the second time. The advice about getting it rolling is simple and profound and I did enjoy reading your experiences in the later sections. You caught the right tone to keep the reader identifying with you along the journey. That is often missing in spiritual accounts. Jeff Gilpin hit a lot of the right notes in his book. I enjoyed reading his contribution to the "what the hell was that" part of our lives. A less known book by the author of "Iron and Silk" about his training in Kung Fu in China, by Mark Salzman is called "Lost In Place: Growing Up Absurd in Suburbia." His teenage obsession with Kung Fu so closely matched my own with meditation that I consider that book a great model for how such a memoir can be told in an engaging way. Both books are great, have you read them? So thanks for all the positive vibes for my creative work Turq. I don't know what project will take me over next. I am not going to put out another CD this year, but will take some time to do some song writing over the Winter. That might leave more time for some prose writing. You know how these projects go, they sort of choose you and you go along for the ride! --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, TurquoiseB <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "curtisdeltablues" > <curtisdeltablues@> wrote: > > > > It's like I won the lottery of kudos today! Thanks Rick. > > Here's your "bonus ball" review, coming up. > > > I haven't sold homes since '89. Mortgage banking carried me till a > > few years ago when I turned my part-time music business into full > > time. My life's mission now is preserving 20's and 30's acoustic > > blues, and performing in educational settings where the historical > > details can be appreciated. > > > > About six years ago I took a wonderful adult ed creative nonfiction > > course, learning to use fiction techniques in telling non fiction > > stories. As my project I used my Maharishi years and wrote many > > chapters. I only re-wrote a few, and as we all know, writing IS > > re-writing. I even had a working title: "I Was a Ventriloquist for > > the Maharishi" referring in part of its double meaning to my time in > > Sidhaland performing ventriloquist bus and bicycle safety shows in > > schools to make money for the Florida Academy in Avon Park. It kept > > me out of the hot sun picking oranges with migrants which was many > > other sidha's fate at the time when National cut us off financially > > and we had to fend for ourselves. > > > > I haven't really settled on a coherent angle other than a coming of > > age story for people my age who go into a spiritual group. Hard to > > compete with Monkey on a Stick serving up murder in their narrative! > > I am going to throw my support to Rick's idea > as well, Curtis. As you know, I once wrote such > a book. And it was like pulling my own teeth, let > me tell you. But it was worth it, because I set > out to, and to some extent I think succeeded, in > writing a "Seeker's Tale" about my spiritual sadhana, > as opposed to the crap that floods the spiritual > market, which tends to be "Teacher's Tales, As Seen > By Their Students Who No Longer Have Any Discrimin- > ation As A Result Of Time Spent With Their Master." > > You could write such a tale. You have the chops > linguistically, you have the chops as a complete > human being, and you have the "distance" on the > subject matter to truly do it justice, without a > great deal of emotionality and attachment enter- > ing into the equation. > > I do not think I am alone here in rating you as one > of the most balanced persons on Fairfield Life. Rick's > name springs to mind when thinking of that category > of award winner, but few others do. Mine certainly > does not. > > Your experiences as a spiritual seeker in the cocoon > of the TM movement deserve telling, as do your exper- > iences of another kind continuing your search for > meaning playing blues on the street. I have read your > posts and I have listened deeply to your music and I > think you're a Class A Mensch, my man. I would be the > first in line to buy any book you wrote about your > travels, both spiritual and mundane, and I would buy > additional copies of it for friends for birthdays and > at Christmas. > > > So the project is on hold till I figure out what aspect of my > > experience would be worth the work. I don't have any delusions > > about it getting published. > > As for figuring it out, I can only recommend a reading > of the first chapter of the book I wrote about my travels, > both spiritual and mundane. It tells the story of how I > finally figured out how to write it. It was not a short > process. But it all finally came down to, "Just start. > Write a little each day, and at the end of a certain > period of time you'll realize that you have a book." > > http://ramalila.net/RoadTripMind/rtm01.html >
