Could the Possibilities Do You a Favor?

I live pretty close to Asheville, NC and am always astounded by the creative resources available in this city, and how the city is connected to the rest of the creative world. Because I'm lucky enough to be networked with some absolutely amazing women, including poets Glenis Redmond and Vera Gomez, I recently received an invite to become Facebook friends with James Navé, founder of the Writing Salon, and former collaborator with Julia Cameron (creator of The Artists' Way). I began asking myself, how can knowing James and The Writing Salon help me aide other creative people. First, let me share (in their own words) what The Writing Salon is.

What is the Writing Salon?
At The Writing Salon we believe that, while we often write alone, we are part of a community of writers that spans the globe, and that by coming together we can serve each other by offering new perspectives, ideas, and inspiration. Whenever a writer lifts a pen – to invent or reinvent, to speak truth or tell a story, to collaborate, to dream, to make it messy then clean it up, to communicate – the world is a better place.

The Writing Salon was born from the Artist’s Way creativity camps, workshops, and retreats that poet James Navé produced with Julia Cameron from 1995 to 2003. In 2004, Navé, along with writer/editor Allegra Huston, held the first Writing Salon in the legendary artists' colony of Taos, New Mexico. The Taos Writing Salon is now a yearly event, and we're constantly adding international Salons in places of secret beauty around the world.

Mail:

The Writing Salon P.O. Box 2454 Taos N.M. 87571

within the US:	1-877-994-8267
outside the US:	+1-919-949-2113
email:	nave@thewritingsalon.net

Why Visit their Site and Know their Work?
You can learn a lot from your creative peers -- even if you're a visual artists or a performance artist, or a graphic designer -- because there are a models for success in all arenas for creatives that you can examine, learn from and adapt for your needs. If you're already a headliner in Taos, Paris and on a first-name basis with Julia Cameron, by all means, skip visiting The Writing Salon. Otherwise, could it do you a favor to look at the possibilities? I know it spurred me on enough that I'm sharing James' work here.

Until next time,
keep creating!
-Mel.

Slam Poet Gayle Danley

from:
The Poetry of Pain: Slam Poet Gayle Danley Teaches Children How Words can Soothe their Wounds
By Christina Ianzito

Sunday, November 23, 2008; Page W16
(an excerpt from Washington Post)

She starts off with a poem titled "Round Like Bubbles": "Round like a big fat green birthday balloon kissing the sky," Gayle Danley begins, then turns her backside to the audience of fourth-, fifth- and sixth-graders at Deerfield Run Elementary School in Laurel and adds, "Why can't I have a round one like J. Lo?"

The 275 students giggle nervously, immediately certain that this rather loud 43-year-old woman, a nationally renowned slam poet in jeans and a green maternity blouse, isn't going to be teaching them any kind of poetry they've ever heard before. This stuff doesn't rhyme. And, what? Did she just mention Jennifer Lopez in a poem?

"How come I don't look like J. Lo?" the poet nearly shouts, plaintively stressing the word "I," with a Southern accent, as the children titter. "You ever look in the mirror and go, 'How come I don't have hair that sings down my spine? How come?' " A few lines later, she switches gears: "I don't need to be Halle Berry, I don't need to be Alicia Keys, I don't need to be bald-headed Britney" -- they really crack up at that one -- "I have it going on, because I have you."

(Article truncated. Rest of article can be found here)