Information on my upcoming classes commencing February 18th 2011

I hope you'll be joining us! Contact me at 207 542 0528 for more

information and to register.

The King's Speech

 

 

 

Sunrise in Camden Harbor, -10 degrees

“Objectivity and again, objectivity, and expression: no hind-side-beforeness, no straddled adjectives, no Tennysonianess of speech; nothing – nothing that you couldn’t, in the stress of some circumstance, in the stress of some emotion, actually say. (Emphasis mine), Every literaryism, every book word, fritters away a scrap of the reader’s patience, a scrap of his sense of your sincerity.” Ezra Pound

The Kings’ Speech tells the story of the man who becomes King George VI, after his brother abdicates the throne to marry Wallace Simpson.  Bertie, as the future king is called, suffers from a speech impediment and a deep and irrational fear of speaking publicly.  After years of trying to overcome his challenge, Bertie works with an unorthodox and remarkable teacher who takes Bertie back to the origin of his fears and helps him to find his voice.  In the last dramatic minutes of the film, King George VI delivers a faultless speech by radio heard around the world declaring Great Britain’s war on Nazi Germany in 1939. This moment in the film is the moment of triumph. The hero has found his voice.

In watching the movie, I was struck by the parallels between Bertie finding his voice and my students and clients finding their voices.  When my students come into class, they often write with a voice they consider to be “real” writing.  We might call it writerly, because it is not true to the natural rhythms of the writers’ speech. It is not believable. When Bertie is able to stand before the microphone and deliver his famous speech, he is believable.  Any good actor knows that when they deliver lines, it has to sound as if they are delivering them for the first time. The same is true of writing, the lines must sound alive.  In order to get writers to discover the natural rhythm of the voice, the first exercise in Method Writing is “Write Like You Talk”  We ask the writer to start with an empty mind – think the Buddhist concept of Beginner’s Mind – and then write just like they talk.  The way anyone talks. Jack Grapes, my mentor and the creator of Method Writing, says this: “Our brain is hard-wired as it applies to speech and the syntax of language.”  He goes on to say that if we are writing a shopping list, or dashing off a quick note to someone, we tend to write in  “the syntax of speech.”  We don’t add a lot of adverbs, a ton of adjectives or compound sentences. Straightforward and to the point. Just as Ezra Pound says above. This is what we look for in the development of the Deep Voice.  First discovery of the natural rhythm or your voice, then, through a series of exercises, we begin to find your Deep Voice.

Writing Exercise:  Open your journal; empty your mind, no thinking about what you are about to write.  Pick up your pen and begin to write.  Imagine you are talking to a friend, recounting your day.  Write like you talk.  Write for two pages. When you finish, read it aloud.  Does it sound believable?  Does it sound like you?  Repeat the exercise until you begin to identify your voice. And, as a further exercise, listen to yourself as you talk in ordinary conversation throughout your day.

Sea smoke over Camden Harbor, -10 degrees

My Talk At the Monday Club in Camden

Sunrise over Curtis Island

Quote: "Every day we slaughter our finest impulses. That is why we get a heartache when we read those lines written by the hand of a master and recognize them as our own, as the tender shoots which we stilled because we lacked the faith to believe in our own powers, our own criterion of truth and beauty. Everyone, when they get quiet, when they become desperately honest with themselves, is capable of uttering profound truths. We all derive from the same source. There is no mystery about the origin of things. We are all part of creation, all kings, all poets all musicians; we have only to open up, only to discover what is already there." Henry Miller

The Monday Club, Camden, Maine: I was invited to speak at The Monday Club, an organization founded in 1885 to study and discuss “literature, art, science, and the vital interests of the day” Throughout the years and through all the changes in the world around them, ladies of the club have met in each other’s homes on Monday afternoons from November to April to present papers on the topic chosen for the year, followed by a tea complete with cucumber sandwiches and cookies. 

The chosen topic for Monday Club for this year is letters. I read seven letters, from authors as diverse as Abigail Adams, Sigmund Freud, Henry Gates and George W Bush Sr. What I emphasized was writing from your authentic voice, whether it be light-hearted, such as Groucho Marx’ letter in the voice of his dog writing to his son, or more serious, as Rilke writing in a deep voice about what it is to be a writer. As I read, I asked the attendees to listen to the rhythm of the words – the music of the letter. The energy in the room changed according to what I read. When I quoted from Rilke’s Letters to a Young Poet, the room became quiet, people became thoughtful and went into themselves. Rilke spoke the truth and in doing so broke through each listener’s heart. I ended with Henry Miller’s quote (above) and invited all the members and their husbands to sit down and write to someone who was on their hearts.

Talking at the Monday Club

Members of the Monday Club listen with Graciousness

 
 Writing exercise: Write a letter to someone you know who has passed away. It could be a grandparent; it could be relative several generations back, or a close friend you lost as a teenager. . Imagine them and talk to them. Use your deep voice and speak from your heart and gut.  Talk about your present life and ask for their advice.  They are part of you and will speak to you.

Moon over Camden Harbor

 Please feel free to contact me with your questions and exercises.

Hanukkah/ Xmas in Mid-Coast

Photo by Stephen Betts

The holidays come in all forms to coastal Maine.  Look at Santa coming into Camden Harbor to see the kiddies.  In Portland, the Menorah stands near City Hall. Click here to see it.

And here are two other links to fun seasonal pieces:

Click here to enjoy Xmas music by the Northpoint iBand -- Songs performed on    

iPad and iPhones.  Pretty cool

Click here to see Matisyahu, a Hasidic Jewish Reggae performer, sing his Channukah song, The Miracle, on YouTube.

And watch the turkeys performing their own miracle-- one of them is in a tree!

(Video shot by Hugo Heriz-Smith)

Turkey Video

Enjoy your holiday and check out my writing prompt below:

Here's the writing prompt for today, quoting from Matisyahu, 

 "Your lonely heart yearns to be free.  Do you believe in Miracles?"

So, do you believe in miracles? Write about this.  Talk about the latest miracle in your life, whether it be a parking spot miracle, a recovery from disease miracle, or a birthday miracle.  Come on, you can find one. They are all around us. Please feel free to contact me with your miracle.

Thanksgiving Moon over Camden Harbor!

These images were taken by my son, Alex Seitz-Wald, visiting from DC, over the Thanksgiving holiday from our apartment in Camden Harbor.