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My Writer's Journal

Teaching in Taos

This Sunday I begin a week at the Taos Summer Writers Conference. Nine participants in my group, Writing for Young Adults, including me. I hope I can keep them engaged for 3 hrs a day for 5 days. I'm not really a teacher, just a writer who sometimes fakes it. The good thing is that I've been writing for a very long time and can draw on a lot of experience. The bad thing is that I've been writing for a very long time. Who knows if 40+ years of doing it is relevant to anyone but me? There will be a lot of other things going on, though, the inn is old and funky, Taos is great in the summer. They'll have a good time.

I first came to an artists' colony in Taos in 1978. It was my first time in the southwest, New Mexico was a whole new world, and I never wanted to go back to the old, familiar, East Coast life. So I stayed--several months in Taos, and then five years in Santa Fe before I eventually found my way to Albuquerque. I worked on a novel that summer; it was never published--for good reason: it was terrible! I think I've improved over the years. I'm still in touch with people I met in Taos in '78--Richard, a writer in Pittsburgh, and Ruth, a composer in Boston. We've all accomplished a lot since then. I wonder what's happened to the others.

I'll be working on BEAUTY'S DAUGHTER during my free time in Taos, and thinking about a new idea. One thing I know: I could never have attempted either of these projects 34 years ago. It took me a long time to get to this place.
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