Day Four. Facilitation.

Note: Devon was one of two facilitators at the Talking Drum Bookstore workshop

Pre-workshop anticipation: The night before a workshop, I do not sleep. I feel like the universe before the big bang--all that compressed potentiality buzzing through my body--my heart thudding, my head a-whirl. Who will be there? What stories will they share? What will they call forth from me? Can I be present for each writer in the way s/he needs? All day as I've been teaching, my mind has been in the future, at Talking Drum Bookstore, a place I've never seen, with people I've never met. The prompts I will use have been flitting in and out of consciousness. Waiting for the bus, I compose responses in my head, then stop--not wanting to "cheat" by getting a head start. I read through the whole 10-day curriculum and wish I could attend every day, the offerings tempting me like produce at a farmer's market--sensual, variegated, ready to be chewed and transformed.

Post-workshop reflection: What a wild and wonderful ride it was! It truly was the universe itself forming out of chaos. Divide 37 people plus one service dog and two facilitators into two groups. Begin amidst a welter and noise--people coming, finding a chair, grabbing a journal, settling in--and then SHAZAM! Magic happens. Every time I facilitate, I ask myself, "How can it be that such amazing writing flows forth from each person who sits around the table?" Some hesitate to read...some are gently self-mocking...yet all risk sharing, and each piece leaves us breathless...clapping, laughing, nodding our heads with understanding. Each piece has fine lines that announce their passage like jet trails in a clear sky. We call them out, delighted. We begin as strangers and end knowing each others' most precious particulars. This is "Writing in Community" at its best, for which I express the most profound gratitude.

Devon Balwit