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Letter from Joyce Archives
Look for the February 2004 release of The Usual Rules in paperback!
April 5, 2007
Dear Friends,
I got my first computer -- a Mac -- in 1986. I can still remember the excitement of taking that machine out of the box, and the magic of operating it. I'd never heard of the Internet, or downloading songs, or You Tube, or Google. Back then, my little Macintosh was just a way of writing faster, without needing to go back over my mistakes with whiteout, or laying my typewritten pages on our living room floor, as I used to, and moving around the paragraphs by cutting up the pages and taping them together in different order.
I've lost count of how many computers I've worked on since that first model. Every time I graduated to a new one, I copied all my old work onto a disk, and transferred all the writing I'd produced on my old machine onto the new one.
Years passed. I wrote a few hundred newspaper columns and magazine articles. I filed them away.
At some point I realized I couldn't even open those old documents any more, because they were written on programs I didn't have on my computer any more. Then, a few weeks ago, I got a great new program that allows me to open up pieces of writing created on on all the long-defunct writing programs. And the way some people might take an old high school yearbook down off the shelf, or try on a a dress from sometime back in the Reagan administration, I decided to take a look at what I'd been writing, as far back as twenty years ago -- stories written when my children were young, and living at home, stories written when I still lived in New Hampshire and shovelled snow, and walked our dog Opie, and roller bladed to my sons' little league games.
It all looks like another lifetime now. Still, I thought I'd share a few of these old stories with you, in the weeks to come. In honor of springtime -- the season when, back in New England, we could finally get outdoors again for some activity besides skiing and skating, I thought I'd send you this one, about my son Willy's love of tennis. (And he still loves the game, and so do I, though if you saw me on a court, you'd laugh.) The other -- from even farther back -- has to do with my daugher's indignation when she learned I'd placed a large order with Victoria's Secret. Both of these pieces first ran in my old "Domestic Affairs" column, back in the early nineties.
You'll find both of these stories in the 'On Being a Parent' section of Columns & Articles.
Speaking of short columns about our lives -- I want to remind you of the two workshops I'm holding at my home in Mill Valley in the weeks ahead: On April 21, I'm hosting a half-day workshop on the personal essay. We'll gather here at 9 am, till 1:30, with a break for a nice, healthy lunch (including my poppy seed cake). Because this is a shorter day, I won' t be workshopping each writer's work as I do in the full day gatherings, but I do ask participants to send me a sample of their writing -- first person narrative -- if possible, before we meet. We'll talk about your work, and about the short essay or column form. Cost is $125. To save a place in that group, send your check to me at 500 Edgewood Ave, Mill Valley, CA 94941
And on May 26, I'll be hosting a full day workshop on memoir and personal narrative, from 9 am to 5 pm, with a break for lunch (provided by me) and individual workshopping of all participants' work. (Maximum number of participants: 12.) Cost, $225. Send check to the same address. Details for getting to my house, and more about what I'd like you to know before we meet, will follow shortly after you register.
It's been a while
now, since I've been home long enough to run one of these workshops, and
I'm looking forward to hosting these groups. I'd love to see you there.
With friendship,
RECOMMEND JOYCEMAYNARD.COM TO A FRIEND
