The Path of Pen And Sword

This Saturday I’ll be teaching live for the first time in over a year. It is a little nervous-making, because so much of what I teach is now at “unconscious competence” in my heart that I’m not sure what people need. So I might, MIGHT try a different approach. I’m thinking I might create a list of the things I consider foundational to writing and martial arts, and free associate between them, let people ask questions and let the workshop evolve as it might. I DO know that we need physical, emotional, and mental exercises to anchor everything in.

So I can use a “smorgasbord” approach. Start with a skeleton of the most critical aspects, and then give the students a list of branching thoughts and let them tell me what they need to know. And/or…let them tell me their issues and show how to apply the various ideas to their specific situation…and then work to show how ALL the ideas are just different aspects of the same core truth, a truth that can’t QUITE be put into words, any more than you can describe a mountain thoroughly enough to replace the climbing. Or describe a sandwich thoroughly enough to nourish your body. That appeals to me: a free-flow of ideas, an “alive” experience moving between body, heart, and mind depending on need.

Here’s the flier:

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The Path of Pen and Sword

A workshop in creative writing and martial arts with Master Steven Barnes

WORKSHOP ON SATURDAY, JUNE 5TH, 12–3PM (Pacific Time)