To write memoir, we must first know how to remember. Through timed, associative, and meditative exercises, Old Friend from Far Away guides you to the attentive state of thought in which you discover and open forgotten doors of memory. At once a beautifully written celebration of the memoir form, an innovative course full of practical teachings, and a deeply affecting meditation on consciousness, love, life, and death, Old Friend welcomes aspiring writers of all levels and encourages them to find their unique voice to tell their stories.

Goldberg's enormously popular workshops have given countless students the ability to heed the call to write. Old Friend from Far Away recreates her trademark workshop style with its terse, demanding writing sprints that train the hand and mind to quicken their pace and give up conscious control. These exercises divert the eye from the obvious and redirect it to the tactile details we miss, the embarrassments we pass over, and the complications we overlook in the blur of everyday living. Goldberg writes, No one says it, but writing induces the state of love. Old Friend from Far Away guides us into that state of love, where heightened attention and a rhythm of focus allow the patterns and details of the

past to emerge on thepage.

Millions of Americans want to write about their lives. With Old Friend as the road map for getting started and following through, writers and readers will gain a deeper understanding of their own minds, learn to connect with their senses in order to find the detail and truth that give their written words power and authenticity, and unfold the natural structure of the stories they carry within. An absolute joy to read, it is a profound affirmation of the capacity of the written word to remember the past, free us from it, and forever transform the way we think about ourselves and our lives. Like Writing Down the Bones, it will become an old friend to which readers return again and again.

Contents

Read this Introduction

Note to Reader

SECTION I

Go

I Remember

Test I

No One Has Ever Died

...Die

Three

...Coffee

...Tell Me

...Dishes

Jean Rhys

The Four-Letter Word

...Ugly

...Home

Peach

James Baldwin

Again

...What's in Front of You

...Outside

...End

SECTION II

Test II

...Funny

...Storage

Third

Steve Almond

Nuts

Grade

No Mush

...Scratch

Sideways Step

SECTION III

Test III — I Remember

Monkey Mind

Wild at Heart

Allen Ginsberg

...Plain

...Bolt

...Bicycle

Great Students

Moment

Zora Neal Hurston

Reading Aloud

Sitting

Hand

Hearing

Chin

Tongue

Just Sitting — or Do the Neola

Practice Notebook

Walking

Linda Gregg

...Happy

...Ice Cream

Cook

...Potatoes

Verb

Hard and Soft

More Than Ten Minutes

Sprinting

...Religion

Jimmy Santiago Baca

...Pull

...Wild

SECTION IV

The Addict

Polite

...Repair

...Awake

...Nothing

Facing It

Boring

Ordinary

...Something

...Swim

...Poor

Lie

...Mistake

Weather

Fantasy

...Vice

...Hand and Wrist

...Jump

...Care

SECTION V

Test IV

Cezanne

...Apples

Joan Mitchell

...Vast Affection

...No

...Ahead

Sickness

Driving

...Window

Paris

...Quiet

...No Stop

Birthday

Say

...Ring

...Mind

...Time

Close

No Whining

Reading Life

...Long

...No More

Suicide

...Times

...Fish

...Give Up

Death

Sex — or Money

Fat

...Obese

Smoke

Chang-Rae Lee

...Enamored

...At the Edge

Fight

...The Fourth

Four Words

...Perfect

...Lucky

Spit

...Dresser

SECTION VI

Test V

Blind

...Not Here

Politics

Not You

Half 'n Half

Place

...Some Place

...Two

No Topic

Title

Implied

SECTION VII

Test VI

Not Published

...Too Long

Portrait

Ad

Last Letter

One

Song

Hattie's

...Bar

...Different Times

Broken

...Everything

Ache

The Topic of Topics

More

...Cannot

Radish

Children

...Flat Cake

Orient Yourself

...Anchor

Inventory of Good-bye

...First Meetings

Morning Glory!

...Give Up

...Haunt

...Divorce

...Repeat

One Thing

Hot

Nothing

...Winter

No Fun

Trip

Defeat

Sound

...October Thirty First

SECTION VIII

Test VII

Good

Big State

...The Big Continent

...Poignancy

...What

Orchard

...Mother

Resistance

...Knew

...Air Waves

Cracked Sentence

...Down

SECTION IX

Test VIII

Series

Fulfilled

SECTION X

Test IX

Baby Memoir

Caryl Phillips

House

Recipe

Diet

Structure

Vast

...Over

Turning Around

...Not Take

Well

Guidelines and Suggestions for Writing Memoir

Some Great Memoirs to Read