[Gocamino] [saintjames] Thinking of writing a book about your camino?

[deborah berman]

After my first Camino three years ago, I set out to write my Camino account with high hopes of being able not only to describe the experience but to decipher the meaning of it all..... I love to write, have been a writer all my life, but have never written professionally... Three years later, my attempts to put my Camino experience into words helped get me admitted to an MFA creative writing program, but I am still struggling to figure out what I learned on the Camino...! 
In writing about this, one thing I have struggled with is how to convey that sense of "walking time," without having it take as long to read the manuscript as it did to walk the Camino... 
In my graduate program, I have met more people who have never heard of the Camino than people who know something about it. I think it is wonderful that Sil has been called upon to review so many Camino tales. Meanwhile, I am having the opposite experience--- those who read and critique my Camino writing know nothing at all about the Camino.... now that so many good and not-so-good books have been published, I am beginning to wonder who reads them--- those who enjoy travel writing in general? Camino "junkies" who are just as addicted to reading about it as they are to walking it? 
Since I haven't been able to figure this out yet, there is only one solution, ---hahaha, but it's true--- this fall I will return to walk the Camino for a third time and see if I can find more answers! The insight to be found there is definitely something I can appreciate!
“The tourist demands, the Pilgrim appreciates”, as the saying goes. Let’s all aspire to be Pilgrims. Appreciate, help and encourage those who might lag behind.
Thank you for that, Grant!
Buen Camino,Deborah

> From: gaspangler at hotmail.com
> To: saintjames at yahoogroups.com
> Date: Tue, 6 Apr 2010 09:41:26 -0700
> CC: gocamino at oakapple.net
> Subject: Re: [Gocamino] [saintjames] Thinking of writing a book about your	camino?
> 
> 
> The effects of the Road vary. 
>  
> Ponder if you would, how many different reactions there might be from the demise of a relationship. Some consume their weight in chocolate, other stop eating all together. Some hit the bar scene, others stay at home. Some crawl into a bottle, others don’t go near liquor or libation. Post-Camino effects of the Road to Santiago can be just as diverse, but not quite as obvious. 
>  
> I meet folks who want to experience all the ‘good stuff’ and none of the ‘bad stuff’ the Road has to offer. Sometimes that’s skipping the perceived boredom of the Meseta. Sometimes that’s taking a bus through a ‘tedious’ part of a big city. Tour groups promise travelers a ‘Camino’s Greatest Hits’ approach instead of the more traditional and taxing Pilgrim experience. There are as many variants as there are walkers. 
>  
> I have read many of the treatises offered by the newly-minted Pilgrims. Not all are born to write. Yes, many make factual, spelling, grammatical and even mathematical errors. Oh, well. Skipping the ‘boring’ or ‘problematic’ literature is like skipping the ‘boring’ or ‘problematic’ parts of the Road. Many of us come home a bit disoriented. Something happens we can’t quantify .. something a bit intangible. Try to translate the intangible into any language, please. Now ask a non-writer to do that. All can write, but not all are writers. Perhaps the unskilled word wranglers are at a loss, and the baseline experience is all they can muster. It’s their way of decompressing. You know, that Post-Camino thing.
>  
> Why do we walk in the first place? What’s so strong a draw that many of us are repeat offenders? Why do we seek out Camino literature, Camino pictures and Camino music? Why are we even talking about this? We’re addicts. Every Camino is different for every Pilgrim who has ever walked. It’s been that way since the whole Walking-to-Compostela thing began. Chill. We’re not all clever people and not all brilliant authors. Be kind to our less gifted family members. This was supposed to be fun. Let them do what they need in their life (Camino). None of us are finished yet. Even the bad writers need a break. “The tourist demands, the Pilgrim appreciates”, as the saying goes. Let’s all aspire to be Pilgrims. Appreciate, help and encourage those who might lag behind.
> 
> 
> Buen Camino, 
>  
>  
> Grant
>  
> http://www.ElCaminoSantiago.com
> Resources for the Pilgrimage Road to Santiago 
> 
> 
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