Pamela Des Barres - Let It Bleed: How to Write a Rockin Memoir

W hen I decided to add teaching to my ongoing life repertoire, I happily discovered I had a built-in audience for my writing workshopsmy readers! As I sat nervously in my colorful, cluttered living room the very first night, one by one, the girls arrived at my door, a delightful group of music-loving ladies of all ages with pent-up tales and soulful stories to share. I was as skittish as my first bunch of students, but we soon discovered we had found kindred spirits, and heaved a collective sigh of relief as the words began spewing forth like vivid gemstones. Most of them had read my two autobiographies and felt comfortable with me because I had already opened my heart to them. I had told all, some of it wildly personal, scandalous, and deeply confessional, so they were willing to join me in that sweet freedom of expression.

Perhaps it was navet or my penchant for ruthless truth, but Ive been told many times that after reading my loquacious life stories my students felt freed up to share their own. She wasnt afraid to make a hee-haw of herself, or reveal insecurities, heart-wrenches and embarrassing guffaws, along with scandalous merriment, so why cant I? Since Ive shared my way, way ups and low, low downs, it has impelled my writers to defy their own trepidation and doubt. And if you are reading this with the aim of writing your own life story, I emphatically encourage you to do the same. No holds Des Barred!

Im as pleased as a rescued pup that my students wanted to chime in here about the workshops. My Nashville doll, Jessi, continues the fearless act of surrendering to her muse:

As a young girl, I wished for a lifetime of adventures like Miss Pamela Des Barresthe original Muse. Because of her, I wished for and gained a life that I could write passionately about, with an open heart full of wonder, embracing the upsets and challenges with humor and grace, each one fueling a passionate need to learn and grow and then, in due time, to document and describe. Every hug from Miss Pamela feels like an embracing of the divine feminine. She has distilled for me the essence of the muse, inspiring and compassionately holy. From the pages of a courageous paperback, my own muse burst forth into my life with an impassioned plea: Be amused, let life fill you to your fingertips and toes, surrender to it all and then let it spill over onto the pages. Never hold back, not in your life or in your writing...

Let it bleed, child, just let it bleed.

JESSI GUNTER , NASHVILLE

I have been teaching for sixteen years now and am always surprised and spellbound by the candor, clarity and tenacity that my writers bring to the table (which is laden with all manner of edible treats, as its a Writing Party!). My students often surprise themselves as forbidden memories, long tamped down, spring up like an unbidden jack-in-the-box, then burn down to harmless embers when shared. Or shrieks of laughter fill the room when a wild night of madness is remembered, written about and released like a flight of drunken doves.

Come, join our writing party and revel in the razzle-dazzle of your own rowdy escapades. Or come to poke around in your past and make sense of those profoundly painful days and sleepless nights. Come to write it all down and love yourself like you love your favorite song.

My longtime Los Angeles student Nichole eloquently expresses how the classes have helped to pull out her best prose.

Words are big. In the right combination, they can make silken nets strong and supple enough to capture sensations and feelings and moments too elusive and intangible and magical and unattainable to keep any other way. I walked through Pamelas door into her jungle room more than six years ago to take her weekly writing class, knowing I was entering the home of someone I admired, someone whose writing struck a chord in me. I will walk out that door tonight, six years later, knowing I am leaving the home of the matriarch of my rock n roll family, someone who calls the best and purest prose out of my insides and onto the page. The moments are too numerous and too precious to catch in this one net of words. I have beauty to last me a lifetime.

NICHOLE JAYMES , LOS ANGELES

If the same thing happens to you that happens in workshops with me, I can guarantee not only will you get a lot of writing done, you will have a new understanding about what makes you you! By the time youve completed the final assignment, the same compassion and acceptance that you have for your special loved ones you will also be showering upon yourself. And ahhhh, that cleansing rain will feel so good.

My favorite song of all time is Dylans Like a Rolling Stone. I try to live by one of the many credos put forth in that masterpiece: You shouldnt let other people get your kicks for you.