To leave North Carolina in the snow (after weeks of uncharacteristic cold), fly through Dallas in more snow, then to land in San Francisco and walk out to fresh warm air, then to drive to friends’ upright Victorian where they greet us with a house full of flowers and a dinner of Dungeness crab spritzed with lime–what a shock to the winterized mind.  Ed and I drove up to Napa the next morning. I came out to give the keynote welcome to the Wine Writers’ Symposium, organized by Jim Gordon, the team at Meadowood Inn, the Napa Vintners and Culinary Institute of America.  En route, more shock. The wild bright yellow mustard is blooming in the vineyards and rains have turned all the hills green, green, green.  Some vineyards are carpeted with golden poppies.  This forms a menace because people slam on brakes at a particularly gorgeous scene and someone leaps out of the car to take a picture. I, too, snap one from the car window but my phone camera is not up to capturing such glory.

Meadowood’s cottages scatter over hills studded with twisted oaks, madrone and mossy rocks.  Ours has a tree-house feel and a porch, a fireplace and a windowseat where I would like to sit and read all day.  Ed insists that we hike, even though there are signs warning of mountain lions.  He wants to swim and go to the spa and work-out room. I have a facial and can’t wait for it to be over. He has a massage and glows.  We dine on the grounds at  The Restaurant, which has been awarded two Michelin stars.  The food is quite conceptualized and very tasty. Each morsel arrives solo, to be admired visually then slowly savored.  There’s wit, too.  Four tiny radishes with their leaves arrive in a little square bowl of whey (or was it a grain?) and they look as though they are planted in sand. We both order golden tortellini. I loved the suckling pig in four guises, especially the bite of crusty confit.  Ed ordered the squid. If this sounds like a hearty meal–no.  The servings are quite restrained.    http://www.meadowood.com/wine-and-cuisine/the-restaurant/

Many of the participants at the conference are in transition or just in the process of creating writing opportunities for themselves.  As everyone knows, a lot of print has dried up and boundless as the internet is, making actual money there is hard.  At the symposium, there’s a focus on improving writing skills through one-to-one coaching with editors.   There’s also a lot of meeting / greeting and wine tasting.  There are dinners at wine country hot spots–so  many to choose from.  This is a far, far cry from the academic conferences I used to attend!  There we had jug wine and potato chips.  Here, they’re passing the lobster fritters and pouring the finest.

We slip away to have dinner with the Rothfelds.  Steven is the photographer I work with on my Chronicle Books yearly agenda and we did Bringing Tuscany Home together.  Since we’re always together in Italy, it’s a treat to dine at his home with his family.  Ah, Dungeness crab! It’s the season.

Write about what you know, teachers always said.  Italy is what I know and I’m talking to the group about how the sensibilty around food and wine differs from anywhere else on the planet. In Italy, wine is food.  Wine is not usually a thing in itself but always served with food. In Tuscany, when we go to a vineyard for tasting, a very full lunch is served. And the Italians are surprisingly moderate–they drink as much water as wine.  I spoke about the difficulty of describing taste.  Some of this I write about in my book that’s about to come out, Every Day in Tuscany.

Although I’m not on the writing staff here, I do have a little advice.  To get over writer’s block, go back and read something you’ve written before, something you like.  This helps reconnect with your own best voice.  And, to me, voice means more than anything else in making your writing distinctive.  My other hint: words, words, words, as Shakespeare said.  Collect words, keep a work notebook, scroll around the the dictionary.  Take what you’ve written and substitute a synonym for every noun, verb, adjective and adverb.  Then go back to the original and take into it, some of the fresher, more surprising language from your exercise.  I could go on and on.  I did teach poetry writing for 23 years! A lot of exercises actually do improve your work.

The afternoon session adjourns and we move to a reception with more Napa wines to taste.  Many are taking notes.  Then, a really fun time for me.  My new book has arrived–two weeks before actual pub date– and the publisher gives one to each participant.  In signing them, I get to meet so many bright and talented people.  New friends, old friends, a buzzing atmosphere, good food and wine—California dreamin’.

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