Customer Reviews

Foolsgold: Making Something from Nothing and Freeing Your Creative Process

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

About a decade has passed since Chicoan Susan Wooldridge published "poemcrazy," a book about the magic of words that was a longtime offering of the Quality Paperback Book Club. Words still beckon, but times have changed, and now the creative impulse is called to sustain her in the midst of loss, failure, death. In "Foolsgold: Making Something From Nothing and Freeing Your Creative Process" ($22 in hardcover from Harmony Books), Wooldridge takes the reader into her sanctuaries: Chico Creek, One-Mile, the Upper Crust Bakery.

"When I started the book," she says in her introduction, "I was grieving the death of my father, the end of my long marriage, and the breakup of a subsequent romance. & I began writing these pages when I decided to make a small collage box each day for a year with what I found on my walks -- often the most ordinary, seemingly worthless bits of nothing. That's when fool's gold became foolsgold for me, a field around us, or state of being, where everything can be transformed by our seeing and creativity.

"Merged into one word, foolsgold describes a paradox, the value in what may seem to be worthless. Foolsgold reminds us to look beyond appearances, even in ourselves. What seems to loom in us most darkly may finally be what brings the most light. Everything can be transmuted by attention, play, love." Wooldridge's maiden name is "Goldsmith."

The book contains almost 50 short meditations on life, loss and creativity. Wooldridge wonders how best to celebrate the life of her Poppa Julien, "the renegade bright-star atheist scientist who fled the Jewish fold. ... Sifting through small pebbles as Chico Creek rushes past, playing with juxtaposition, I feel as if I'm engaged in a kind of primitive and almost unconscious creekside alchemy. I search for a way to contain, classify, make sense. & I suspect this is what Poppa, a geochemist, was up to when he was studying mineral & structures in a high-pressure lab with ominous warnings on the door." Poppa is honored by the family with a telephone Kaddish from cousin Harold -- an embrace of ritual -- and, a year later, a scattering of his ashes in Chicago, the day the author's divorce is final.

The spontaneity of creativity, Wooldridge realizes, must be given form by ritual. The chapters of her book "help me wrestle emotions into shape. Frame them." The community she has built, with her two children and the 30 families where she now lives in Valley Oaks Village, has freed her to dance.

It is enough.

Copyright 2007 Chico Enterprise-Record. Used by permission.

I purchased this book yesterday, hoping it would reach the stellar heights of Poemcrazy, and so far, Susan has not let me down. I have read about one quarter of the book and the only thing preventing me from being further along(I'm a fast reader)is the fact I have been writing furiously in my journal. My hand is aching, my neck is sore, my dog wants to play, and dinner is not even a figment of my imagination. But, I write on - spurred by the intensely personal and motivational words of Susan. So, go out and buy this beautiful, healing book. But get all your chores done first!

As a child did you engage in "treasure hunting"? I remember going on treasure hunts as part of childhood birthday parties and backyard play for many summers. I also remember the concept of a treasure hunt being used to help acclimate students my first year of nursing school. Sparse clues led the hunter from one location to another in search of some "hidden treasure."

As summer's end approaches, I am ending the summer in much the same way as I began the summer, with a second read-through of the recently released book Foolsgold: Making Something From Nothing and Freeing Your Creative Process by Susan G. Wooldridge. And now I'm recommending it to anyone and everyone who will listen! Several years ago I read Wooldridge's poemcrazy: freeing your life with words and found her style and material to be delightful and useful. So it is not surprising that I rushed to pick up a copy of her newest book.

What is surprising is that I didn't want to put it down, didn't want it to end, and couldn't wait to pick it back up for a second time. It is well written and informative, yes. But that is not the whole story. This book is far from "fool's gold" in the strict definition of the term. Rather, it is a rare gem.

In her own words, Susan G. Wooldridge says "Foolsgold describes a paradox, the value in what may seem to be worthless... Foolsgold reminds us to look beyond appearances, even in ourselves. What seems to loom in us most darkly may finally be what brings the most light."

I've found many helpful and inspiring quotes in the pages of this book, some of which have made their way already to my computer area as daily reminders. Others have been spotlighted in the SCN WiseWords.

Wooldridge's book is meant to urge all of us with creative longings to spend time with the simple and seemingly mundane aspects of our lives--and to be aware of all that "time and place" have to offer us in the way of peace, inspiration, motivation, or joy. She encourages us to go on treasure hunts at every opportunity... treasure hunts to seek out joy, wholeness and grounding.

If, like me, you are searching for a way to bring more simple and meaningful creative play into your world, perhaps Wooldridge can offer some exercises and practices for your consideration. Anyone interested in a good game of "Treasure Hunt"? First one to find "foolsgold" is the winner!

by Lee Ambrose
for Story Circle Book Reviews
reviewing books by, for, and about women

Foolsgold changed my life in the most amazing way. I was not in a creative rut when I picked up the book, but I decided to check it out anyway, because I was in a general life rut that had been going on for too long. So I read Foolsgold, and everything changed. Susan G. Wooldridge gave me the courage to do things I have always wanted to do, and to ask for things out of life that I have been afraid to ask for, things that I did not think were possible. And guess what? I got what I asked for. Surprise, surprise! I have since given notice at my boring desk job, and I am now actively working with my husband towards opening our own small business. We bounce out of bed in the mornings discussing ideas- we are ecstatic about our future and our grand plans. This book lit many sparks that set my life into wonderful motion, and I smile a lot more than I did a month ago. I loved her honesty, encouragement, ideas, and sense of humor. It was such an delightful and comfortable read, it was as though I was reading a book that a close friend had written. I know that I will be reaching for the book again and again, and I am eternally grateful that I found it.

Written in easy-to-read style. Very interesting. Couldn't put it down. Almost felt like I was there(maybe I was?)
Got me thinking in other, more poetic terms. Recently went on a all-night fishing trip with about 60-70 guys sitting with their stocking caps showing above their seats and my thoughts turned to the bright colors and the order of things, not about guys trying to keep warm. Felt like I was hooked, not the fish!
Greg C

I enjoyed the personal, conversational voice of Susan Wooldridge once again. In "Poemcrazy" she inspired me and gave me my most often referred to teaching tool. This time, in "Foolsgold," she let me know who she is. I wholeheartedly feel that this author is capable of affirming and uplifting any doubting creative soul. My only disappointment was not seeing either photographs of her "boxes" or more creative writing exercises included. I would love Susan to produce a "Poemcrazy II."

I heard about this book from Teesha Moore's blog, where she raved about it. For the first chapter or two, I was disappointed. Hardly any artistic "how-to" information, and a lot of what seemed to be whining. (The book was written shortly after her father passed away, and her marriage of 30 years ended in divorce. I understood that she was going through a tough time, but..)

About chapter 3 or 4, the book began to grow on me. Still not any "how-tos", just a few brief suggestions here and there. That's fine with me, I'm not reading for instruction, I'm more interested in being entertained. Her writing certainly fills that bill! Excellent stuff!

I am sucked into foolsgold. It is beautiful and perfect, for me that is - with the weaving and creativity so organically bound into order. Gently without crushing it. You have bundled chaos and the creative force, the feminine into a delightful binding. You have set spontaneity. Thank you. Such a woman who can do such things. I am honored.

Do you ever have the experience of not being able to read fast enough when you are hungry for what is on the page and your eyes gobble down the words - hiccupping over them and skipping along? It is DEEP and ACCESSIBLE. God that is the gift of a woman. It is what I love about being a woman. It is what I love about reading these words. These words are about me.

Thank you Susan Wooldridge from the bottom of my beating heart.

Foolsgold: Making Something from Nothing and Freeing Your Creative Process is a sweet read. I think combining it with another book, Poemcrazy, Freeing your life with Words by the same author would get many on the road to writing poetry..I use parts of both book now to do some public speaking - stirring the sub-conscious of others to write. A primer of sorts. Lots of how-to books out there but this isn't one..it's the authors way of givng of herself and yet teaching us to try. Good books.