Surprise
Over the years, she willy-nilly tossed seeds, plants and bulbs into pots and flower beds.
Each spring she felt a thrill of anticipation followed by surprise and delight.
She more or less lived her entire life that way, even when the elements delivered a sucker-punch.
Photo by Artistry by Adele
I didn’t think a writer’s group was for me. Solitude was what brought out my creative ideas. I certainly didn’t expect a writing group to help me grow as a human being.
I feel differently now.
Some days scrolling through the how-to advice on my laptop is like walking through a forest while being bombarded by squadrons of gnats. There’s no getting away from the swarm of emails, articles and blogs on craft and marketing advice about building a platform, how to use social media to improve your brand, productivity, and so on.
Granted, no one is holding a gun to my head to make me read those articles. I put the pressure on myself. I want to be a better writer (learn not to use clichés) and I want to learn more about how to reach readers. But through my writing group, I’m able to step back and find perspective.
My Amherst Writers and Artists group is an oasis of calm in a multitasking world. It’s an island where there’s no right or wrong way. We write, we read, we listen, we talk. We don’t judge. We respond to someone’s first bloom of creativity by deep listening. We often ask the writer to read the piece again, or to repeat lines. We take our time. We tell the writer what touched us, what phrase, tone, word or idea caught our imaginations. We always offer positive feedback. It’s not a critique group. What we’ve written are rough first drafts of possible poems, beginnings of short stories or new scenes for a novel or memoir. Sometimes it’s humorous, sometimes heartbreakingly sad, and always written from deep truth.
How has listening affected my life outside the writing group?
Like most of the tech-crazed people I know, I am often guilty of locking my eyes on my cell phone or staring at an overhead television at a restaurant with spouse or friends, or losing the thread of a conversation because my mind is on what I have to do next or what I’m going to say.
My writing group has reminded me to fully listen to what others are saying and to take the time to respond thoughtfully to their words. It’s not a dashed off email, or a tweet or an Instagram or Facebook post or even a blog. It’s an intimate connection. I’ve learned that it’s a gift when someone really listens to me, and I love returning that gift. It’s making me a better person and a better writer.
This past week three blog posts made a big impact on me. It amazes me how often the right blog pops up to help me with whatever I’m grappling with at the moment. I believe there’s magic afoot.
The first one was Chuck Sambuchino’s, Why “Keep Moving Forward” is my Best Advice for Writers Everywhere. I found it on Writer Unboxed, a favorite blog I follow that started as a collaboration and now includes a rich community of contributors. I had just sent my mystery to an editor to critique and was driving myself crazy waiting for feedback and agonizing over what ifs of the negative type.
Sambuchino’s advice: “In my opinion, the most frustrating thing about writing books is that so much is out of your control. Keep moving forward. That is probably the best advice I can give you as you continue toward your writing goals, whatever they may be. I promise myself that while I may fail at a task at hand, whether it’s small or big — I will not fail because of a personal lack of effort. There are so many things I cannot control, but you can be damn sure that I will keep moving forward through bad news. I do it because it’s all I can do. Keep moving forward and I promise everything will be all right.”
Maybe I have no control over the editor’s opinion of my mystery but I could continue to work on a short story or read an inspiring blog like Writer Unboxed where I always find something that keeps me “moving forward.”
Sacramento Gold
A second blog/website I found this week felt like I’d struck a vein of gold. Kate’s Miscellany ~ For Valley Writers is a comprehensive listing in the Sacramento area of current events, educational and local publishing resources for writers, and lots more useful links for local writers and readers. It’s a blog that gives back.
Sometimes Questions are better than Answers
Another blog I follow is Ruminating Merlin. This blogger often asks thought-provoking questions. He’s an avid reader and I like his comments on what’s happening at Apple and Amazon, the Pulitzer board failing to name a fiction winner this year and how English teachers feel about teaching to testing standards rather than to enrich minds. All weighty subjects. He ponders what it means for him personally, and to society.
The Left Coast Crime (LLC) writer’s conference is over. I’m back to my daily life, sitting at my laptop with my old dog wheezing on the rug next to me and my nearly toothless cat curled up on a chair. I’m surrounded by books and piles of papers that I never manage to tame. My quiet world.
Over the years, I’ve attended many conferences, symposiums, workshops and training events wearing my corporate editor/writer/communications hat. I worked hard, learned a lot, but was more than ready to return to my daily life when it was over.
Something strange happened this time.
After four intense days and evenings of workshops, panels, volunteering and socializing at LLC, I was overwhelmed, overstimulated and exhausted from navigating through 600-plus attendees. And I dreaded it ending.
I was blissed out at all those mystery writers, fans, librarians and experts in the publishing world gathered in one place—all those beginning, mid-career and seasoned writers encouraging each other, sharing how they got started and what to do and not do, what success is like, and helping us to understand all the changes happening in the industry.
A love fest
It was a gathering of people who love books. They love books so much they feel compelled to write them. It was about fans who love books so much they want to celebrate their favorite authors and learn about new ones. Why would anyone want that to end?
What I expected: A tiny, cold tin building where fifteen or twenty people huddled in a circle in metal chairs to read from the ‘zine Jan Haag and Laura Martin put together from the drafts we wrote from prompts during our Friday and Saturday Amherst Writers & Artists group meetings.
What happened: The warm and inviting space was filled with all ages of writers and their supporters: friends, spouses and significant others who knew each other as old friends. I stopped counting at forty people. Local artists’ paintings lined the walls. People helped themselves to cookies and drinks. Latecomers happily stood at the back as Jan Haag, leader of the Friday and Saturday groups introduced each of the nineteen writers to come to the mic and read their own words from The Soul of the Narrator.
How I felt: Anxious. Would I measure up? Jealous, at first. I’m new to the group and didn’t know many people. I started to slide into that old familiar feeling of not belonging when I realized I did belong. Each person there had a first time just like me. Maybe I didn’t know everyone, but I knew my Friday group. My dog story wouldn’t be as good as some of the wonderful poets and writers in the room, but they would welcome me anyway. I knew that instinctively.
I had reluctantly agreed to read my piece at Jan’s coaxing. She said, “We’d really like it if you would read.” I’m uncomfortable in front of a group, but if Jan had asked me to stand on my head and sing opera I would have done it. She has a super power; the power of compassion.
How it ended: I read. People smiled and clapped. I went home and ate chocolate and thought about the writing group that led to my doing something I had never done before.
I’ve been working on writing a mystery series for several years. Very few people have seen my drafts. The process of writing a mystery is all about what happens next. The Friday night writing from prompts is all about what happens now. Even if it triggers past memories or imaginative flights of the future, it’s filtered through what’s in our hearts at that moment. I’ve been known to hide my feelings from myself, let alone strangers, and there I am, every Friday night writing from that place, the heart. Those glimpses of my truth make me a more honest writer, and every writer in our group inspires me with their own soul-filled writing.
It’s clear to me why many of the people who gathered at the Poetry Center on Saturday night have attended Jan’s writing groups for so many years. After a long week, where we are engaged in activities with responsibilities to others or to our outer needs, we can gather to return to our own souls to feel what’s happening now, where it always feels like the first time.
Linda Townsdin 