I'm Back! 4 Lessons from Writers Week retreat
A newsletter about writing, art and living more creatively
The last night of Writers Week at Idyllwild Arts, my roommate and I stood at the Monrovia station waiting for the train. We were halfway through the trek back home, having said goodbye to the trees and birds chirping and plunging right back into L.A. traffic and the electricity of Friday night. As I pointed out our stop on the map, the ground started to sway. I thought maybe I didn't follow the instructors' advice closely enough — "drink water, drink a lot of water."
But then it hit us: this was an earthquake. We stared at each other, then at the train cables as they swung lightly from side to side. Minutes later, we were on the train and then home.
Something in the air felt different when I got home, and maybe it was an internal change, too. I felt so immensely grateful at the opportunity to spend a week refining my craft and learning from others – most notably, our fearless workshop teacher and leader Wendy C. Ortiz.
As promised, here are a few lessons I learned from my time there, in case they might be helpful to you too:
Hey guess what: writing takes a lot of drafts
I'm mostly accustomed to making deadlines, being restricted by word count, and generally taking on a voice that I know works well with each publication. Non-fiction writing, then, is totally different for me. Javier Zamora talked about his poetry writing process and showed us some of his (many) drafts – he's been working on one poem for a year-and-a-half. A good reminder that sometimes it's not about rushing a final product, but about giving it time to see where it goes.
Don't feel pressured to ALWAYS be putting in work
I got to sit down and speak with Electric Literature Executive Director Halimah Marcus and I had a question for her: when you're seeing people posting about their own work ALL the time, and it starts to feel like you're missing the timely pegs and hooks that could lead to pieces, how do you stay focused? She responded: it's all about the work that will make your career in the long run (i.e. a book, larger project etc) and not feeling like you have to produce ALL the time. This can be hard for me to remember, but I'm trying!
Consider storytelling from Non-Western perspectives, too
Marie Mutsuki Mockett gave a craft talk on the differences between Western and Japanese fairy tales – an important form to focus on since our earliest ideas about what makes a story complete are sparked by fairy tales when we are young. Mockett walked us through examples of stories from each culture, and why they often end so differently. It was an interesting exercise in questioning what we take for granted in terms of storytelling; and something I think applies to other creative mediums, too.
Try to read/attend readings for different genres
Wowie I have to say: doing a reading with poets in the lineup was intimidating. Poets just have such a beautiful and gut-wrenching way of phrasing things. And they don't hold back. I hadn't been to a poetry reading in quite some time. Now I'm trying to go to more and read more poetry collections. Sometimes it's inspirational to see creativity within your medium but in a different genre.
So many more lessons I could share but those are some big ones for now!
What do you want to hear more about?
Hit that reply button.
xoxo,
Your favorite small but feisty writer
Eva
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