I remember the first time I thought about writing with other people. A friend at work had asked me to join a writing group that was meeting once a week in my neck of the woods. The invitation was tempting, but I turned it down.
I was a new mother and as much as I longed to write, I had an even greater need for the kinship and validation that came from getting together with other new mothers. So rather than joining the writing group, I spent my social time in a mother-and-infant group. But I held on to the idea that I would someday write with others.
That day came once Dee turned two. By then I’d stopped getting together with moms and toddlers and decided it was time to feed my soul in a new way. I can still picture Jim standing on the porch with Dee on his hip, the two of them waving good-bye as I drove away to my first weekly writing group session. I felt like I was heading off on a roadtrip.
Which it was, in many respects. I was a member of that particular group for five years. There were about four of us who were hard-core and another two or three who attended occasionally. Most the time we met at the sprawling adobe home of my friend Teresa, whose wonderfully creative writing you can find on a blog called Cuentos. Our group loosely followed the rules of Writing Practice, but with more experimentation. We were open to everything, and everything we wrote we did with complete abandonment.
We used all sorts of prompts: topics written on strips of paper we carried around in a worn baggy. Sculptures. Images cut out of magazines. Free association of words. One of my favorite things we did was a “moveable feast” type of practice where each person wrote for two or three minutes then passed our notebook to the person on our right, wrote for two more minutes, passed, wrote, passed, and so on for a couple of rounds. The resulting collaborative pieces often had us rolling on the floor, and once in a while we’d turn out something brilliant, in an avante garde sort of way.
We also mixed drawing and writing practice. One person in our group loved the concept of keeping the hand moving yet she preferred pastels to the pen. Just like the rest of us, she took off on whatever prompt we threw out, and when time was up and we all read our pieces, she showed us hers.
Another favorite prompt was to take a book off the shelf, open it to a page and read the first line, then write. Or we’d pick out phrases instead of full sentences. I still have some of these phrases written on a piece of paper: listen to me; Winifred on her hip; their spears upright with heads of shining steel; Why so angry with me, friend?
One time we wrote syllables onto strips of paper then randomly connected the syllables together to make new words, which we used in a timed practice. I even wrote definitions for my words. Here, one of them:
Goonaday: In some parts of Northern NM, “goona” is used to refer to “god’s goodness.” Goonaday is synonymous with Sunday.
This fall it will ten years since I began writing with other writers. Nowadays I write with an online writing group that just formed recently and with a local group that meets about twice a month. And through this blog, I write with a growing community of folks who live all over the place, people I know intimately and people I’ve barely begun to know through the Internet. I’m even writing with friends who I never knew were writers.
Teresa, who still has her writing group, is hosting her annual half-day-long writing retreat one Sunday in July. I’m invited, and I plan to be there, to show up for myself and for the other writers. I think it would be a fine way to spend a Goonaday.
This is a good piece on the process of forming writing community. I guess there are some writers who do it alone. But it sure has helped me to have the support of community in all the ways that it shows up.
I had to really think back to remember when I first wrote with people. It was the year 2000 in a workshop that Natalie was giving over a series of weekends at Clouds In Water Zen Center in St. Paul, Minnesota. The zendo was packed and we did timed practices and read out loud. I took another workshop with her in Minnesota that year which eventually led me to the Taos retreats at Mabel Dodge Luhan House.
That’s where I formed a writing group with a few people I met in Taos (we had not known each other before that). We lived all over the country and set up some guidelines to do writing practice and recall online. That group lasted for about 6 years. A second online group I was in at the same time lasted for about 4. I was also in a face to face group that met at the Blue Moon coffee shop in Minneapolis. That one lasted about 3 years.
I’ve been in between groups the last few months and just joined a new online group. That brings up the point that groups have a life span just like people do. Writing together is intimate. Groups and people change and grow and die off. Then new ones are formed. Some of the most intimate relationships I’ve had have been with people I write with.
This fall it will have been about 8 years since I started doing writing practice with other writers. And now I get to keep going with all the writers who read and write on red Ravine. Thanks for reminding me. Here’s to community!
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I thought of a few other things I wanted to say about this piece. I think it’s great that Teresa has an annual half-day-long writing retreat. Planned writing-related activities over year periods keep the commitment levels high. I like to visit her blog, Cuentos, too. It feels to me like a peaceful place with vibrant writing.
Also, ybonesy, the creative ways you have come up with writing topics and combined writing and art and round robins and syllables is very inspiring. Good ideas for writing groups. Anything goes!
The other thing I really want people to know is that anyone can form a writing group. You don’t have to live in the same town. You can write online. Or you can take a chance and ask anyone you know to meet you at a cafe and do writing practice with you. It takes work and commitment to start a group. But once it’s going and the writing practice rules are in place, it kind of runs itself.
I hope anyone who is out there doing it alone knows that if they need community they can ask people to write with them, form groups, and write their hearts out. It’s available to anyone who wants to write.
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Hallo Ybonesy and hope to see you this Goonaday at the retreat (1-6, potluck at will)!
I’ve been writing in groups for years — it’s part of how I write. I have been amazed at friend Ken’s group — it’s been meeting continuously for 15 years now. It’s my safe haven for when I’m choking on my own words, when I need community but can’t build it myself. Ken has been both a good friend and a teacher — he is skilled at sustaining the group dynamics that create safety and sharing in writing practice.
The groups I host here at my own home tend to come and go, and I am so grateful that they can be recalled and reformed when the energy is there. I like a combination of connection and internalization; group writing is a way of doing both.
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Thanks for the reminder, Teresa!! I would have forgotten altogether.
Ken’s (and his group’s) stamina is impressive. You and I both know from experience how tough it is to integrate new people, keep long-term ones from fading away, etc. I think that was always one of the hardest parts for me — trying to convince others as to how wonderful group writing practice was. I finally gave up, and now I only write with people who know it for themselves.
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Teresa, thanks for coming back to remind us of Goonaday. Wow, a group that’s been meeting for 15 years to write. That’s truly inspiring. It’s really great that you can reunite and reconnect with writers you have written with in the past. It says a lot about process and the value in following writers’ lives. Let us know how it went!
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