PEELING BIRCHES



Ages ago now, the sweet Michelle tagged me with an award to write about writing. As she put it, "there are two rules that come with the award: 1. write three writing tips and 2. award three other bloggers." After a particularly rewarding writing session yesterday at a favorite cafe, I feel like I have a few thoughts--finally--to share.

1. Find a favorite cafe. Yes, I know this one sounds like it has little to do with the actual act or craft of writing--and no, your spot doesn't absolutely have to be a cafe (parks, bookstores, libraries are also good havens)...but there has been a true shift in my work since I found the series of "morning offices" I frequent now. Carving out physical space for writing in the home is wonderful--and I have a desk with a beautiful inspiration board above it filled with sparks and images that intrigue me--I sit here often and revise my work. I also find myself inexplicably drawn to the kitchen table, right in the heart of the chaos of our lives, but only in those early morning hours when the world is still sleeping--or once the house is empty save my notebook and myself. *But* getting out of this space and going out to where the chai is always perfect and steaming and the girls walk up Main Street with their black tights and red high heels...where a steady stream of college students with pierced faces and circus-tent sized black pants pass by the window...where a boy with a flawless face glided past on the sidewalk riding a bike and playing his guitar at the same time just yesterday afternoon: this fills my creative palate so much more than the "writer locked in her turret" sort of solitude. The man behind the register speaks longingly to me of "his abandoned home, Persia" and asks me how my work is coming along. At a corner-window table, hand-painted and embellished by a pretty teenager with flame-red hair who introduced herself to me several months back, I sit back and drink it all in. Writing is a solitary act...doing it in the company of these luminous strangers makes me feel embedded in LIFE and the community around me.

2. Find a "someone" to share your work with. Beyond blogging, which is a great outlet for writers who are on their own--one key to my writing life, long-term, has been to find like-minded souls *in real life* to bounce ideas off of, to read to, and to sit and write with. There are people out there, wherever you are (I promise), who also explore their inner terrain with a pen and paper. For many, many, many writing years I held my words close to my chest--wouldn't share my writing, especially what I thought of as my "best" or most "raw" stuff with anyone else. I attended different writers' conferences and found the kinship there to be inspiring, but it wasn't easily translated into "small town" real life. Or so I thought...then locally, I found, first, a poetry class where a wonderful man with an MFA and careful pencil helped me learn to dissect my words. After that, I tried to soldier on independently again. Halfway through the third re-writing of my manuscript I decided to quit writing for good and at that *exact* moment I found a writing group that resurrected my faith in my words--and, on a monthly basis, check in on me and see what progress is being made. Having someone else care about my writing--indeed, to request it--kept me going...keeps me going still. {Side note: my wonderful writing session yesterday was made so, in large part, thanks to the lovely woman from my writing group who drove down to meet up with me and freewrite about whatever off-the-cuff topics we could conjure up. This exercise of meeting with a friend and writing together is now a favorite creative kickstart of mine.} Find "your people" out there...you won't regret it.

3. Let books be your teachers. When I was an undergraduate, my university didn't offer a creative writing program (which, of course, they do now). But, I was already filling notebooks--penning poems, snippets of essays, and short stories that never went beyond the third page. It was disappointing to me, at first, because I knew I wanted to study writing deeply, but I had a scholarship to this school and had to go there instead of one of the others where "poetry writing" was an actual major. This turned out to be the biggest blessing of my creative evolution. I majored in English instead and spent four and a half blissed-out years studying books from the inside out...digesting them...consuming them. It was completely acceptable, and indeed required, for me to sit in a room with thirty other people and consider for three hours the placement of a comma in a poem or the haircolor of a heroine in a novel. This microscopic exploration of literature taught me more about craft than any creative writing course ever could. I had a wide mind from this experience...a true sense of the diversity of writing *voice* out there--and what I gained was the knowledge that, surely, somewhere, there was room for mine. If you cannot indulge in a full degree in English at this stage of your life, not to worry...the books can teach you everything you need to know. Dive into them, read widely and deeply, and let the words fill your heart.

Thanks, Michelle, for the prompt...I would love to read all of *your* responses to this, so if you share your three writing tips please let me know in the comments! (It would also be great to hear tips from BB, PoetMom, and Mardougrrl as well, as my "three" if you haven't been tagged already!) And, finally, a BIG thank you for the responses to my last post {and the warm-hearted emails so many of you have sent my way}. I have temporarily "paused" in my writing with the other blog--taking comfort in the solace of my notebook instead, but, I *will* send the link along to those of you who have requested it. Now, go out there and keep writing right through the heart of this fallow season...
Love,
Delia