A Girl's Gotta Sing
Fall Workshops, Retreats, Nerissa Reading at Dream Away Lodge
Dearest readers,
I have a condition called "Hyperparathyroidism," a hard word to remember and unpleasant to speak, with its eight syllables and annoying trochaic meter (HYperPAraTHYroidISm) making it sound like the hammer to the head that it is. In short, one or more of my parathyroid nodes is diseased and convincing my body to steal calcium from my bones, leading to osteoporosis (which I’ve had for many years) and potential kidney stones (which I have not).
Other than the aforementioned kidney stones, which I understand are more painful than childbirth, the general symptoms are merely bothersome: lethargy, which I deal with by drinking caffeine, constant thirst, which I deal with by drinking a lot of water. Constant need to pee, which is...well, which came first, the chicken or the egg?
The only cure for this condition is surgery. Generally it's not a big deal. A few hours, inpatient is what I'm told. A scar on the neck. But one of the main risks for surgical patients is hoarseness, sometimes permanent, and other changes to the voice. I've read that singers who have this surgery tend to lose three notes from their upper range.
About twenty years ago we performed with Joan Baez at Sanders Hall––I was in my late thirties. When we gushed over how unchanged her voice was, she said to us, "Just make sure you get yourself a good voice teacher and you'll be able to sing forever."
At the time, it didn't even occur to me that I wouldn't be able to sing forever. And I had a great voice teacher, so I was all set, plus here was Joan Baez standing right in front of me, having just sung like an angel a few minutes before.
But voices do change if we don't take care of them. Sometimes they change even if we do take care of them. Towards the end of his life, Pete Seeger could barely sing a note.
I told my endocrinologist that surgery wasn’t worth the risk to my voice. She's from Hungary, about my age, and I really like her and trust her. But she said, "Well, really, how long do you plan to be singing for your living?"
I didn't get angry at her for asking that--I guess it's not an unreasonable question. She's never heard of my band. Most people haven't. I don't take that personally, and I never have, probably because there are about a zillion musicians out there that I've never heard of either.
Still, I told her what our one-time manager Charlie Hunter told me back at the very beginning of our career about the kind of audience folk and country artists are gifted with. Lifers, he called them. Just like me.
“I'm a folk singer. What that means is our fans have stuck with us. They are aging right along with us, and they're loyal. They don't expect us to crack the Top 40. I plan to be singing for the rest of my life.”
She nodded. "Good. But be aware that these symptoms aren't so bad right now. They will get worse. And the surgery will go better the younger you are."
I told her I’d go visit the best surgeon in the area, just to gather intel. No promises, and of course by the time I got an appointment it was five months later. Tom came with me. (He’s the best.)
The surgeon did a CT scan, poked my neck, confirmed my diagnosis, and recommended surgery. I told him I was a singer and that I was very worried about damage to my voice. He said, “Oh? Where do you play? My wife and I love to go out to music. There’s this great bar, where this guy…”
“We just got back from Chicago and Ann Arbor,” I said, feeling exhausted once again at having to justify my concern about losing the main instrument of my professional life, the essence of how I connect with the world. “We’ve made twenty-one albums. You can hear us on Spotify or YouTube or whatever.”
“Wow,” he said, suddenly taking me seriously, though that was probably because I started to cry.
Tom moved his plastic chair closer to put his arm around me. “I’m sorry,” I said, wiping my eyes. “It’s just that…I know I have a whole lot more albums inside of me, and I want to be able to make them.”
The surgeon said, “Listen. I have done thousands of this particular surgery, and I have never ever injured a voice. I will not hurt yours. I will take care of you.”
The great gift of being any kind of artist is that we have the opportunity to turn our loneliness, our grief, our swirls of discord into something beautiful, useful, a kind of braided rope we throw out into the world, not knowing if anyone else might catch hold of it. My surgery is scheduled for just a couple weeks from now, on September 4.
I heard at a meeting recently, “Worrying is praying for what you don’t want.” So I am not going to worry. I’ll go boldly into this neck-scarring experience, holding onto the hope that soon my bones will be stronger, my energy will be rocketed to the twenty-fifth dimension, and my family will start referring to me as “Your Camelness” because of the rarity of my needing to interrupt everything in order to find a public bathroom for the second time in an hour.
And I’ll be all healed just in time for my September Back-to-School retreat. AND my reading at Dream Away Lodge in Becket MA on September 21, where I will read from my novel-in-progress PIMMIT RUN. AND in time for my Weekly Workshops, which begin the week of September 24.
There’s just too much good stuff coming up for me to be silent. Plus, hello, I need to sing our victory song “November” when Kamala Harris wins the White House in November!
Read on to be marketed to by me and Writing It Up in the Garden, and also to see what I read this summer and what I did not read. Scroll to the bottom to see photo Wes took of me and Lila in the ADKs last week. sniff. sniff. She is going to college in two days.
Sending bunches of love and solidarity,
Nerissa
THE DREAM AWAY READING SERIES
HEY On Sept. 21 (the Equinox!) come hear Nerissa read from her novel-in-progress at The Dream Away Lodge in Becket MA. 6pm!
Dream Away Reading Series is a monthly reading series at the iconic Dream Away Lodge in Becket, MA dedicated to showcasing diverse emerging and established writers in all genres. On the third Saturday of every month we gather there to listen as poets, essayists, fiction writers, and storytellers share their work. Past readers have included Ocean Vuong, Anna Hougeland, Heather Abel, Catherine Newman, Debra Immergut, Annie Liontas, Abigail Rose Clarke, Hannah Grady, Rick Reiss, Emma Copley Eisenberg, Temim Fruchter, Michael Dumanis, and Rachel Hinckle-Wang.
EVENT DETAILS 6 PM on the 3rd Saturday of the month at The Dream Away Lodge 1342 County Road Becket MA 01123
Weekly Workshops for Autumn 2024!
I’m pleased to announce open enrollment in my Fall Season of weekly workshops. We will begin our 10-week trimester the week of September 24 and run groups until the first week of December.
Generative groups begin with a prompt, and then we write for an hour. The second hour, we take turns sharing what we’ve just written. Responses are focused on the merits of the new work we’ve just heard. No negative or prescriptive critique will be given. All generative workshops are either on Zoom or in Little Blue with a hybrid option.
Weeding & Pruning is manuscript based, and we meet on Zoom. These groups require a commitment to submit a set number of pages, as well as critiquing your classmates’ pieces in writing. For more information, email me: nerissand@gmail.com.
All times below are Eastern Time.
Tuesday Prepare to Publish: 12:30-2:30pm starting September 24, 2024 (led by Nerissa Nields, by application only. To apply, go here.)
FULL Wednesday afternoons: 12:30-2:30pm starting September 25, 2024 (all genres)
FULL Wednesday evenings: 7-9pm starting September 20, 2024 (Songwriting, Poetry, Prose)
Thursday Fiction: 12:30-2:30pm starting September 21, 2024 (Fiction or Fiction-adjacent)
Friday Weeding & Pruning: 12:30-2:30pm starting September 22, 2024 (led by Elaine Apthorp, by application only. To apply, go here.)
Morning Seeding & Tending
Morning Seeding & Tending is a low-stress, no-share writing and accountability group. We meet Monday-Friday, 10-11am Eastern Time. We begin each morning with a quick greeting, teeny prompt (quotation/poem fragment which I then email to all members), then set our intentions in the chat. We write with sound muted, and usually people turn their cameras off. If you arrive late, no problem. At 11, we’ll say a quick goodbye. You can choose to leave early. Or you can keep writing long after the group officially ends. Some people come daily, some weekly, some whenever they can.
After signing up, you’ll get a welcome email and thereafter a Zoom link which changes every month. You’ll also receive the daily prompt whether you attend or not. Pay by the month, via subscription, or try it first via my website. The month begins whenever you start payments.
By website, it's $25 per month. This is a great way to try it out.
By Ko-Fi subscription, it's $20 per month, with automatic payment (like Patreon).
Or really and truly best of all, become a patron of this site by subscribing via “Wind Beneath Owl’s Wings.” This $240/year is no more money than you’d pay for a full year of Morning Seeding & Tending, which you get at this level of commitment, PLUS you get bonus content, invitations to free Flash retreats, entry into the annual raffle to win a weekend to have Little Blue all to yourself! (If you are now a Founding Member, you are already subscribed this way. You will be in the raffle.)
Writing It Up in the Garden Retreats
September Back-to-School Retreat is nearly full. All the Six-Day camp slots are filled. I only have a couple spots left for the pro-rated option here. I have two spots for Tuesday, two spots for Thursday, and one spot for Wednesday. Weekend is full.
BUT! I have two more retreats coming up. See below!
Autumn Kali Retreat, November 8-10, 202
To satisfy your desire for a cozy weekend retreat, we’ll gather on Veterans’ Day weekend. The theme, as usual, is memory and remembering, diving into the darkness so we can rediscover the light. And of course, we’ll use lots of generative prompts since it’s 30 Days of Poetry in November, and also NaNoWriMo.
New Year’s Retreat, Five Day, January 15-19, 2025
Immerse Yourself in a Week of Creative Writing
Join us in person or remotely for a transformative week or weekend dedicated to your writing. Whether you’re diving into a memoir, starting a children’s book, revising your novel, or simply craving the camaraderie of fellow writers, Little Blue retreats are your perfect escape.
Why Attend?
Deep Focus: Delve deeply into your project with uninterrupted writing time.
Creative Inspiration: Surround yourself with a community of writers in beautiful, serene surroundings.
Diverse Opportunities: Work on anything from poetry to memoir to novel to some genre you invented.
Flexible Participation: Join us in person or via Zoom; all group discussions will be accessible online.
Take this opportunity to fully immerse yourself in your writing and rejuvenate your creative spirit! And when you get tired, just lie down on the floor. It will pass.
Recommendations & Reading List
What I Read This Summer:
NOT all those books! Because now I’m addicted to political podcasts. My faves are Pod Save America and The Ezra Klein Show. I went straight back to my pre-grad school election obsession. You know what I love about the DNC? All the ads are aimed at me! You know what I love about Harris/Walz? Everything!
Still, I managed to read:
Sure, I’ll Join Your Cult introduced me to the great Maria Bamford who is now officially my favorite comic ever. I’m obsessed with her, and now I’m watching her Netflix series Lady Dynamite.
Big Swiss is a strange, slightly gross (lots of insects) story of obsession and trauma with a ton of humor thrown in. The miniature donkeys redeem the sometimes unpleasant characters.
Sandwich is pure Catherine Newman joy. Just get it and read it. You will thank me.
Sending love from this proud but slightly sad Mama. Kiddo’s going to college in two days. Photo by Wes Chalfant.
XOXO Big hugs and smooches, Nerissa
Praying for you and the surgeon. Looking forward to seeing you in Ann Arbor again!