Hot Take: Craft Books Are the New Diet Books
And announcing new dates for Summer/Fall Retreats, plus spots in Spring Workshops
You build a novel. You have to build it like a building so that it stays standing when you’re not in it. –Rachel Cusk
Hello, writers,
For many years as I tried to make the shift from songwriting to novel-writing, I fantasized about going to an MFA program where they would cram all the knowledge into my head, the way the Scarecrow wishes the Wizard of Oz would stuff his head with brains. But in my sober moments, I’d remember the point of the movie: there was nothing Oz could teach the Scarecrow that he hadn’t learned on his own. So, taking a cue from one of my favorite novelists Min Jin Lee, I embarked on a years-long DIY MFA.
I did what many writers I knew had done and suggested I do: I read craft books. Sometimes I liked reading the craft books more than I liked writing or even reading novels. In a similar way to how I scanned the Diet/Self-Help stacks in the bookstore when I was a teenager, I approached these crafts books with the fantasy that this new one book would solve all my problems. Within these pages will be the SECRET to how to write compellingly, in a way that would make everyone who read me
1. Not ever want to put down my book
2. Be jaw-droppingly amazed at my cleverness, knowledge and beautiful sentences.
3. Love me forever and speak of me with hushed tones and misty eyes while clutching my published novels to their chests.
But just as with diet books, what works for one person might not work for another. Perhaps more to the point: it’s a lot easier to read a self-help book than to actually do whatever the thing is that might help.
For me, when I finally did go to grad school for an MFA, I focused mostly on just reading novels. As listeners to Sister Holler know, I’m one who learns best by imitation, by seeing how another artist solved a problem and then attempting to borrow their technique or structure to see if it might work for mine. As Rick Rubin says in The Creative Act, “The Beatles were inspired by American rock and roll, artists like Chuck Berry and the Shirelles. But when they played, it was different. It wasn’t different because they wanted it to be so. It was different because they were different…It’s impossible to imitate another artist’s point of view. We can only swim in the same waters.”
Last month, I ran into a friend at my kids’ high school open house. The friend’s daughter had been in my COVID-era Tween/Teen writers workshop, so I asked how the young writer was doing.
“She’s writing!” exclaimed my friend. “She loved your groups, but the prompts didn’t work for her. She wanted to write on what she wanted to write on.”
I didn’t bother correcting my friend, but I was dismayed to hear this reaction to what a “prompt” is and it made me think I needed to draw up a document to explain how best to use (or ignore) the writing prompts I choose for my Writing It Up In the Garden groups. You can find that document here, and below are some wee videos I put on Instagram and Facebook and TikTok to give them voice and image.
All this is to say: craft books=good. I’m glad I read a zillion of them. But mostly because reading them made me feel part of the great sea of writers who think about these issues of craft and art. Sometimes I’ll read an excerpt from one of them for a prompt.
Love, Nerissa
Upcoming Events!
I have two poems in this month’s issue of Synkroniciti: “Spelunking” and “Thoughts After Listening to a Podcast Interview of Tricia Hersey.” Very excited to be a part of this Family-themed issue.
Weekly Workshops for Spring 2024!
I only have a few more spots for Writing It Up in the Garden’s Spring Season of weekly workshops. You can snag one still in the Wednesday 12:30-2:30 group , the Wednesday evening group (7-9) or the Thursday 12:30-2:30 group. We will begin our 10-week trimester the week of March 26 and run groups until the first week of June.
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. All are every-genre inclusive.
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. Both Elaine’s (Fridays 12:30-2:30) and my (Tuesdays 12:30-2:30) groups are currently full.
All times below are Eastern Time.
Tuesday Evening: 6-8pm starting March 26, 2024 (all genres) FULL!
Wednesday afternoons: 12:30-2:30pm starting March 27, 2024 (all genres) one spot leftWednesday evenings: 7-9pm starting March 27, 2024 (all genres) one spot left
Thursday Fiction: 12:30-2:30pm starting March 28, 2024 (Fiction or Fiction-adjacent) two spots available
Adirondack Retreat June 21-23, 2024
The beloved weekend retreat in Keene NY will be June 21-23. Come write with me in the high peaks! Retreat includes delicious home-cooked meals, the best views in the world, and lots of time to write. Six spots available.
Summer Writing Camp AKA September Back-To-School Writing Camp
This year’s Weeklong Retreat will be encroaching on Autumn, so I’m re-christening it “September Back-To-School.” It’s going to be the week of September 17-22. In-person with remote option. People, we get SO much done and have so much fun during this seven-day camp for grown-ups (or “grow-up adjacents). This is a fantastic opportunity to delve deeply into an existing project, work on a phD thesis, start a children’s book, edit and revise, or just revel in the community of writers, the beautiful surroundings, the quiet, the on-going discussion of writing and literature. Poets work on chapbooks, novelists see new ways of solving plot problems, and memoirists tackle that difficult section they’ve been wrestling with for years. There are spaces for songwriters to compose in private rooms; there are indoor and outdoor spaces to curl up in and write to your heart’s content. All group discussion will be shared on Zoom. Lunch will be served daily, and it’s yummy.
You can come for the entire week, or just a day or two. Pro-rated option is here, and six-day option is here.
Morning Seeding & Tending
I don’t know where I’d be without my Morning Seeding & Tending group. We are a quiet but steady accountability group where we simply show up and get our work done. Every weekday at 10am sharp, a group of us gather to write for an hour on Zoom. Some days it’s one of us, most days it's four to nine. We blink at each other, mutter some greetings if we’re well-caffeinated enough, and then I read a prompt or a secular prayer (AKA a poem), and while I send it to the group via email, we each set our intentions for the day in the chat. What do we write? Whatever we like! Some days I work on a novel, attempt to get my “first draft” quotient in for the day of 1000 words. Some days I edit, some days I submit to literary journals or work on a query letter, some days I write something to you. I always know I have an hour in the morning to get SOME writing done.
Some folks come almost every day. Some just once a week. The low cost of the group ($20 month via Ko-fi subscription) means that no one feels like they’re not getting their money’s worth. Writing with a group of others is powerful, just like meditating in a group always felt more bolstering to me than meditating on my own. I know there are others out there aligning themselves in the same way I am.
You can sign up here to join the group. Every month, you’ll be charge that $20 fee. When does the month start? Whenever you want it to! How about now? What will you do with your hour a day? Questions? Send me a message!
Having seen that awesome photo of your craft book collection, I have to ask, what's your favorite? I love Meander, Spiral, Explode (and I'm absolutely guilty of reading craft book after craft book rather than, you know, actually writing...).