Relying on craft and routine is a lot less sexy than being an artistic genius. But it is an excellent strategy for not going insane.”-Christoph Niemann
Dearest reader and writer,
You probably remember that excellent Ted Talk by Elizabeth Gilbert in which she talks about the Greek concept of “genius.” In case you never saw it or need a refresher, here it is:
If you didn’t click on any of the juicy links above, I’ll just tell you the gist of what she says: “Genius” wasn’t a thing any person was. “Genius” was someone thing one had, and only occasionally. At best, it was akin to the luck of having a really great dog or cat or (I’m saying this c/o Wednesday Evening Group writer and podcaster Nicole Birkholzer) horse living with you. Not something one could necessarily take credit for. Takes the load off, right?
When I first started writing songs, I’d only do so if I was visited by a Great Idea. I thought I needed a Great Idea in order to succeed. So I’d kind of pump myself up. I had all sorts of rituals to get the The Idea to show up. I’d brew a pot of Kenyan black tea, make everyone I lived with leave the apartment, sit on the floor in a very specific way, do pretty much everything short of burning sage––though if I’d known what sage was and thought it would help, I surely would have. In short, I thought the conditions needed to be perfect in order for The Idea to appear.
Now I know it’s a kind of arrogance to think any Great Idea was ever “mine” to begin with. The Ideas came from Source, and they come and goes at their own whim. If we wait around for Genius before starting to write, or create anything, we might be waiting forever. Genius only shows up after I’ve been toiling on the Idea for some time. Or as Arlo Guthrie says, you have to go fishing every day. Just make sure you’re upstream of Bob Dylan, or he’ll catch all your songs.
Last weekend, Tom and I went to MASS MoCA, where we saw part of the Sol LeWitt exhibit. In it, LeWitt created a blueprint of the work he’d conceived of. We watched a video of the cadre of artists assembled to carry out DeWitt’s vision. All I could think while watching was, That’s a lot of labor. And it has little or nothing to do with the initial inspiration. But it’s no less “art” to carry out the step-by-step instructions than it was to conceive of this vision. Every piece of the work is part of the art.
Here are some suggestions for inviting inspiration:
1. Pretend you’re a total beginner. When I’m stuck trying to write a song, sometimes I’ll pick up an instrument and re-tune it so that I’m stumbling around in the dark trying to find the chords that have resonance. Joni Mitchell does this. Perhaps you’ve heard of her?
2. Natalie Goldberg says, “write the worst shit in America.”
Anne Lamott says, “Shitty first drafts.”
Clint McCown, one of my teachers at grad school says, “You can always improve a draft, but you can’t do anything with a blank page.”
My friend Dawn Alguard says, “The first draft of the novel is collecting the sand to make the sand castle. It’s not necessarily even the castle. Just gather that sand.”
I’ve written some of my best songs from drafts that were absolutely unintelligible. Just make some time and then gather your sand.
3. Think quantity over quality. Write for an hour every day––or even just 15 minutes––on whatever is on your mind. Set a timer and don’t stop moving the hand that holds the pen until the timer goes off. Then stop. It’s important to stop so that your inner Resister comes to trust you. Once you form the habit of writing every day, you will be UNSTOPPABLE!!!!!
4. Join Morning Seeding & Tending! What’s that, you ask?
Morning Seeding & Tending
Morning Seeding & Tending We are a jolly yet non-naggy accountability group of dedicated writers who show up, set intentions in the chat, listen to a prompt (or not) and then get the writing quotient for the day done. “Done” being, at times, better than “brilliant and immortal.”
Morning Seeding & Tending meets Monday-Friday, 10-11am Eastern Time. Come and write alongside us for a power-hour every weekday morning! Folks from all over gather on Zoom; some come every day, but most come more like once or twice a week or even just a couple times a month. Everyone gets the daily prompt emailed soon after I read it. This is quiet time for you to write. No fuss, no judgement, no distractions.
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Things Worth Sharing:
The Covenant of Water, Abraham Verghese. Sublime. Long. Somewhat labyrinthian. Stick with it. I bawled my way through the final ten pages. I want to re-read the entire book.
Rough Sleepers, Tracy Kidder. A journalistic view of the work of Dr. Jim O’Connell who ministers to many within the unhoused community in Boston. Sobering, inspiring and vivid.
North Woods, Daniel Mason. Well. If this newsletter seems in any way incoherent, it’s because I stayed up extremely past my bedtime to finish this novel. I adored it. Like The Overstory, the central consciousness is no one character but rather the natural world and in some ways the yellow house whose foundation stone was laid in the Berkshires of Massachusetts some time the mid-17th Century. I wasn’t surprised that the writing was absolutely gorgeous, combining multiple styles and voices. I was surprised that this was a complete page-turner.
The Greatest Night In Pop, about the making of the single “We Are the World” in 1985. I watched this last night with my 17 y o daughter and her two friends who were as riveted as I was. “Who’s that?” they asked when the camera panned to Tina Turner. “Oh, Bruce!” said one of Lila’s friends when a very young Boss showed up after flying through January Buffalo snow on the final night of a tour to get to the recording on time.
Friday Weeding & Pruning writer Cheryl Rezendez’s Dance of Dementia exhibit in Amherst is now open! The exhibit will run from Thursday February 1 through Saturday March 2. There will be an opening reception on Thursday February 1, from 5-7 p.m. and a free online art forum on Thursday February 15 at 7:30 p.m. (register here). Gallery hours are Thursday-Sunday, 2-7:00 p.m.
Pat James from the Thursday Fiction group and also the manager of Grow Food Northampton’s Community Garden, made an excellent power point presentation. I am a flighty and mercurial gardener, but I am hoping that this is the year I do better. So, in case any of you are newbie gardners, here are a couple of Pat’s suggestions.
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In my next newsletter: Adirondack Retreat June 14-16, Weeklong Summer Writing Camp at Little Blue, and Spring Weekly Workshops.
Be well, dear ones, and thanks for reading! XOXO Nerissa
Oh, here were a couple of this week’s Instagram posts. Next week I’ll tell you about my excellent Social Media intern. Also, I should do a poll asking you what you think of TikTok. But you could also just answer that in the comments or write me back.