Is the Art You Make the Same as the Art You Take?
November Kali Retreat, 30 Poems in November and Recommendations
“Fall is. It always comes round, with its lovely patience. If in the beginning it’s restless, at the end it’s resigned, complete in its waiting, complete in the utter correctness of what it has to tell us. Which is that we’re transitory. We’re transient, we’re temporary, we’re all only sometime.” -Joy Williams
Hello, writers and readers,
Do you label the genres of literature, music, art you most love? Do you label the work you create? If so, can you name those genres? I know––everyone hates labels.
As a young musician, I aspired to make music in the lineage of my lifelong heroes: The Beatles, Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell. And while no one would mistake one of my songs for theirs, most of our fans do seem to tolerate if not revere those three pillars of 60s literary folk-rock.
There. Literary Folk-Rock. I labeled it, broadly speaking, though certainly those artists I love would cringe at being lumped together at all, let alone under that rubric. And in the process, I also labeled my own music,* an essential task when trying to book my band at a new venue or festival. An unknown artist needs some kind of label.
As a listener, if it’s melodic, has a good-sounding acoustic guitar, semi-literate lyrics that are simple enough to include rather than baffle people, then I’m going to count it as vaguely related to me as a listener, and my own work as a writer/composer.
So I yes, write the kind of music I love to listen to, by and large. But what about my novel writing?
I was plagued by this issue in grad school where I was getting an MFA in Writing. When I was asked to define my genre, I knew I couldn’t truly claim “literary,” though that genre was what I loved most to read. My favorites over the last fifteen years include Let the Great World Spin, by Colum McCann, Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders, The Bee Sting by Paul Murray, Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver, White Teeth by Zadie Smith.
I read books that I couldn’t possibly have written––that’s what made me want to read them! So rather than say “kind of low-grade Literary,” and because editors and agents had suggested I classify my Big Idea novels as Women’s Fiction, I’d sort of mutter that label. (What even is Women’s Fiction? Patriarchal marketing? *seethe* And what about all the male characters who narrate my books?)
I still can’t pull off the techniques of my literary heroes any more than I can write a song as good as a Dylan or McCartney classic. But I no longer care, in the same way I utterly stopped caring what the press called my band once we’d established our own authority. Once I could see and feel that the work my bandmates and I created was resonating with others, I knew I was doing my job, no matter what label anyone put on us (and there were some doozies, like “Neo-folk-trio.”)
I read the Cazalet Chronicles by Elizabeth Jane Howard from Book One The Light Years all the way to Book Five All Change, and though they were rough at times and some better than others, I STILL LOVED THEM. I looked forward to my reading time every night. And they comforted me in this rough, horrible year.
They made me realize that the component I’m drawn to in all forms of art is a kind of messy glory. The art I love most has this sprawling aspect to it. Moby-Dick. Cloud Atlas. Maria Bamford. I see the great craft, but I also see the unevenness. I love the messiness of the Beatles White Album and Let It Be. I love the way Sgt. Pepper doesn’t quite make sense. I love Dylan’s weird early-seventies walkabouts (see last month’s newsletter). I love the shaggy stories, the outtakes like “Up to Me” and “Blind Willie McTell.” I love Karl Wallinger’s odd collection Archeology (I want to find an original copy with the diary SO BADLY!)
Sometimes after we all swoon over something one of my writers reads aloud in one of my weekly groups or retreats, and we tell that writer to publish it immediately, they say, “I need to polish it first.” And then they’ll bring it back later, show me the changes. Sometimes they were right—the polishing improves the piece. Other times the polish actually wears off the quirkiness that made the piece grab us to begin with.
These realizations allowed me to finally finished my novel Moby-Jane, and I can honestly say that no part of it makes me want to puke. In fact, I love it so much and am so proud of it that I’m dying to self-publish it. (But don’t worry, Casey, I won’t until I’ve tried to find a publisher.)
I also finished a seven-minute video I made over the course of 18 months about the experience of losing a friend the day after I failed to arrive at the band of totality during the Great North American Eclipse. I would have worked on this video until I’d thoroughly mastered Final Cut Pro and GarageBand. But then I remembered that good is better that great, and at the point where the video made me both laugh and cry (in a good way), I published it. See Totality here.
What are your favorite genres of literature? If you are a writer, do you write in the genre you most love to read? And if not, what is the quality that you are most drawn to across all the genres?
Love, Nerissa
Things I Love
Nalini Jones’s debut novel The Unbroken Coast. IT’S GORGEOUS!!! Now THIS is a literary novel. A braided story about a Mumbai fishing community that explores the friendship between an elderly academic and the daughter of a fisherman.
Ordinary Elephant!! Go listen to them!
Our new Welcome Table Chorus! Singers! Community! Katryna and I have found heaven!
This app called “Natural Reader” whereby a robot reads my manuscript aloud. You can choose from a variety of voices. Katryna says the one I picked is the most depressing thing in the world, but it is helpful while editing to listen to your own book be read back to you, plus it saves my voice from hoarseness, and I need to save my voice for our chorus.)
My new interns Weina and Diana, and the cook for my retreats Angela (see above)! And of course my wonderful assistant Kellie. I have such a great team. Please become a paid subscriber so I can give them a raise!
Kali Retreat
This is just what the NaNoWriMo writer and/or the 30 Poems in November poet needs for the big month of writing. Join me for a three-day intensive writing weekend from Friday November 7 to Sunday November 9. During this hybrid retreat, Nerissa will offer regular prompts, tailored to genre and writing goals. There will be short bursts of timed writing, long swaths of time to dig in and work on whatever you need to write, discussions, inspiration and encouragement.
We will start Friday at 5:30 to gather for introductions and a first writing session. There will be time for sharing, and we will end at 9pm.We’ll regroup on Saturday morning at 9am, write all morning, with a break for lunch and discussion.
We’ll continue writing until 4pm, when we share some of what we’ve been working on. Sunday will be like Saturday, though we might end a bit earlier on Sunday to do a little more sharing. Retreat will end Sunday at 4pm.
30 Poems in November
30 Poems in November is a fundraiser for Center for New Americans, which supports immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers in all manner of ways.
Reasons to join:
1. You will know you are making a difference in a particularly hard season for immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers and the good people who work hard to support them.
2. You will become a better writer.
3. You will join an awesome community of writers.
4. You will discover parts of yourself and your world previously unknown or hidden.
5. You will feel great about yourself.
If you raise over $300, you get to read a poem at the Reading in December. This event is so much fun, and a wonderful opportunity to connect with area writers. So sign up for this challenge today! Or soon. You have until November, of course.
Morning Seeding & Tending
Join us to see what greatness lurks within our Zoom squares! Free to all paid subscribers!
Morning Seeding & Tending is a low-stress, high-joy, no-share writing and accountability group meeting on Zoom, Monday-Fridays, 10-11am Eastern. We start with a brief greeting, a prompt (emailed to members), and set our intentions in the chat. Cameras and sound are usually off while writing. Arrive late or leave early—no problem. The room stays open after 11 for those who want to keep writing. Attend daily, weekly, or whenever you can.
AND if you join in the month of October, you’ll get a sticker!****
Footnotes
*What the hell is folk-rock anyway? Is it a narrowly defined as “Byrds-ish/CSN-sometimes-Y-ish”? Or does it, by extension, include the inheritors of that tradition: everyone from Creedence Clearwater Revival to the Counting Crows to the Decemberists?
**If what they meant by “Women’s Fiction” is novels by Ann Patchett, Elizabeth Strout, Sally Rooney, I’m stoked. I’m guessing that’s not what they meant, but who cares. To quote the old hymn, “you can call me whatever you please.”**
*** I can’t remember the next line, and when I looked up what I remembered of this hymn, only Elvis’s song “That’s Alright, Mama” came up. That’s not the hymn I’m thinking of.
****if you become a paid subscriber and want a sticker, email me at Writingitupinthegarden@gmail.com to say you want the link for the daily Zoom and give me your mailing address for the sticker!
You deserve a prize for reading this far. Here’s a drawing someone recently did of Little Blue.
