The Journey to Publishing with Kristen Holt-Browning
Plus Ask Me Anything, and First Ever Virtual Reading!
Dear Writers and Readers,
It’s a week of First Evers.
Tomorrow at 7:30pm Eastern time, we’re presenting our First Virtual Reading by the Morning Seeding & Tending writers, right after my first ever Ask Me Anything. You can respond to this email with a question, and we’ll answer it between 7-7:30pm tomorrow!
But first!
Our very own Kristen Holt-Browning is my first ever interview-ee for what I hope will one day become a podcast called Trusting Your Own Blind Eye: Conversations on Artistic Authority. Kristen’s beautiful novel weaves together the story of a fourteenth-century girl enclosed with an anchoress, and a twenty-first-century medieval professor struggling with the twinned challenges of the academic world and impending motherhood. Despite being centuries apart and separated by the Atlantic ocean, both characters are navigating the complexities of the female experience within the rigid (often parallel) structures of cloister and university. Ordinary Devotion is due out on November 5. I just preordered it on Bookshop!
Nerissa: Kristen, I’ve always been blown away by your poetry, but your novel is a true revelation. When was the moment when you began to trust your writing instincts, your ‘voice’?
Kristen: I’m 48, and I’ve been writing poetry under the guidance of my beloved mentor, Ruth Danon, for several years. At some point early on, she said, “You, my dear, are a poet,” and it absolutely floored me. Even though I’ve written poems since I was a teenager, I always resisted labeling myself a “writer” or, god forbid, a “poet,” which felt so heavy and serious or, worse, self-serious. But Ruth helped me see that I was honing a specific vision and approach, writing poems that explored themes important not only to me but also, I came to see, meaningful to others.
My confidence was also boosted when my poetry chapbook won second place in a contest, which resulted in its publication. I don’t love that these external validations were what I needed to develop internal confidence, but it’s true! These boosts encouraged me to trust my instincts when it came to writing a novel. I knew that my writing clicked with others, so I went into the (long and arduous!) process of writing a novel for the first time, in my forties, knowing that I could write in a way that both brought me personal joy, and resonated with readers.
Nerissa: I am so glad you did! And I totally get the power of external validation. Along those lines, when you’re in a lull between those delicious hits of outer affirmation, where do your “mean voices” take you?
Kristen: One of my biggest areas of self-doubt is the fact that I don’t have an MFA. I know, rationally, that this doesn’t actually matter. I’ve taken lots of writing classes—plus your magical retreats, Nerissa!—and as a result I have a wonderful and sizable network of fellow writers in the Hudson Valley and Western Massachusetts. But my lack of an MFA does still make me feel like I’m not a “real” writer, which I know is dumb!
Nerissa: Yeah, hmmm, I can’t think of any great writers who don’t have an MFA…oh, wait…Alice Munro, Amy Tan, Virginia Woolf. I could go on. But I get it.
Kristen: There’s also the fact that I didn’t start publishing until my forties. I stopped writing from ages 23 to 36. I was working full-time, then I got married and started a family with my husband. Writing seemed like such an indulgence. It took me a long time to let go of the guilt I carried for taking time away from my family to write. But I finally realized I’m a better partner and mother when I can be a whole person, not merely a set of specific roles, and for me, that includes being someone who writes. I also think there’s value for my two sons (ages 16 and 10) in seeing a woman who is a mother and a partner, but also an artist in her own right, working hard at something that brings her joy and doesn’t necessarily serve others.
Nerissa: Yes, I have the exact same struggle! And I hang on to the hope that when my kids are grown they will see that value, too.
Finally, what are three works of art (books, theater, TV, podcast, visual art) that are influencing you right now?
I just read a new novel called Practice, by Rosalind Brown. It follows a day in the life of an Oxford student studying Shakespeare’s sonnets. Sounds dry and academic, I know, but the book does such a fabulous job of putting us not only in the main character Annabel’s mind, but her body as well. I was inspired by how much feeling and emotion Brown evoked from a single day in a single setting.
Practice inspired me to start reading a Shakespeare sonnet first thing each morning. I’m slowly making my way through The Arden Shakespeare edition of the sonnets. I’m inspired by the graceful density of these little poems, and how much rhythm, metaphor, and sound they pack into fourteen lines.
Finally, I’ve been inspired by the newest album by the band Khruangbin, A La Sala. Their music is so wide-ranging and unbothered by genre concerns. It’s sort of funk, sort of jazz, sort of world-music. It’s an excellent soundtrack for a chill Friday night in!
ASK ME ANYTHING! Monday Oct 14, 7pm
On Monday October 14, I’ll be hosting a virtual open house/Q&A: Nerissa’s Instagram & Facebook Live Open House Ask Me Anything Event at 7pm.
Tune in and ask questions in real time! Like: How did you start your band? How have you kept your music career going strong for decades? Do you whiten your teeth? What inspires you to write? Can I join one of your groups? Will you accommodate vegetarian diets at your retreats? Do you believe there is only one path to God? Will Katryna be showing up to this event? Who is your favorite Beatle? Do you do your own graphics? Have you ever read Ulysses? What is the worst TV show you were compelled to watch?
VIRTUAL READING by Writers from Morning Seeding & Tending
The conversation will be followed by a virtual reading for all members of Morning Seeding & Tending. Writers will include Martha Brown, Anna Baker Smith, Sarah Sullivan, Tammy Rose, Sandi Birdsall, Trish Olson, plus last minute surprise guests.
Morning Seeding & Tending Is Turning Two, and We’re Celebrating With a Live Reading!
Join us to see what greatness lurks within our Zoom squares! Virtual reading is on Monday October 14 at 7:30pm, following Nerissa’s Instagram & Facebook Live Open House Ask Me Anything Event at 7pm.
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.
After signing up, you’ll get a welcome email and a Zoom link that changes monthly. The month begins whenever you start payments.
By Ko-Fi subscription, it's $20 per month, with automatic payment (like Patreon). AND if you join in the month of October, you’ll get $20 off the Kali retreat if you sign up for that, too!
Best of all? You can start right now! And I’ll even send you a sticker!
KALI RETREAT NOVEMBER 8-10!
Only three spots left! Come on inside for my Autumn Kali Retreat, November 8-10, either in person at Little Blue or virtually. Together, we’ll write, sharing deeply and exploring our inner Kali. By the end, you’ll feel refreshed, renewed, and connected to your writing in a powerful new way.
If you attend in person, I’ll also feed you delicious, healthy meals to sustain your creative energy.
AND if you register by October 15, you’ll get a free month of Morning Seeding & Tending!
This is just what the NaNoWriMo writer and/or the 30 Poems in November poet needs in this big month of writing. I hope to see you here.