Make a place to sit down
Sit down. Be quiet.-Wendell Berry
Hi all,
Recently, I made an impulsive Instagram purchase, a Pilates bar, due to the irresistible tiny video of a strong, flexible woman demonstrating what looked like trapeze artists’ moves but on her back. My back, which aches often due to a lifetime of guitar-playing and computer hunch, screamed, “GET ME THAT NOW!”
So I pressed buttons and within seconds the thing was on its way. I had about ten days of rueful waiting, grumbling to my back, that was the stupidest waste of sixty-four dollars and ninety-nine cents ever. Because as soon as I pressed the payment button, I was bombarded with offers from this particular company, warning me that my thirty-day challenge was going to expire at midnight and didn’t I want to try their other products, and how satisfied was I with the thing I bought anyway?
Did I mention the Pilates bar is baffling unless you partner it with the exercise videos that show you how to use it in order to become a virtual trapeze artist, only on your back? Did I mention I spend my life trying to avoid how-to videos? I think they’re a great idea, mind you, but given my ADD, as soon as I start watching anyone telling me how to do anything, especially if it’s longer than, say, 30 seconds, I zone out and get impatient and irritated and want to leapfrog ahead and already know how to do the damn thing.
So the package arrived and sat on the porch for a good 48 hours before I sighed, opened it up and followed the (ok, extremely simple) instructions. I’ve had experience with Pilates, having practiced it for about ten years, so I know the moves, get the gist. My body really does love it. Apparently, especially my back, whose fault this whole purchase was. So I found the free videos on YouTube and pressed Play.
When you participate in 30 Poems in November, you’re given a prompt every night before bed, and then the next day, you write a poem. The poem doesn’t have to be good, or finished, or even a poem. But the hour or so I spend sitting and waiting for the ideas to come has been good training for my impatience. You can’t rush a poem.
Pilates is all about focusing steadily on your form, your core; getting your belly button to attach itself to the floor. Softening your rib cage. Concentrating on the leg circles your right leg is making while your left leg stays straight. It’s soothing. It turns out I love this $64.99 Pilates bar, and I even love the videos, including the kind British Pilates lady within them whose business this seems to be, and who—unlike the voice of her email marketeer—is slow and gentle and non-insistent. Best of all, my back is SO grateful.
It’s hard to believe we’re getting close to the final days of 2023. Above and below are pictures from our Kali retreat. Only two more weeks of Fall Weekly Groups. The Winter Workshops are now open for enrollment and there are many opportunities to find a group that works for you. Please continue to scroll to see the options. I’m also having a January Five-Day Retreat (1.3-7.2024) which you can attend in person or virtually, for one or more days. And finally, don’t miss the special on the Seeding & Tending groups–-a highly affordable way to check out what the heck it is that we do over here at Writing It Up in the Garden.
Much love to all of you,
Nerissa
Winter Writing Workshops 2024
Groups run for ten weeks from the week of January 8-the end of March.
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 Weeding & Pruning: 12:30-2:30pm starting January 9 2024 Zoom only (led by Nerissa Nields, by application only. One spot available. To apply, send a sample (up to five pages) of poetry or prose in an email to Nerissand@gmail.com.
Tuesday Evening: 6-8pm starting January 9, 2024 (Songwriting, Poetry, Prose, in-person and on Zoom)
Wednesday afternoons: 12:30-2:30pm starting January 10, 2024 (Songwriting, Poetry, Prose, in-person and on Zoom)
Wednesday evenings: 7-9pm starting January 10, 2024 (Songwriting, Poetry, Prose, in-person and on Zoom)
Thursday Fiction: 12:30-2:30pm starting January 11, 2024 (Fiction or Fiction-adjacent)
Friday Weeding & Pruning:12:30-2:30pm starting January 12, 2024 Zoom only (led by Elaine Apthrop, by application only.To apply, send a sample (up to five pages) of poetry or prose in an email to Nerissand@gmail.com.
30 Poems in November
I’m keeping up, folks! So far, I’ve written a song, a flash essay, and ten poems. Some of them I’m posting now, some I’m saving for later publication, and some are just…not ever going to see the light of day. Please consider contributing to Center for New Americans via my page! This year, I am dedicating my work to the memories of two poets who were long-time members of my Writing It Up in the Garden community: Michael Biegner and Richard Fox, both men brilliant poets and the bravest, most optimistic, honest battlers of cancer I've ever met.
All proceeds go to support the excellent work of Center for New Americans whose mission is to welcome and serve immigrants, refugees, migrants, and asylum-seekers in Western Massachusetts. Additionally, they offer free classes in English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL), career preparation assistance, support services and immigration legal services.
Seeding & Tending Tea Time for December!
For three weeks this December, while my Weekly Workshops are on hiatus, I’ll be running a second session of my popular Morning Seeding & Tending but in the early afternoon. Seeding & Tending Tea Time: 1pm-2pm.
Think of this as a chance to continue your writing practice, keep your intentions going, check out the general idea of Seeding & Tending: your chance to free-write, continue a project, get your word count in, be a part of a literary community on your own terms. The Zoom room will be open Tuesday-Thursday 1pm-2pm. You can come once a week, twice a week, three times a week––totally up to you! We begin with a short greeting and prompt (quotation/poem fragment which will be emailed daily to all participants), then set intentions in the chat. We write with our microphones muted, cameras off. If you arrive late, no problem. When the timer goes off at 2pm, we’ll say a quick goodbye. You can choose to leave Zoom early. Or you can keep writing long after the group officially ends. What will you do with your hour of writing? You can mull over your plot and characters. Outline. Write a query letter, or submit for a fellowship. You can zip out 1000 words. Or write a series of Social Media posts, or blog. Or make a video. Or write a song. It’s up to you. This is your time, and we are honoring it.
A low-stress, no-share writing and accountability group.
Time: Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday 1-2pm EST. Exact dates: Dec. 5, 6, 7; Dec. 12, 13, 14; Dec 19, 20, 21.
Cost is $20 ($25 after Dec 3) and free for Morning Seeding & Tending subscribers. In fact, if you sign up for Seeding & Tending Tea Time in December, you can also come to the 10-11am Morning Seeding & Tending for the entire month of December. What a bargain! And while we’re on the subject….
Morning Seeding & Tending
Morning Seeding & Tending meets Monday-Friday, 10-11am Eastern Time. Some people come daily, some weekly, some whenever they can.
Come and write alongside us for an hour in the morning. Folks from all over will be gathering on Zoom every weekday from 10 - 11am. This is quiet time for you to write. No fuss, no judgement, no distractions. Each of us will be setting down our words and setting our intentions.
Drop in as often or as little as you like. We'll be here. Join us.
After signing up, you’ll get a welcome email and thereafter a Zoom link which changes every month. Pay by the month, via subscription, or a month at a time via my website. The longer you commit to write with us, the cheaper it is. 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).
By paid subscription to my Substack newsletter, it's $20 per month, with automatic payment.
OR the very cheapest is to subscribe via Substack newsletter for an entire year, which is $200 upfront--but that makes the cost between $16-17 per month.
Best of all? You can start right now!
Things Worth Sharing
I think a lot of us are having trouble with writing these days when the planet is burning, when there’s so much suffering in lands so many consider holy, when there’s so much suffering all around us. A writer friend sent me these words from George Saunders that bolstered me, so I share them with you.
From George Saunders’ “Story Club”:
Someone told me once that despair is the most disempowering emotion. It’s what we should avoid at all costs, because it takes away our clarity and our positivity. (To despair is to (already) lose.)
So: avoiding despair can be a form of positive action. And, for me, writing a little every day is one of my best ways of fighting back against despair. Sometimes, yes, it feels like a guilty pleasure (“Why am I making up a theme park when the world is going all to hell?”) But, in a way, it’s like, you know, eating, or bathing: it might not save the world but 1) it’s not making it worse and 2) it’s putting my heart into fighting shape, should a fight arise in which I can actually make a difference.
Writing and reading are gentle actions, that create subtle tides of gentleness in an ungentle world.
Latest from the Blog
Below are three essays in my ongoing series on Quest Narratives.