Winter Announcements
~ From My Writerly World ~
“Morning pages. Morning stillness. Starting anew on a Monday. Stars are still visible while birds sing up the day as you sit in your pajamas to write. If all you ever penned were these pages, would they be enough? Doubtful. Your hunger is a whisper, gnawing from within…” — from “Breathe & Push: A Writer’s Work Begins Again and Again,” published this week at Women Who Submit (Lit)
starting anew
“Slowing down, making space” has been my new year's intention for a few rounds now. Yet somehow 2022 began with a bang! While finishing up a copywriting assignment from Hipcamp (“Discover” content on camping options in California) I’m getting ready to lead two new 8-week series of writing workshops. In addition to pitching articles after completing a course on freelance writing (see below), I’ve begun facilitating a bimonthly Publication Group with writers from my AWA leadership training. And finally, I was accepted into the Poet-Teacher training program with California Poets in the Schools, a non-profit organization that supports writers-in-residence programs in schools and community settings.
My biggest New Year announcement, however, is that I signed up for Nonfiction Bootcamp with More to the Story, a book completion program spearheaded by Janna Marlies Maron (editor and publisher of Under the Gum Tree). The yearlong commitment “for women authors writing nonfiction about their personal story” includes online community support and accountability, structured coaching, manuscript deadlines, 1-1 feedback, and professional editing—all with the goal of completing my memoir-in-essays entitled Just Some Things We Can’t Talk About.
Susannah Q. Pratt, author of Consumed: Ruminations on a Year of No Buying, wrote a Boot Camp testimonial that her manuscript had been close to “languishing forever in my ‘writing’ file on my laptop.” Not only did she “rescue it from near-deletion,” but her book (to be released in February) was selected as a winner of the 2021 EastOver Prize for Nonfiction. Diving (back) in and making this commitment feels frightening yet exhilarating—not unlike a “polar plunge,” which Kristen and I took when we leapt off a Zodiac boat into frigid southeast Alaskan waters in front of a glacier. Yep, that’s me, walking on water. If only the writing process were so easy!
Looking for more inspiration? Here are a few options:
Kick-start your writing with Creative Nonfiction’s 5-week Boot Camp, starting January 10.
Check out The Common's Weekly Writes: Accountable You, a 10-week program designed to help you create original place-based writing, starting January 24.
Sign up for Write Like a Hummingbird, with 125+ guided 15-minute writing sessions from Emily Stoddard of Voice & Vessel.
affirmations
Recently I admitted my tendency to experience “postpartum” depression after birthing a new piece of writing into the world. Kristen mirrored back: “Yeah, you rarely express joy when you're published.” Wow. What a reflection!
“It’s as tempting in writing as in life to avoid what makes us feel exposed,” says Sonja Livingston—author of the award-winning memoir, Ghostbread, and Fifty-Two Snapshots: A Memoir Starter Kit—in this Brevity essay on shame.
There’s something about all that labor and longing for my work to be seen—a combination of heightened expectation and the vulnerability of exposure—that creates the letdown (defined, interestingly, as disappointment, descent, or a release of milk!) from my initial elation. As an antidote to the ennui I filled this beautiful blank book, made by my artist friend, Yurika Chiba, with many lovely comments I’ve received lately on my creative writing, workshops, and even this newsletter. Rarely do writers know who (if anyone) is reading our work or realize its impact (if any), yet we create poems and narratives to connect beyond ourselves. The meditative process of copying others’ appreciations by hand was transformative, turning my dissatisfaction into affirmation. If your words are among them, I offer my gratitude.
celebrating the wins
Since June I’ve been meeting monthly at a local cafe with my writer friend, Angela Lam Turpin, author of the award-winning memoir Red Eggs and Good Luck. While sharing our struggles and successes, I noted how much easier it is to focus on what’s challenging or not (yet) achieved. So I created a spreadsheet called “Celebrate the (Writing) Wins,” which we’ve been filling out for the past few months to honor our writerly accomplishments, large or small. Although I didn’t complete as many literary works in 2021 as the year before, I’m excited about these last quarter “wins”:
“Mother Says,” was published in mid-October, with my collage as the accompanying image, in Complete Sentence, an online magazine of single-sentence prose. In November “Autumn Inferno” was selected for Memoir Monday (“the best first-person writing from across the web”); the essay is tbp in Cagibi’s annual print issue, available now to pre-order. “The Distance Between,” reprinted in Gathering: A Women Who Submit Anthology in December, was listed among 43 essays that advanced to a final round of judging in the WOW! Women On Writing quarterly essay contest. While it wasn’t included in the Top 10 or 10 Honorable Mentions, the judges said: “Please know that making it to the finals and surpassing a couple hundred other essays is quite an accomplishment!”
“A Writer’s Work Begins Again and Again” (excerpted above) is part personal, part inspirational essay—adapted from several pages of my journal. I sent it to the Women Who Submit blog’s Breathe & Push column, which supports readers to "push our creative works into the world.” I was thrilled to hear: “Thank you so much for this lovely piece of prose. It is a perfect fit, and we would love to publish it in the new year.”
amherst writers workshops
Last month I completed my 15th and 16th series of Writing From Memory or Imagination, a creative workshop for women and nonbinary writers using the Amherst Writers & Artists method. Two new series will begin the last week of January. I sent Eventbrite invitations to register to 60 prior participants plus outreach to 20 who previously expressed interest. Thursdays have filled, but there are spots still available on Tuesdays. Registration deadline: January 15.
Here are a few testimonials from recent newcomers who are returning:
“Nicole is creative in her style and with her prompts. Having only positive feedback and feeling I was in a safe space allowed me to take chances in a way I might not have otherwise.”
“As an emerging writer, I found this AWA workshop to be a highly affirming and validating experience. I grew as a writer as a result of Nicole’s facilitation. She listens carefully, responds thoughtfully, and has a warm, inclusive energy that nurtures creativity.”
“It was great for my reluctant muse to have a place that was designed for play and experimentation. I felt seen and heard.”
“Limiting the group to women and female-identifying participants allowed a deep level of intimacy and sharing through our writing. I would recommend this workshop without hesitation.”
If you’re new to my workshops and interested in joining, please contact me. Cost is $200 per series. All genres and experience levels are welcome.
awa artistry
During my Write Around the World session in May, Karen FitzGerald wrote a humorous mansplaining scene with a surprising twist in response to the prompt: “How did I come to be here?” You can now read her entertaining story, recently posted on the AWA blog.
Congrats to another workshopper, River Elizabeth Hall, for the publication of her poem “Doctor, Doctor:” in Bear Review. “Ode to Mouths” and “A Poem for Roadkill” are forthcoming in Pontoon Poetry: A collection of the best poetry from the Floating Bridge Press Chapbook Competition, in which her work placed as a semi-finalist. River is excited about a number of pieces generated in our last workshop that she intends to rework and submit for publication.
Adrienne Momi, a visual artist who creates artist books, is using ‘golden lines’ contributed in our workshop to make a letterpress book with segmented pages to mix-and-match. Expanding on a prompt about the weather, Adrienne is also working on Wet Feet, with two other prompt-inspired books also in the queue. Housed in a foot-shaped clamshell, this book will turn itself inside out to reveal four separate phrases. Here’s a mock-up, printed on old book pages:
A shout out to fellow AWA facilitator, writer, and visual artist Belinda Edwards, who received a Pushcart nomination for “Grief Bundle,” a lyrical work of creative nonfiction published in the Santa Fe Literary Review. Here’s an excerpt to entice you to read more of her gorgeous essay (pg. 12):
“Before I was born, hyenas howled at my door, threatening to pull me into the underworld. A brown baby girl in the ‘colored’ ward, pulled from the womb by white hands. Slapped. I sound the alarm in this black and white world.”
the art of listening
People in my writing workshops often remark on the depth of listening. The AWA Board of Directors recently added “the quality of listening” as an Essential Practice of the AWA method. Training Director Maureen Buchanan Jones explained:
“In an AWA workshop, we ask ourselves and each other to quiet our inner traffic noise, our busy scattered attention. We calm and still our inner satellite dish, focus it on one voice, and allow ourselves to be receptive to that voice. We witness the writing… Listening is as fundamental to the success of the method as not assuming that the writing is about the writer.”
Interested in becoming an AWA-certified workshop leader? Here’s info on the 2022 trainings.
ekphrastic writing
Last month I attended “Inspired By Images,” a 3-hour session on Ekphrastic Writing led by AWA workshop facilitator Kimberly Lee. We responded to seven images, including one from Rattle’s monthly Ekphrastic Challenge: Art Inspiring Poetry, for which I submitted two poems. Kimberly also introduced us to SoulCollage®: “an expressive arts method that uses intuition, imagination, and images to help us explore and embrace the inner wisdom that exists within us all.” Join “A Taste of SoulCollage” on Sunday, January 9, from 8:30 – 11:30am PT.
half-assed writing
When I saw an ad for The Perfectionist’s Half-Assed Writing Challenge in September, I knew I had to sign up. This 5-day free event, which included live online training and co-working sessions with freelance writer Amber Petty, was an invitation to “see what happens with your writing” when “breaking away from perfectionism.” Turns out that without the added pressure I often place on myself, I felt more productive.
I pitched an article idea to Jess D. Taylor, editor of Made Local Magazine, who accepted my short roundup of craft fairs for the Locavortex section. Apparently I failed the half-assed part, however, since she called it “perfect.” I’m okay with that!
Typically I wear two writing hats: creative writing and copywriting. Since 2012, freelance writing for corporations like Viator/Tripadvisor, Grove Collaborative, and Hipcamp comprises my bread-and-butter work, but I’ve always wanted to branch out into writing for magazines and online publications. So I signed up for Amber’s more intensive 8-week course, Freelance Writing for Creatives, which I completed in early December.
Weekly pitches and assignments were voluntarily shared among our group of 60 via Slack and Medium (see “How To Create A Home Garden”), and we each received individualized video feedback from Amber. Not only did I generate a robust list of story ideas and target publications, but I’ve secured a few new assignments! When “5 Ways to Deepen Long-term Love and Sustain Your Commitment” was turned down by The Girlfriend (from AARP), I reworked my angle for Insider after seeing an editor wanted personal essays about “weird things you and your partner do that make your relationship be even better.” My paid piece on “Boss Time” will appear soon.
Although my editor at Hipcamp passed on “Railbikes and Outriggers: Off the Beaten Path in Mendocino” for Hipcamp Journal, she did assign a camp host profile to be featured in the magazine. I’m still awaiting a reply from Buzzfeed for “15 Pandemic Stories That Break The Isolation Of Quarantine”; although it was declined for Neon Books’ Literary Lists, the editor wrote: “Please do submit your ideas in the future; your pitch was great even if we didn't quite see the content as a match with our readership.” Definitely a win! Amber’s next class, starting February 12, goes on sale January 27.
humor writing
Afghan refugee resettlement. Belarus border crisis. Diminishing democracy. Eroding reproductive rights. 5.5 million covid deaths worldwide and counting. What is there to laugh about?
No matter how we hold the weight of this world, we all need a dose of humor now and then for perspective. The Erma Bombeck / Anna Lefler Humorist-in-Residence Program offers emerging humor writers two all-expenses-paid, “blissful weeks” at a Marriott hotel — in Dayton, Ohio:
“It’s the ultimate gift for any writer! Room service. An omelette bar. The sun rising over the Great Miami River… That’s right: two weeks of dedicated time for you to ride the elevators, stare pensively into the parking lot and swipe ham cubes from the omelet bar.”
Residency applications have closed, but you can still check out the Erma Bombeck Writers’ Workshop, March 24–26, 2022 at the University of Dayton, Ohio. There’s even a virtual option (registration fee: $79) with live chats and keynote talks in real time.
more writing residencies
Sadly, my application was declined for a 2- to 4-week residency at Storyknife, a women writers retreat in Homer, Alaska. (This recap by Kersten Christianson prompted me to apply.) Erin Hollowell, ED of Storyknife, says:
“I want every woman who applied to know that her writing and her dream is important, even if we don’t have cabins for all of them.”
Not to be deterred, I’ve just applied for a Virginia Center for the Creative Arts residency, including an LGBTQ fully funded fellowship, at Mt. San Angelo (Amherst, Virginia) for Fall 2022. VCCA offers writers, visual artists, and composers residencies ranging from two weeks to two months, including a private bedroom with private en-suite bath, an individual studio, and three meals each day, all within sight of the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains. Bonus: a visit to see my nephews.
reading diversity
Tired of the lack of representation in kid lit? We Need Diverse Books™ (WNDB) “strives to create a world in which all children can see themselves in the pages of a book.” The Sonoma County Library also shared an extensive list Celebrating AAPI Creators, from picture books to teen fiction to film. Finally, check out this list of 2022 new releases of African, African-American, Black-Brit, and Caribbean books, brought to you by the African Book Addict!
I've registered for our library’s Queer Book Club, which meets the second Wednesday of the month (January–December 2022) from 6–7 pm. Librarians will virtually discuss books centering on LGBTQ+ voices. I just borrowed the e-book for the first pick, Gender Queer: A Memoir by local author Maia Kobabe, currently one of the most-banned books in the U.S. If you’re confused by terms like genderqueer, gender-fluid, and nonbinary—or why it’s important to share personal pronouns—I recommend reading! It’s never too late to learn.
Tell me, in what ways are you starting anew in 2022?
