There is the myth of the isolated artist, working alone. “We are born alone, we live alone, we die alone,” a dear friend moaned to me once when we were younger and had time to worry about such things.
“Wait a minute,” I said. “We certainly are not born alone.” Seriously, how much less alone can you be than forging your way down the canals of someone else’s body, met at the exit by all kinds of hands and looming faces?
E.M. Forster creates the image of all authors across all times working together in a big room. For we are in conversation with those other writers, are we not? And with our imagined and actual readers. And with ourselves, our many selves. Alone? Hardly.
Alone is not the easiest or most creative or productive way to do most things. Sure, being alone can be wonderful. But in the end, we emerge from our cave (or our car) and find our people. Show them what we’ve scratched in the rock. Pass the hors d’oeuvres.
Do you believe that you have to do this alone or in a vacuum? Do you imagine that other people do? I don’t. I write in cafes, with friends, with my students. Very often, I meditate with my kids sitting on my lap. It may not be the strictest practice in the world, but I get up more grounded than when I skip it and give in to the noise.
Here’s a picture Charlie drew of himself and Leo leaping around me as I sit cross-legged, the one with the bangs, trying to meditate, chanting, “Ooooohhhhmmmmm.”
Angie and I have been collaborating on developing clear, step-by-step guidance to completing a book. I’ve taken to calling this Barn-Raising Your Book. Think Witness: the Amish folk and young, handsome Harrison Ford hammering, nailing, the sawdust smell, the strong corners, the community coming together to lift the walls and true the shape. In one afternoon, a house! In six months, your book!
Use the comments space below to tell me what you need in terms of community, support, guidance. Deadlines? Readers/ response? Cheer-leaders and fans? Exercises and examples? A roadmap or a blueprint? Other folks travelling the same path, sharing the struggles and the victories? A mentor? How can you step away from the myth of alone and make your creative life a powerful, collaborative or profoundly supported truth?
Hi Elizabeth, I was up in the air about starting another book and another BWW class like the one I just finished.. However I do have a script that was my “learning” book and I think that now with what I’ve learned I can chisel out a much better read. Make it much more exciting.
I will finish my current Rehab book by January and then will be ready to break out Child Psych to again apply all the craft I’ve learned over the past few years. It is surprising but even now I’m looking at early chapters of the Rehab book and seeing things that need revision. I guess this is the process of what a writer does.
First, Charlie’s art is AWESOME! I really do best when I have examples and exercises. I don’t think I would have done any writing without that approach from the short story class and craft class. Deadlines don’t hurt either. I definitely need structure/a barn-raising party. I’m easily diverted and it really helps me focus.
I cycle in and out of my need for group and for solitude. I very much need both. I’d been out of workshops for over six months and needed a class and one arose that was exactly what I needed. So I just finished a class with Thaisa Frank focused on short forms, with special attention to arc and images. I think what helps me is: 1) specific exercises–I love writing together *right now* 2) no teacher feedback, thank you 3) more exercises for homework afterward. Feedback often ISN”T helpful, it often just shuts the student down. Getting the exercise, getting the imagination going, that’s what’s needed.