Monthly Writers' Group: Initiation  Posted
Oct-9-2006
A NEW Journey Begins...
One of my self-imposed 'writes of passage' <grin> into
a rich, rewarding writing life has been the enrollment of myself into a monthly
writers' group. I have never been part of a formal writers' group before,
and outside of K-12 school and college have neither written to the commands nor
the structured prompts of a facilitator, author, teacher, or workshop leader.
Yes, I'm one of those people who reads the works of Natalie
Goldberg, Julia Cameron,
and SARK and whistles innocently
past the writing exercises. "Oh, was I supposed to stop reading, grab a
notebook, and do that?" Guilty!
(Hey, I make up my own creativity rules...
WHO says we have to do what books say anyway? <--
The preceding is the perfect example of a writing tangent.
Back to the subject now...)
The public writing I've been comfortably doing for the
past six years has been of my my own choosing, impulses, and
creative splurgings. However, in the interest
of personal and professional growth, sponge worthy experiences,
and plain ol' courage-building I decided it was high time to
spend some of my writing energy amidst other creative souls
who could teach me MANY useful things about writing for personal and professional
reasons. Yes, I'm aware of multiple writing groups online,
but I wanted to be part of a brick-and-mortar experience with
a group of real-live humans feeling the raw emotions and energy
surges that only the physical dynamic of a group of gathered
people brings.
I've known about a local writers' group that meets
once a month in my community (from October to May) — and
being
open
to new experiences found myself sitting amongst them
in the first session earlier this week. One of the reasons
I chose this particular writers' group is because it's inclusive
of all kinds of writers who write in a variety of forms: journals,
poetry, fiction, essays, and informational work. It's open
to beginners, occasional, dedicated, and more experienced writers
with the purpose of productively sharing, appraising, supporting,
challenging, and learning from one another. It fosters a positive
environment to explore and express creativity
while presenting a wonderful learning experience we
all collectively participate in as we engage in the writing
process individually.
My Initiation
How did the first session go? Well, despite being initially
apprehensive and intimidated by the wealth of experience and
eloquence that surrounded me, I snapped myself back to reality
by reminding myself that this is MY journey and I have my own
brand of creative authenticity that has laid claim to a few
of the molecules in this universe. That insight bonked me
on the head during our second timed-writing
exercise in which
I gave my sense of humor some real-estate on my lined notebook
paper and allowed it to take over.
(Another tangent: Writing exercises
are great warm-ups and can open some cool portals in our minds
when we temporarily suspend our inner critics. The act of writing
with an instrument in our hand, as opposed to keyboarding,
is claimed to be associated with a deeper emotional and
spiritual experience through our written expressions. I found
that writing with a pen on paper forced me to put aside my
inner critic and editor as I wrote, which is extremely challenging
for me to do when I type because it is soooo easy to Edit
> Undo; Copy and Paste; and move whole chunks of text around
on the computer during composition. )
I finished the writing exercise with a minute to spare,
and while dotting my last period smirking at my
cleverness, I decided that I indeed was
going to fully initiate myself into this experience and openly
share the piece with the group by reading it out loud. When
I did a few minutes later, I felt my adrenaline pulsing through
every fiber of my body, and with mild trembling experienced
an amazing I-can't-believe-I'm-doing-this-right-now Power
of Now triumph. I was dually aware of my reading AND the
emotional response I was receiving from the group. As I
finished my piece with its intended punch line, I received
the mixed response that I had expected. That wasn't so much
my focus — breaking the ice and splashing around in the cold
water
was.
The next
few minutes after my reading was a complete blur as I searched
for my broken ice hole to emerge up from
the freezing water. As I settled my inner self down, self-doubt
began to creep in and I found myself wondering if I just did
the right thing and what on earth were the other participants
thinking about what I just shared, and more importantly about
ME? Thankfully, the facilitator swiftly moved on to the next
eager reader and my spotlight faded to black. It didn't take
long for the water droplets of self-doubt to drip off of me
and on to the floor where they'd soon dry up. I broke the ice.
I got wet. Most importantly, I laid claim to my molecules.
My first writers' group session was a
rewarding experience and I look forward to
participating in the group in the coming months. And to satiate
your curiosity, you
can read what I wrote in
that second timed writing exercise because frankly, I'm shocked
that it flowed out of me.
Now I'm beginning to understand the
value of those exercises for crunching creativity and
producing some interesting critic-less pieces of writing.
NOW is a ripe time for me to go pull out my Natalie Goldberg
and Julia Cameron books again and sit down with my notebook
and timer. Those sage teachers know what works and I need to
stop being so lazy while reading their books. In the same vein
(of gold) I know that being part of a writers' group will not
only expose me to more structure, more responsibility, and
more insight into the creative writing process — it will
also encourage me to continue plunging forth into my writing
life with more passion and courage. Yes, this is my journey. A
journey of a thousand words. •
© 2006 Chris Dunmire www.chrisdunmire.com.
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