Find the folks who know

Fellow mortals who bleed hope

Common in creation

—Christy Hoff, ArtRoot Writer-in-Residence

There is no script to great poetry. The recipe includes passion, hope, specificity, metaphor, relevance, a tribe, and a hint of reference. Simply having the ingredients does not guarantee success.

Here is an analogy. When training for a specific event on my bike, I have a goal measured in speed, strength, or endurance. Speed requires including short and extremely hard bursts of all out effort. Strength (as in climbing mountains) focuses on repetitive difficult efforts. Endurance is developed with long medium efforts. Throw in some rest or active recovery weeks. No training plan is complete without some measure of all of these. A specific training plan will gradually increase one of these efforts to peak for the event.

Each effort generates a level of ache and tiredness. The old axiom of “No pain, no gain” holds true in various perspectives. The effort itself hurts, muscles will carry the exhaustion and ache into ensuing days, and lackluster results hurt the psyche.

I hope to develop my poetry and writing to peak for a submission or reading. Culminating for a specific contest or call for work is not easy to train for. Writing has its own set of parameters for growth, its own exhaustion, and its own aches. Again, there is the temptation to be depressed and discouraged.

Finding a tribe is my not-so-secret weapon. I thrive on the accountability and camaraderie of a regular training partner(s). A tribe is important to development by helping me see myself through another’s eyes. Suffering alone is very difficult. At that point I focus on the goal to get through workouts. Sometimes that isn’t enough. My connection with like-minded people helps keep me moving forward.

How can a tribe help with writing? Don’t we write in our solitude? Yes, but we also write in the vacuum of personal experience. We re-read and edit with our same personal assumptions. Bringing our work to others for review opens it to a fresh perspective. Grammatical errors, lapses in flow, and questions left unanswered are often revealed by the review of others.

A word of caution. Search carefully for your tribe. You do not want simple accolades. If all your group does is encourage you because “we can’t wait to see what you write next”, they are not helping. Likewise, they should not send you home in the doldrums of broken dreams because they do not understand your work. There is a delicate balance between what I call Basement People and Balcony People.

Frankly, great Balcony People will cheer you on. They will also give you specific hope for your work and reveal questions they were left with. Their frank and clear critique will send you back to your writing desk with specific goals. You will want to rework your piece and bring it back to them.

Basement People really do not offer hope, but drag you and your work down. You leave a session wondering how your work failed and whether to fix it. The depths of despair may have you questioning your worth as a writer. Closet Basement People tell you how great your work is, but give you nothing to help you improve.

A word on your inner brat. Always bring it with to group meetings. Critiques are generated by humans. Each of us has our own point of view and we can’t help but view the world through our particular colored glasses. You might need that one special person’s support, (“Don’t let them bother you, I liked that poem and it resonated with me.”) Ultimately, it is your work. You get to decide what suggestions are important and worthy of consideration.

Look for a tribe in the area. If you are not looking for a group, find an accountability partner that you can meet with once a month or so. For groups, there are a couple of options in the area.

The Procrastinator’s Club meets on Fridays at Vintage & Modern Books (Racine). https://www.facebook.com/procrastinatorsanonymouswriting

 Kenosha Writer’s Guild meets twice a month on Wednesdays in Kenosha. https://kenoshawritersguild.com/

The above are free groups. Another suggestion is to attend a reading in the area and introduce yourself to those who resonate with you. Find out if they have any recommendations of groups that focus on your type of writing.

A subscription service (paid critique group) that meets online is based out of Wales, WI. https://redoakwriting.com/

Find your tribe!!

A reminder! I have a special workshop this Saturday at 4:30 in Vintage and Modern Books. The focus will be sharing our skills, hobbies, or other activities with the next generation. Let’s lure them out from behind digital screens by helping them see how our other activities make us feel alive!