No Judgement Zone
On Finding Supportive Creative Communities
Something that fuels my writing is engaging in creative activities other than writing. Getting out of my “writing head” and into another creative space is refreshing and uplifting. One of these spaces is singing in the choir at my Unitarian-Universalist church.
My husband and I joined the choir about two years ago. Having not sung or played music since I was a kid, I needed a quick tutorial on reading sheet music. Nonetheless, I often found myself just following along with my fellow sopranos, most of them much more experienced than me.
That’s worked pretty well, but recently we were given a complicated piece with a long series of “la la la’s” — long meaning we sang it dozens of times, quickly, until the lyrics shifted.
(The song, BTW, was “How Can I Keep From Singing,” arranged by Gwyneth Walker. You can watch us singing it here, starting at about 1:17. The “la la la’s” start around 1:19.)
I tried keeping up. Really, I did. But following along using only my ear wasn’t working. I needed to trace those la la la’s on the page—so I raised my hand and asked for clarification.
“These notes,” I said, “the ones with the bar connecting them on top—what does that mean?”
Without missing a beat (pun completely unavoidable), the choir director said, “Those are eighth notes. You sing them like this: ‘one and two and three and four and.’ That makes eight beats.”
The sopranos around me showed me how to count them, separate them, and catch their cadence. “And when there’s a double bar on top, those are sixteenth notes,” one of them said. “You sing them twice as fast.”
Well, this was a lightbulb moment for me. Since learning it, I’ve become much more attuned to what’s on the musical page. I’m still no expert, but I’m feeling a lot more confident, even when presented with music I’ve never seen before.
I know what you might be thinking: What were you doing singing in a choir for TWO FREAKIN’ YEARS without knowing something as basic as what an eighth note looks like?
But here’s the thing: Nobody laughed at me. Nobody snickered or made a comment. I asked my question, I received help—and I learned. As a result, my musical creativity has improved.
In any creative endeavor, a supportive community is vital. We’re each on our own creative journey; no two creatives are at the exact same spot. To flourish creatively, seek out those who can meet you where you are and help you take your next step.
My choir director and friends did this for me—and for that, I’m incredibly grateful. I can’t pay it forward in a musical sense (yet!), but I try to do so in my writing communities: those in which I teach or work one-on-one with editing clients, those where I hang out with other writers, and those in which writers come to me for advice.
We’re all in this together. The better each of us is, the better all of us become.
On Other Recent Lessons
If you’ve been a subscriber for a while, you might remember our failed Three Sisters garden from last summer. Inspired by Robin Wall Kimmerer’s essay in Braiding Sweetgrass, we attempted growing a Three Sisters garden last year (corn, beans, and squash)—to abject failure.
I’m happy to report that we learned from our experience and from the advice of a wise fellow gardener. This year, we started our corn in the house, and we’ve now planted the starts along the perimeter of the garden. They went into the ground last weekend—and so far, they’re thriving.
Beans are next! I’ll keep you posted.
What’s growing in your garden?
What If We Connect? What if We Read?
Now that I’m in the indie publishing business, I’m committed to seeking out and reading more books by indie-pubbed authors. I recently picked up these two beauties:
Both of these authors, Helen Starbuck and Amy Rivers, are friends and fellow members of Sisters in Crime-Colorado. They’ve both provided invaluable advice to me on my indie journey. Helen writes suspense with a touch of romance, and Amy writes thrillers paired with social justice themes. I’ve read (and loved!) others of their books, but not these two. I can’t wait to dive in!
What are you reading? In particular, if there are indie-pubbed authors whose work you enjoy, I’d love to learn about them!
What If We Step Out?
Sometimes, stepping out means getting out of town. I’m lucky to be able to retreat to the mountains when I need some time and space by myself to write. Now that Anyone But Her is in production (preorder information coming soon!), I’m focusing on writing my next book, which is partially set in Grand County, Colorado—a place near and dear to my heart.
I took this pic on a walk along the Fraser River, one of my favorite places, both for its beauty and its inspiration.
On Saturday, June 8, I’ll be one of over 20 participating authors in the Englewood Public Library Author Festival. Check out the author fair in the morning and the afternoon author panels and lightning talks. More info is here.
As a reminder, I’m teaching two craft seminars at Lighthouse’s Lit Fest in June:
Hope to see you soon!
About the corn - - it grows high and will block the light from what is planted in the middle /