Writing in 2020

This is my second post in the series of six that sum up the last seven months.

I really don’t know how I did any writing in 2020.

Obviously I made good enough progress as stated in the first post, Writing News 2020. Speaking of that post, I forgot to include* in it that a creative nonfiction work of mine, an essay on Lahore, Topophilia, and scents and sounds that take us home, an essay that took three years of revisions to reveal what it was actually about, was published by the London-based Zeno Press. The anthology titled Zahir – Desire and Eclipse was edited by Christian Patracchini and the collection is made up of responses to Jorge Luis Borges’ short story ‘The Zahir’ from The Aleph and Other Stories (1949). If you would like to read more about what’s inside, here is a great post by Mark Valentine, and you can support the publication by ordering a copy here.

What I mean by not knowing how I managed any writing is that I don’t have a clear recollection of how it happened. First of all, exact dates and months are unclear. I say March when it was actually April. I think April, and it turns out that was in June. It’s been one long continuum where the only distinguishing time markers are in my inbox presented as confirmation of events or Zoom links on my calendar.

I enrolled in a course in April offered by the Irish Writers Center: Finish Your Novel- The Writing Retreat Version with Conor Kostick. This course sells out in 48 hours. I checked with other writer friends in Ireland and they all confirmed that it was worth it. I didn’t understand how a two week course would lead me to finish my novel (and as we now know, that’s exactly what happened, although not in two weeks!), but Conor Kostick’s approach is unlike anything I have experienced. His feedback on our excerpts was done in such a way that it helped me see the gaps in my novel and highlight what worked well. I was able to find the connecting thread in all the sections I had written thus far and what was holding me back from finishing (not a “writer’s block” but actual plot points that needed my attention). Additionally, after enrolling in that course, it hit me: I could finally take courses from the Irish Writers Center because they were now online! Even if something of this caliber was offered in the US, we are looking at minimum $1000 dollars. The biggest challenge was that I had to wake up at 2:00 a.m. my time! Yeah, I didn’t take time difference into account while booking because I was just thrilled to be participating in an IWC course. It was brutal and yet…

Half of us from that course are still connected and it’s a tremendous support network.

Thereafter, I enrolled in Advanced Short Fiction Course with Danielle McLaughlin, also offered by the Irish Writers Centre. Yes, THE Danielle McLaughlin. She is on another level of brilliance. Bucket list learning experience. I love her short stories and I know not all great writers are good tutors but she was extraordinary. Her debut novel The Art of Falling is coming out in January!

The best part of that workshop, in addition to everything about the way Danielle facilitated that workshop, was the writer’s group that came out of it. There are five of us in it, including me. They are the nicest bunch, offer astute feedback, and are very gifted writers. We meet every two weeks and it has been a tonic. Tonic! A writer’s group is more than just about accountability. It’s about people who help you see your story, the parts you can’t see. It’s about stories.

Another wonderful part of my summer was to pop into Jude Higgins’ Flash Fiction Tuesdays. Jude’s prompts are creative and it’s jut a lot of fun to come together; I also connected with some lovely people through these sessions. As the fatigue from remote teaching became unbearable and I began investing more time in revising the novel, I had to step away to focus. But I still like to pop in or take other workshops offered by Jude. She inspires on many levels.

Thanks to my friend Aisling Keogh, I learned of Silver Apples Sunday writing sessions. Frankly, I don’t remember when this happened. Was it in the Fall? Late Fall? Some Sundays it was harder to show up because the time difference made it 8:00 a.m. my time and I really needed ONE day a week where I was not “booked” in the morning. Teaching online already demanded so much every morning that I didn’t want to be behind a computer on a Sunday too. However, I had some productive sessions and there really is something about showing up and writing together.

I am missing a lot here.* As I said, I am not really sure how it happened. I know I kept showing up somehow. Writing is very much a physical activity. And as I will share in a later post it was the physical stamina that has kept me afloat this year, which isn’t like me. It certainly helped to have friends with whom one could talk. And cry too. Maybe I have been able to keep going with writing because stories are so intrinsically part of our DNA and I am very aware of that; storytelling, imagining, questioning is how we have remained afloat throughout human history.

I think this post, Writing and Not Writing in 2020, by author Jan Carson sums it up really well and says everything I wish to articulate but can’t right now.

“Some days writing will feel like a gift and as a writer you’ll feel a little invincible. Hold on to those days. They are gifts. Other days, other weeks, other stinking, horrible, endless years, writing will not come easy to you. It will be something which you need to contend for. You will have to remind yourself, as I’ve reminded myself pretty much every day in 2020, that you do not need to write something astonishing every day but you are required to keep showing up and hoping for it.”

*Forgetting to include this or that is one of the serious side-effects of this year! (This is my non-scientific opinion, of course; for example, I forgot why I had placed the asterisk there!)