Our fearless chair and poetry professor, Chris Davidson, shares advice for crafting a productive summer writing practice.
Hello all!
What follows are a few ideas for staying creatively productive when you're faced with unstructured time, like a summer away from classes.
1. Keep a schedule. The key thing is regular practice, whatever that means for you. Some people keep regular hours--say, 8am - 9:30am every morning. My practice as a poet is to draft something new every day and send it via email to two or three other people.
2. Cultivate community. I mentioned above that I send new work every day to other people. This month that includes two poets who also send work back to me. Last month I sent work to four different people--a fiction writer, a painter, a pastor, and a friend who works for non-profit organizations. These four did not send work back to me. I don't ask for any feedback, unless they want to give it. I just ask if they're willing to get something from me everyday, as a form of accountability, and I switch up the recipients so that nobody gets tired of me. That's been enough of an impetus to make something every day.
3. Read everyday. This may be a no-brainer, but you need to read if you want to write. Scott Cairns calls reading in your tradition a sign of good manners. I'm currently reading a biography and a novel, but I also have, as I type this, several books of poetry within reach. Since poetry is the genre I work most in, it's inspiring and humbling to read through what those who have come before me, and those who are still working, have done.
These three principles are all about production--making stuff--and not about revision, arrangement, or presentation. For refining work you've already made you can follow the same steps : Keep a schedule, share the work, and read everyday. It's in the revision process where community can be most helpful, especially if you can put together a small workshop with one or more other writers you trust. There you will be rewarded by the gift of close reading and mutual critique and encouragement. My poetry workshop, which meets every couple of months, is now happening on Zoom, but it's remained an important means of maintaining my sense of community. It's also helped me see where my work is unclear or inelegant, and where its strengths lie.
Happy writing, friends!
Warmly yours,
Chris
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