Start the New Year Write!

It's that time of year when writers and artists are dragging their limp, uninspired wrists through the dregs of the old year. They're either worrying about what they will begin in the upcoming decade, or excited to pen all those New Year's resolutions and commitments that can be so easily forgotten by the first of February. My writing group, the Hen's Teeth (because committed writers are "scarce as hen's teeth"), have a way of holding each other to our commitments and inspiring one another in the new year.

Each January, we do what I call the "all-night write." We get together for a grown-up slumber party, preferably at a cabin or lodge, some place where no one person feels responsible for anything like food or pets or beds, etc. Last year we took the 2-hour drive to White Rock up in the Ozark National Forest. We got lucky with the weather which remained in the mid-60's during one of those freak false springs we often get in this part of the country. We were able to write outside, on top of the mountain, with 360-degree views of the Ozarks spreading out at our feet.

We arrived with our food and small overnight bags about 1 pm and were busily scribbling by 2. Each of the five of us were assigned a food to bring to cover dinner that night and breakfast the next morning. Leftovers would be lunch the next day. The main event was writing. We each brought to the mountain top as many writing prompts and ideas as we could possibly dream up or find in some of our favorite writing books. We then took turns presenting our prompts and all of us wrote on that subject.

One of my favorite ideas was to walk out to the White Rock Mountain overlook on the balmiest January night I've enjoyed since living in Mississippi 37 years ago. We separated and stood in the quiet night for twenty minutes, the wind blowing our hair back as if we were standing on the prow of a ship and the Ozarks below us were dark waves heaving back to a starlit sky. Then we came inside and sat by the woodstove to write about what we had observed and felt in the wind swept silence.



I believe we did a total of 14 exercises in 24 hours. Some of the "writes" had several parts and we always shared them aloud with each other. Everyone came away with at least one piece they would polish to a finish and share with a larger audience. AND we had fun, remembering for that time at least, how very important art and creativity are to our spiritual well-being, and to our sense of the community of women writers. In that 24 hours we grew in our love for writing and for each other in a way that a two-hour session can't quite achieve. We met and built our fire. We wrote. We made great food. We wrote. We hiked around the top of the mountain. We wrote sitting on boulders that had been there since the mountains formed. We wrote into the wee hours of the morning. We slept (briefly) and wrote drinking our coffee before breakfast. We wrote after breakfast. We wrote for the last time just before a late lunch and then took our leave of one another and White Rock.

This wasn't the first all-night write I've done. We did two with our writing group, Herwords, in Asheville, NC. This year, economic constraints didn't allow for a trip away, so I'm hosting it at my place. I know it will be fine. Our expectations are fairly low as to where we spend the night, and I have a nice place. What we're really all about is the writing. We are either far off somewhere in our imaginations or so focused on what is right in front of us that we don't notice our surroundings. Our heads are bent over pen and paper. I'm already excited about the walk I'm planning for us on the 1/4 mile path around my yard as we observe the natural beauty of winter in NW Arkansas, then sit by a warm fire to write about it.

Why don't you try this with your writing group? It doesn't matter where you are, but you'll want those 24 hours of unbroken time together. You'll end up with tons of things to write about in the new year, pique your interest and desire to write, and bond with the writers who mean the most to you--your own writing group. And if you don't have a writing group, start one! There's still time to start your new year write!

(Photos by Susan R.)