First Draft
I was asked to read something at Shut Up and Write’s third birthday. Something I had written at the writing group, or something about the group. I didn’t know what to share. I reviewed what I wrote this year. As I mulled over what I’d written about writing with others, and for others, a thought coalesced. This is what I scratched out the evening of the celebration:
This is a first draft. I wrote it in just an hour and had no time to proof and polish it. The past few years, in the new year, I journal about the previous twelve months and reflect. Sometimes portions end up on my blog. 2024’s reflections were published as “2024 Collated” because I refused to call it “wrapped.” I ruminated on the movies I watched (many) and series (little), video games I played and books I read. I had a section headed simply as “Coffee.” It does pertain to coffee, but it’s really bout he people I wrote with that year.
An excerpt, ”I forgot the value of writing with others in silence...During lockdown a few years ago, I was invited by fellow writers to join a video call on Saturday mornings where we’d quietly work on our projects. It was a lifesaver in more ways than one. Something to anticipate, social contact, and creative accountability...
But the group reached its natural end when the world reopened. I returned to sporadic solo writing.
Then, early last year, I received a new invitation from new writing fellows. Same day of the week. Same time. This time in person...
Already blessed with one writing group, I was suddenly bestowed with another. A bar I frequent advertised it would be hosting a public writing group called Shut Up and Write...Writing with strangers was certainly different, but the results were the same. I became a regular attendee. And the strangers became friends. Friends enough to be invited to Friendsgiving. And with the accountability and encouragement of two writing groups, I finished another shitty first draft before the year was out.”
I visited Thailand this May--my childhood home. And as I wrote about my experience, I noticed something strange in how I spoke to my friends.
Another excerpt, “Everything I say is a rough draft. What I really mean is written down. I have no problem letting friends and strangers hear these works in progress as I workshop thoughts and stories. This is the creative process...
But as I began to reflect on my trip to Thailand, I noticed I was holding back with those closest to me. Not that I was afraid. I wanted to share. Intensely. But I realized I wanted them to hear the polished thought first. The fully faceted emotion...I wanted it to be treated seriously...”
And as I thought about what I wanted to read for you today, and these passages I wrote this year came to mind, I was struck by the blessing it is to have a community, to have friends, to have people who will listen to my half-formed thoughts and read my ham-fisted writing and take them seriously from the beginning, without iteration, editing, or rehearsal. People who let me be a first draft.
I embedded links in the transcription of the reading here, otherwise I resisted the urge to make any edits.
Thank you Emmalee and Josh for starting the writing group and asking me to share. And thank you Emmalee and Annmarie for taking a couple photos of the reading.