Light-seeking Fungi

A very silly and joyful picture of the Monday Night Writers, who meet every other Monday night via Zoom. Shared with permission.

I'm going to be honest - back in 2019 I didn't think I was making any kind of grand statement when I announced that I was starting an all-women's creative writing workshop group. Mostly I did it because very few men signed up for my classes. In fact, gathering a group together took me longer than I’d like to admit. 

 This was mostly because my MFA training kept getting in my head. It said: will people know you're a serious writer if you run a women's only group instead of one that’s co-ed like the rest of the writing workshops you’ve attended? Will people take your work seriously?

 I think I was waiting for someone, probably a very literary man, to give me permission. But I was the only one who could do that. 

 Last Monday we workshopped two dynamic, unflinching nonfiction essays that I hope you'll get to read out in the world someday. We talked about the way the recent news has been affecting our writing, our bodies, our voice. Most of these women have been working together in this group for about a year, and so we know that talking about the emotions and resistance around the writing is just as important as talking about the craft of writing.

 It is becoming increasingly obvious to me that spaces where women can practice using their voice are more important than ever. I am a better writer and a better teacher when I let those old voices from my schooling fall away. In fact, leading a group of women writers has taught me things about the craft of writing, and how one should prepare a space for learning, that I never would have learned otherwise.

 At the end of our workshop last Monday evening I looked at everyone and asked, "how are you making it through days like these?"

 One participant mentioned that she had been attending a local dance festival for the first time in years. She saw a performance from the group Pilobolus. "The name is derived from some sort of light-seeking fungus," she said. “It seeks the light everywhere it goes.” We all laughed because it was just too on the nose.  

 Let's all be light-seeking fungi this week, for ourselves and for each other. 

[Photo shared with permission.]