Ma Clan

Today The Master's Artist welcomes guest poster, Susan Fish!

My husband and I once wandered around a Scottish festival, eating mushy peas and French fries with malt vinegar, looking at the booths draped with tartans and populated by family reunions, while I plaintively bleated, “Who is ma clan?”

Being part of any clan or group is a way of defining oneself, I suppose. This is who I am and these are the people who are like me. For a long time, I used this as an excuse to not write: “No one I know really sees me as a writer.” I finally said that aloud to someone, who looked back at me and said, “So?”

It was the challenge I needed to grow up. 

A few years later, after I unexpectedly gave birth to a novel (I thought it was just indigestion...), I attended a writer’s conference. I had opted to be part of a Fiction Intensive Workshop, where each participant submitted a chapter of a novel in advance of the conference, and was sent the various chapters to critique. We spent our sessions working through each piece of writing. I suppose it was a risk to put our work out there, but we were all rather gracious about it, recognizing perhaps that we had to be prepared to receive what we gave.

After that conference, I literally needed less sleep for weeks. My energy was that high. I was brimming over with great ideas. I was writing and revising. But I was also mourning. I was back among people who were not my clan and I missed them.

I made a friend at that first writer’s conference. Someone whose writing tickled my ear and made me smile. Someone who completely got what I was trying to do and loved it. Someone who had small suggestions that made my writing sing. Someone who was willing to correspond with me, and meet periodically, to discuss our work. Someone who was a man.

Many people have no issues with this kind of partnership, but I started to feel uncomfortable with the relationship, despite the boundaries I had established to protect my marriage. And yet, this person was definitely part of my clan.

What was a lassie to do?

One day, I realized I didn’t have to wait for the next writers’ conference or meet my friend in a cafe, but I did genuinely have need of a clan.

So, I made one.

There was one magnificent poet in town, about my age, who had recently discovered the Bible. There was a woman who used to go to my church who I heard was writing fiction. She had a colleague who was experimenting with prose. The poet had read another woman’s writing. We put the word out quietly and one January evening, we met in someone’s apartment and talked about what we wanted, what we were trying to do and how we might help each other do it better.

Essentially, we were each writing literary fiction, but not of the angst-ridden sort often found in mainstream literary journals. Not all of us were Christians, but we were all writing from a place of hope. And so we started to meet, using something like the structure of the fiction intensive workshop.

We just celebrated our fifth anniversary of meeting almost monthly. In that time, we have had two actual babies, published four books, written another five, walked alongside each other through some heartbreaking situations and some exhilarating joys. We have converted the poet to writing brilliant fiction, and interestingly, we have played a role in one of our members coming to faith and joining a church. We enjoy hanging out together, but we don’t forget why we get together – to help each other write better and to make each other’s work the best it can be.

Isn’t that what family’s for?

Susan Fish writes (and bleats) from Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. She would like to point you to read the brilliant poet’s writing, at ErinBow.com 

Comments

[Madison Richards]

Susan,

I can so relate! When I went to Mt Hermon for the first time I spent the entire week amazed and delighted! Here was a room full of hundreds of people, and not one of them minded that I wanted to talk about writing 24/7. No bored family members indulging my dreams, no well-meaning but disinterested friends and co-workers nodding at me with that deer in the headlights look... Just a group of fantastic men and women who "got me" and I "got them". What a delight!

I met many of the writers you read on these pages at that conference, and many, many more that I still follow and keep in contact with. That's what The Master's Artist is all about I think - being a community of like-hearted believers who may march to different drummers, but at our essence, we're all headed in the same direction!

Thanks so much for sharing your experience with us and being a part of our community!

Grace,
Madison

[Billy Coffey]

This is so true. It takes a writer to understand a writer. Putting words to a page can be the loneliest task in the world. We need that companionship and those shared hopes and fears.

That was a great post, Susan.

[Simon Maxwell]

I love it! It is great to hear about how you are getting together and cross-pollinating and being what each of you all need. It's true, you get such a shot of energy and ideas from others in the clan. And isn't it amazing to share in the successes. It's a real encouragement that your group is doing so well. All strength to you!