Kortney Garrison

This is my best writing advice…that doesn’t even really sound like writing advice.

Melissa Wiley wrote a poem about the creative process called “Always Leave Thread in the Needle.” I love the unexpectedness of this piece, the way what we need is found in outside the usual places. In the ashes, fallen leaves, and overturned drawers.

When I finish embroidery for the day, I always thread the needle with fresh thread. This is the hardest part for my tired eyes. If I do the hard part first, I can easily begin stitching the next time I open my project bag.

Dedicate space and time in your day to return to the page. Make it easy to get back to work. Keep your notebook and a box of black pens near you. Have good words in your ears. And quiet too.

Thanks for reading along here this month! I hope that in reading about my writing practice, you’ve been inspired to think about your own process. And maybe even got to the page some mornings. Things will probably get quieter in the coming month as I try to follow my own advice and make space for the coming light.

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When I am looking for handwork, I usually reach for embroidery. but I also love to make postcards out of calendar pages.

For years I had saved Nikki McClure calendars, but this year I have a MOMA page a day calendar. So many possibilities! We’ve loved looking at a new painting each day. And now I am slowly making a stack of cards.

I love to have a sheet of stamps ready with a few postcards. It’s the perfect way to send a thank you note or a quick hello.

But the best present that I could think to send is a postcard poem. My work is generally very short and perfect for the small spaces of postcards. For the past few years I have participated in February Peace Postcards.

In August SPLAB hosts Poetry Postcard Fest. I discovered these poets just after the cutoff date last year. I’ve been quietly dreaming of the end of next Summer and the cards I will send.

This year Rattle is hosting a postcard poem contest. It closes at the end of January, so maybe that’s another project for the first month of the new decade.

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In a recent letter Holly Wren Spaulding mentioned what she calls embodied and improvisational tools including slowness, benevolent company, quiet, rest, space, and courage. Holly’s spacious improvisations overlap with my own reasons for loving handwork.

My life and work as a mother and homeschooler is filled with the 10,000 things that need doing. I work on embroidery projects to give definition to my time off. I don’t want it to slip away because I have failed to pay attention. And yet I’m looking for a way to step away from obligation and requirements.

Embroidery stills the insistent voices in my head and in our world that says we need to do more, we need to consume more, we need to be more.

For a few minutes each day I claim my sovereignty.

By choosing to slow down, to be quiet, to rest, I create a space where courage becomes possible.

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Yesterday I mentioned the #AmWriting podcast. Another favorite is Ann Kroeker. She’s a writing coach in your ears!

I first came across Ann’s work 10 years ago while searching for Ann Voskamp. Isn’t that a blast from the past?! I emailed her or left a comment about looking for one thing and finding another. She was so gracious! How serendipitous her first book felt for me.

All through the years I’ve been a reader of her blog and listener to her podcast. Then our paths crossed again when I wrote the prompts for Tweetspeak Poetry, one of her publishers, for a season. These tiny affirmations early on in my Homeschool MFA were the spark, the sign that I was on the right path, that I hadn’t let go of the thread.

I was riveted listening to a recent episode on free writing vs. thinking before you come to the page. It’s a false dilemma of course. The two practices reinforce and strengthen each other. But hearing Ann puzzle it out is enlightening. And it made it easy to see how both practices could enliven my writing.

I’m due for a re-read of Ann’s excellent book On Being a Writer. I think it might be just the thing for the new year. A way through the dark of winter with writing together as our guide. I’d love to have you read along with me!

Click here to see all the Listening to My Life :: Homeschooling an MFA in Poetry posts.