Before I go on, I want to tell you about a relevant virtual event on Thursday, Sept. 21 at 2 pm ET I’m doing with Creative Capital and their Director of Artist Initiatives Aliza Shvarts on low-stress networking as artists. CLICK HERE for info and registration.
As I prepare this talk, it occurs to me that most of my “networking” activities really amount to being aware of how important it has been for me to be with communities of other writers and artists, not just in terms of my career but also for my overall well-being. And being fortunate enough to receive the Creative Capital Award this year is testament to that.
For years I had this block about applying to things because apart from having significant attention-deficit issues, I also have issues around being evaluated by cis and white folks. But in 2020 I started a virtual queer writing group with Garrard Conley and Michelle Hart, which grew to include Austen Osworth, Nick White, and Denne Michele Norris (and Torrey Peters, currently on hiatus). Not only did I get an enormous amount of support of insight from my fellow writers, but this was also how I discovered that everyone else seemed to be applying to things all the time. This helped me get over my weird traumas around grant and residency applications, and led to my first fiction residency at Hambidge in early 2022, and ultimately this amazing grant from Creative Capital.
The other funny thing about getting the Creative Capital award is that I probably wouldn’t have applied had I not met my friend Arturo Vidich in an online workshop we took with Garth Greenwell. We bonded over being dancers-turned-writers, and them mentioning that they’re a CC awardee prompted me to look up the grant and put in my application. Arturo also coached me through the various stages, and was especially helpful in helping me pick out my writing samples.
Though as much as forming relationships with other writers has helped my career, the ways other folks have helped me have mainly been accidental. I befriend people mainly because I like them and have some intuition that having them in my life would benefit me not in a material, tangible way, but just that I have things to learn from them. Then at some point, some of those folks end up playing substantial roles in helping me more tangibly.
To me, another key aspect of forming community as a writer is making friends with other writers and artists in all stages of their journeys, because there’s so much to learn from everyone and joy to be had from being in community with folks. Over the summer, I was fortunate enough to teach at both the Tin House Summer Workshop and Lambda Retreat, where it was really gratifying to get to know the other instructors, yes, but in many ways even more wonderful to form lasting bonds with my students.
One of my first mentors, the incomparable Alexander Chee, taught me the value not just of building community to advance my own work, but doing so to further the work others. He’s been a friend since we met at Wesleyan Writers Conference over a decade ago, and I look forward to being friends with my former students throughout our careers.
Happy writing and friending,
Meredith