Author’s Gab, Reader Talk.
A letter to you, the reader, so that you can finally figure out what I’m thinking.
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This Month: Grow
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“Come, look up with kindness yet,
— Amanda Gorman, “New Day’s Lyric”
For even solace can be sourced from sorrow.
We remember, not just for the sake of yesterday,
But to take on tomorrow.”
Dear Readers,
I did something weird a couple weeks ago, something I haven’t done in awhile: I entered a poetry competition. And, I have been thinking about writing that line for weeks, because I recently did something weirder: I moved to Traverse City to take a job as an enterprise reporter at the Traverse City Record-Eagle. And, because I did that, where I entered this poetry competition wasn’t in the Detroit area, where I’m from. It was at the Traverse City District Area Library, located off of Woodmere Avenue by the police station, where, as a cops and courts reporter, I attend briefing every morning for work.
I entered to test three different types of my new work, villanelle, sonnet and sestina, to see how I’m doing and because I love entering poetry competitions in general. I have been thinking I should enter more of them as I continue to write more poetry. God knows I want to enter that Writer’s Digest annual competition and win that trip to the writer’s conference they have in New York every year, but somehow I didn’t last year. Because, everything suddenly changed. And, if there’s one thing me entering this poetry competition should tell you and where I entered it, it’s that everything in my life has changed — maybe except me loving poetry and poetry competitions.
I moved to Traverse City and took the job I took because I needed to grow as a journalist and as a writer in my first full-time reporting position. I also got laid off in June 2021 and needed a job, which I tried to find for six months, after getting laid off from MediaNews Group, along with two other news staff and, I’m told, half the advertising department. The company lost an automotive advertising contract and needed to eliminate jobs to save money and mine got cut. I’m still baffled as to why, one night, after getting a “you have one new job” notification, they posted my old job online. It felt anti-climatic in a way, after going through all of that, moving into my Traverse City apartment and getting all the way up here.
“Well, I guess I could get my old job back now,” I joked, thinking of all the problems it would solve with keeping my condo downstate. I’m not living there and we are trying to rent it out right now; but, thus far, we have not found a renter. But, it may take awhile to work that out, or sell it, depending on what we decide to do. For my part, I’m completely moved in and settling into Traverse City, trying to adjust to work and life here.
As I have done so, the change has been good but uncomfortable. As they say, “We’re not in Kansas anymore, Toto.” I’m growing as a journalist, writer and as a person here, and more into the person God wants me to be. I’m learning about reporting, specifically cops and courts reporting, and all that entails. I’m living somewhere I have never lived before and trying to live and work with people I have never lived and worked with before, and it’s always good to expand your social circles, places and perspectives. I’m going to church someplace I have never gone to church before. I’m working a 9-5 for the first time in my life. Everything’s new and has changed. It’s not just one thing, it’s everything that’s now stretching and growing me. And, like I said, that can be a little uncomfortable, especially being so far from home and family. But, it’s not a bad thing, like I said. It’s actually a very good thing, because change is good. It’s just that, when a lot changes at once, it can be very uncomfortable, shake you out of your comfort zone, which we all need from time to time, for God to stretch us further.
One good thing: I can say that moving to Traverse City puts my poem, “The Empty Chair” in perspective from this summer, because I was on a weekend with my sister when I wrote that. And now, living here, it’s totally different. I know the spot I wrote it at and I also know I’m going to drive 30 minutes home right after. It’s a weird feeling. And, it’s winter right now, so the bay is frozen. I definitely wrote that in summer. But still, it was cool the other day to say to a source on the phone, “Hey, I write poetry, I recently entered a poetry competition and I actually have a website for my work.” He said, “Oh really?” And, I was like, “Yeah, really.” It was a good feeling.
For a long time, I have kept this motto on this blog that writing is like a rose: with dedication, beauty, thorns, dedication and inspiration. I actually recently got a rose from “Planty AF”, a new houseplant shop in downtown Traverse City that replaced an old bookshop, “Books, Books, Books”. And, you know what it has? Leaves, thorns and rosebuds on it. We would agree that rose is beautiful, right? But, if you reached out and touched it with your fingers just so — OUCH! You’re probably going to get pricked. Life is like that. Writing is like that. It’s beautiful, it’s growing and it has buds and thorns.
I picked the word “grow” for my word of the year, because this year I have some growing to do, I decided. We made it here. Now, it’s not time to be stagnant. It’s time to grow, come what may, into that reporter, that writer, that person, God wants me to be. It’s time to go. It’s time to grow.
And, we all hit that point as writers, right? Because, if we don’t change as people, our writing isn’t going to change much either. It’s not going to get better. It’s not going to show improvement in our talent or skill. Each new work will lack variety, color and vibrance. If we fall stagnant, our writing does, too. I think the last thing anyone wants is for our writing to suffer because we have failed in our own personal growth as people and writers.
That’s what poetry competitions and writing conferences are for. They are to get you around other people, test your work and compel you to learn, to grow, so you don’t fall stagnant. That’s what a good writing magazine like Writer’s Digest is for, to get you to become the writer you want to be, to learn about all the awesome opportunities you have for you and your work to grow and what you can do as a writer.
Amanda Gorman, a poet of whose work I’m definitely a fan, and I’m definitely jealous because I’ve been at this for years and she somehow skyrocketed to the top of public attention and acclaim as a poet with one speech, put this whole growing bit plainly in her 2022 poem, “New Day’s Lyric”. She writes:
“Come, look up with kindness yet,
For even solace can be sourced from sorrow.
We remember, not just for the sake of yesterday,
But to take on tomorrow.”
There’s this chance we have to continue to learn and take on tomorrow. We take on tomorrow! Like, losing my job was a really hard circumstance for me. But, the solace that was sourced from sorrow was new life and work in Traverse City and the opportunity to grow as a journalist, writer and person. And, don’t think I have forgotten where I came from, but this is pushing me towards the future, the opportunity to keep taking on tomorrow. It may be uncomfortable at times, yes, but it’s a sign of my growth, rather than my weakness.
So, I’m going to ask you: what is that one uncomfortable thing you need to do to grow as a writer? What’s that one thing missing from your writing or career right now that you just haven’t done yet and still need to fulfill? Or, what’s that one writer’s conference you could enter? That poetry competition you still need to enter?
I’m not saying change everything, because, for me, all that other stuff followed naturally. If you’re life’s gonna change, it’s gonna change, baby. Nothing you can do to stop it! But, you can continue to push yourself in what you believe is the right direction for yourself and your writing, and I guarantee your writing will follow suit and grow right along with you. But, if you stay stagnant, if you give up on your dreams, lose sight of your goals and your determination for yourself and who you want to be, your writing will suffer too. I can also guarantee that.
I have friends who I have counciled about changes in their life and they always tell me how uncomfortable it feels. Or, I have one friend who put his career goals aside and then asked me how I was so successful in mine. The answer is to embrace the change and the discomfort and stay focused. Because, that’s how you grow as a writer and as a person.
Now, who thinks I’m going to win this poetry competition, hm? Winner gets published. Think about that. ~
Sincerely, Your Author,
Jessica A. McLean
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Recent Happenings:
- Recent Ad-Lib Activity:
- September 2021’s Ad-Lib is here!
- Here lies my foolish thinking. A writer is dedicated, not lazy. Making a resolution to pick up monthly Ad Libs again!
- TBA: I’m working on finishing my series on form. It’s a gigantic project, so I will probably split it in two. Stay tuned.
- Recently Published:
- Poems Added:
- “Taking a day to rest” is a villanelle I wrote while studying the villanelle form about me taking a day off with my cat, Midnight. It just goes to show that everybody needs a day off once and awhile, even me. In fact, sometimes, I think, I need more days like that and to not apologize for having them, as the poem says, because rest is important for your health.
- TBA — thoughts brewing
- Editing, editing, and more editing.
- Waiting 🙂
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The Rose 