How Participating In Workshops Helped Me Find A Sense of Community
At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, I was just beginning to dedicate more time to poetry. As someone who was part of their high school’s poetry club and later fell back in love with both the reading and writing of it, I knew I wanted to start trying new things. After all, poetry had always been a source of light for me, so it felt natural that amid so much darkness, I found my way to it yet again.
I wanted to work on the craft and immerse myself in the beautiful words of poets I’d yet to even discover. I started writing more, submitting to a journal or two just weeks into the pandemic, and also began looking into writing workshops. I wanted to keep my mind off of all the bad stuff that was happening in the moment and took a chance on my first poetry workshop in April 2020. I had no idea it would end up leading me to so many other incredible workshops and, ultimately, an incredible sense of community within the poetry universe.
I started off with Sierra DeMulder’s WORDY workshop, a six-week, self-paced study of the art of spoken word. The workshop was filled with thoughtful video lessons, engaging prompts, and assignments that got me thinking about poetry in ways I hadn’t previously. As a beginner and an introverted person generally, I never quite “mastered” the performance side of things, but I did fill the pages of my notebook in the duration of that workshop and while my mental health initially kept me from really jumping in, by the end, I knew that I wanted to keep learning and finding my way within the poetry community.
So I went in search of other opportunities. That’s when I stumbled upon Megan Falley’s Poems That Don’t Suck course/workshop.
In the five weeks of PTDS, I not only learned so much and shared a space that allowed for so much vulnerability and beauty, I also found such a sense of community—so much so that I signed up for another round of the workshop, in addition to Falley’s sophomore class After the Ode. Within these virtual spaces, I discovered such belongingness and camaraderie with people I’d made connections with. We encouraged and cheered each other on when writing/submitting a poem, shared our rejections (and book deals!), or celebrated wins (even mourned losses) as a group.
As someone who, at the start of the pandemic, felt so alone, these workshops helped foster that sense of community that I needed and I never could’ve imagined it would extend its reaches beyond a year past participating in that first workshop, but I’m so grateful it did. It’s allowed for connections to form not just locally, but internationally—and some in-person meetups may even be on the horizon soon.
Since my first two workshops, I’ve had the chance to participate in others, including Kelly Grace Thomas’s revision and submission-centric From Brainstorm to Book Deal, Andrea Gibson’s stunning Write Your Heart In, and most recently, Jon Sands’ Emotional Historians, which closed with a two-night reading from its all-star community members. Each one led to feeling even closer to fellow poets and deepening my connection within this community that I truly don’t think I could do without.
I’m beyond thankful for every opportunity I’ve had to participate in an online workshop space and if you’re questioning whether they’re for you, give one a try! You may just walk away with not only all that newfound writing knowledge but people that you’re lucky enough to call friends.
About Erica Abbott
Erica Abbott (she/her) is a Philadelphia-based poet and writer whose work has previously appeared or is forthcoming in Serotonin, FERAL, Gnashing Teeth, Selcouth Station, Anti-Heroin Chic, and other journals. She is the author of Self-Portrait as a Sinking Ship (Toho, 2020), her debut poetry chapbook. She volunteers for Button Poetry and Mad Poets Society. Follow her on Instagram @poetry_erica and on Twitter @erica_abbott and visit her website here.
