The Byrds, transitions, and IG Lives too
(And also, a couple of royalty-free images along the way)
The soundtrack of my childhood is filled with songs like this:
To everything - turn, turn, turn
There is a season - turn, turn, turn
And a time to every purpose under heaven1
I didn’t grow up in the 50s or 60s, but I did grow up with parents who grew up in the 50s and early 60s. Their vast record collection — along with my father’s insistence that we only listen to “good music” — meant that I grew up with the sounds of The Byrds and The Beatles, The Beach Boys and, apparently, a whole lot of other groups that start with the letter “B.”
As it goes, the song, “Turn! Turn! Turn!” is often the first that comes to mind when I think about seasons. Based on the third chapter of Ecclesiastes, when composer and artist Pete Seeger added the line, “A time of peace; I swear it’s not too late,” the song became solidified as a protest song and one that called for a different kind of transition.2
When Seeger initially wrote the song in 1959, he wrote it as a statement against lingering Cold War practices. Although The Byrds initially performed it at Greenwich Village in 1962, it didn’t reach number one status until 1965 — at the height of the Civil Rights Movement and in the same year troops landed on the ground in Vietnam for the first time. That year, “…men on campuses burned their draft cards, black civil rights activists withstood fire hoses and police dogs, and President Lyndon Johnson promoted his ‘great society’ reforms.”3
It was a time to turn, turn, turn like none other.
I don’t doubt it’s all that different in our world now, not when it often feels like our world has been turned upside-down by hunger and war, by political division and joblessness.
What then does it mean to turn and fight for good, for peace, for change in our neighborhoods and our cities, in our country and around the world?
What does it mean to believe it’s not too late?
As often is the case, I intended this piece of writing to land in one spot and it decided to head in a totally different direction. I meant to use the lyrics as a minor illustration, before telling you a story of bringing back IG Live “You’re Brilliant!” conversations.
But sometimes, when you head down a Pete Seeger rabbit hole, you come across a whole new patch of carrots.4
All of this now feels terribly irrelevant and also quite trite — but I’m going to tell you one more story of turning and transition, as originally intended in this piece of writing.
First, a bit of a back story: I’ve off and on interviewed authors on IG Live (and previously, on FB Live) for the last several years. It’s been a way to promote other authors and keep my head in the game when I haven’t been writing and releasing books every two years. I love connecting with folks, and hopefully, helping them and their words shine a little bit too.
Birthing a book into this world is not easy, not when so much is dependent on marketing, promotion, and sales (to the detriment of many writers who just want to be writers and have no desire to become social media experts along the way). Engaging in a half hour conversation with like-minded friends became my way of promoting and helping them sell a few more books.
But when writing Church Camp became a reality, I knew I had to prioritize my own writing — which included prioritizing my own reading. I needed time to read books for research, books that talked about the history of camping and of concepts of hell and of revivalism alike.5
I was spending so much of my time reading other people’s words that I wasn’t doing the reading I needed to do to craft my own words.
So, I stopped doing IG Lives and instead started hosting writers here on Substack.6
While I’m happy to share the space with other writers, it didn’t seem to do the trick. Readers weren’t chomping at the bit to get to know other authors. Most of the authors I featured were grateful for the air time, but I doubt it put a dent in the ground when it came to book sales.
Plus, I missed the live conversation time with friends and strangers from the Internet. When I turned in my first draft and bid farewell to a part-time job, all in the course of 24 hours, I was left with a fair amount of free time on my hands. Pair this with a search for vocational balance and I realized it was time to turn, turn, turn, and bring back live conversations.
All of this is a fancy way of saying, “Hey, I’ll be in conversation with all these brilliant authors over the next couple of months and you should join us!” So, join us?
2/29:
, author of Theologizin’ Bigger73/14: Megan Benedict, author of Great Gusts8
3/21: Debie Thomas, author of A Faith of Many Rooms
3/28:
, author of whole94/11: Christie Purifoy, author of Seedtime and Harvest
4/18:
, author of Blessed are the Rest of Us4/25: Dana Trent, author of Between Two Trailers
5/2:
, author of Rift5/10: Catherine Ricketts, author of The Mother Artist
5/16: Liz Tichenor, author of The Night Lake
Most of the conversations will happen on Thursday mornings or during the lunch time hour on my Instagram page. If you’re not able to catch it live, you can always watch it after the fact!
In the meantime, might we all embrace transitions and turn, turn, turning, however they come, as they come.
I’m in this with you.
https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/byrds/turnturnturn.html
https://ig.ft.com/life-of-a-song/turn-turn-turn.html
https://ig.ft.com/life-of-a-song/turn-turn-turn.html
I don’t really think “Pete Seeger rabbit hole” and “patch of carrots” necessarily pair together, but I read enough Peter Rabbit as a child to know rabbits love themselves a good carrot.
If you’re curious what books really shaped Church Camp, this list is a good start and so is this one.
Who have we hosted? So many great folks. Look through all the old posts named “read this.”
Obviously, February 29th has already passed. BUT I LOVED MY CONVERSATION WITH TREY! Check it out.
This children’s book actually releases on March 19th, but you can pre-order it now. As it goes, we’ll also then talk a fair amount about children’s literature. This new territory excites me!
Help Marla reach 1000 pre-orders by ordering a copy of her newest book of poetry today!
I’m so grateful for you and the way you lift up other writers AND I cannot wait to chat with you in a couple weeks AND I reeeeally can’t wait to promote the hell out of your church camp book, says the woman who poured her heart into being a church camp counselor for two summers in the late 90s and got a future ex-husband out of the deal. 🤣 Love you!! 😘