Last Chance for The Island of Happy Days
Originally Published April 14th, 2019
Ahh! Just one spot left for our Summer Solstice Retreat for Writing & Yoga on the magical Stout’s Island! I can hardly wait for those long June days, the writing circles, the early morning cacophony of birdsong as we amble into the yoga room, all of those amazing readings, and the high bright summer sun bouncing off the lake every afternoon. There’s nothing like it. If your writing life needs a breath of life, please consider joining us this June on The Island of Happy Days. That’s what Stout’s Island is known by, and what we’ve come to know it by, as well. We would love to write with you.
In other news, I had a birthday! Every twelve months, it happens. Another chance to start again. So, in the year ahead, my goal is to submit much, much more of my creative work—essays and short stories—to literary journals. In fact, I want to submit so much that I get 100 rejections. I have a few writing friends joining me in this endeavor, and if you want to join, all you have to do is make a commitment to shoot for 100 rejections. The point, of course, is to be more productive, get better and better as you go, and, inevitably, place some of that beautiful work, too.
Oh, and bit of lovely news about one of my wonderful students, Kristine Jepsen! Her essay, “Jaw Wiring: What You Need to Know,” won the 2018 Flash Nonfiction Contest at Sweet: A Literary Confection, and is now a chap booklet available at a classroom discount for the teachers among us. I met Kristine through the Association of Writers & Writing Programs (AWP), because I serve as an AWP Writer to Writer mentor and Kristine was my wonderful mentee in 2016. Last month in Portland at AWP, Kristine gave a reading from Jaw Wiring, and I so wish I could have been there to cheer her on! Kristine found her form for this essay in my Elephant Rock remote class, Art of the Fractured, which focuses on fragmented forms, and which will happen again later in 2019 (watch this newsletter and the Facebook page for enrollment dates!) Congratulations, Kristine! Her chap booklet is available for purchase at Sweet.
That’s all for now! Thanks for reading and if you want to grab that last spot for Solstice, let me know!
Warmly,
Jeannine
