New in ‘22: Workshops, Classes & Maybe Retreats
Hello, hello! We’re back from our retreat in Ixtapa, and it was sublime. As one writer put it, “We changed here. We all changed. And that’s life, But we did it in one week!” I will be integrating those changes for a long time to come, and seeking to pull their effects through my creative work as we prepare for the turn of the new year. I hope you, too, are finding sources of light and energy to carry you through this season of short days and low light.
For me, teaching, too, is a source of light, and the new year will bring new classes! Starting in January, I’ll be teaching Art of the Fractured through Catapult. That course is already sold out, unfortunately! However, I will offer my Art of the Fractured curriculum through Elephant Rock in March, so if that appeals to you, watch for registration information sometime in January.
Meanwhile, I am offering a special, craft-intensive on voice for the tenth session of Writing in the Dark. Editors, agents, readers all ask for a strong, compelling voice on the page. But how do you do that? Starting on January 13 and meeting for six consecutive Thursdays, WITD X will explore voice: how do you develop yours for the page, and does it really belong to you, or to the project? What about the voices of other characters? How can voice be both yours and not yours, and what is “authentic” anyway? Tuition for the six-week session is $490 and sessions fill quickly. Please email me right away if you wish to hold a spot!
And, here’s great news: if you have a special element of craft that you would like to see covered in a future session of WITD (character development, place, dialogue, de-familiarization of language & imagery, potent beginnings, better endings, etc.), please let me know, as I will be scheduling several craft-specific WITD sessions in 2022 and am happy to consider your priorities as I develop my curriculum.
As for in-person workshops, I was about to announce a couple of weekend intensives, and then omicron hit. So I am waiting a couple of weeks to see what we find out before I commit to anything in person. I will keep you posted as soon as I know (and these intensives will be limited to eight vaccinated writers). Hopefully I’ll be able to announce dates soon—I am looking at March/April.
Okay, that’s all for now! I will be in touch at least once more before the end of 2021, and I hope to hear from some of you before that about Writing in the Dark.
To sign off, I would like to offer you this beautiful poem that we heard every morning and evening during our retreat meditations. May we all arrive, carrying our words, wherever we need to be. May we all sing, and recognize our relative.
Carrying Our Words
We travel carrying our words.
We arrive at the ocean.
With our words we are able to speak
of the sounds of thunderous waves.
We speak of how majestic it is,
of the ocean power that gifts us songs.
We sing of our respect
and call it our relative.
Translated into English from O’odham by the poet.
