Write A Dozen+ New Scenes in 3 Days
Yes, it’s true, you can write twelve or more surprising, engaging, vivid new scenes in a weekend. Join me at the Hackmatack Retreat Center in Richmond, Illinois, October 7-9, for a life-changing intensive called Thriving Along Disturbed Edges. At this 3-day intensive we’ll pull out every tool in the box to question and scrutinize all aspects of the story you think you know.
Whatever you dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. Begin it now. – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Your life’s main plot points shape who you are, and shape who you will become. And you arrange and rearrange those plot points changes everything. But plotting a life, on or off the page, is especially challenging in times of deep uncertainty. Paradoxically, language and narrative provide us the very tools we need to face such uncertainty and thrive within it. That’s because understand ourselves and others through the lens of story, and we achieve agency in our lives by creating coherent, empowering narratives from what can otherwise seem like random experiences. At this extraordinary retreat, we will tune into the past, present, and future using inventive, relentlessly curious, and often hilarious creative writing exercises to shake up and unearth our narrative selves. We will reinvigorate our life stories, brining greater clarity to the past, greater power to the present, and far greater possibility to the future. Participants will leave with fresh takes on their old stories and a dramatically expanded and clarified vision of the chapters not yet written. In this light, the retreat is perfect and profoundly helpful for memoirists and personal essayists, but writers of all genres will find value, because this retreat is designed to supercharge your writing life both creatively and practically. Creatively, you’ll come away energized, inspired, and loaded with specific craft tools you can bring to the page. Practically, you will come away with clear writing goals and a structure through which to actually achieve those goals over the next decade. You’ll also come away with new material and deeper, sharper insights into any current works in progress. If you don’t have a current writing project, that;’s fine: just bring an open mind and heart, a willingness to play with language, a deep curiosity about your own life story, and a desire write your own best next chapter. And to note: you do not need to be a writer to benefit. We all have life stories, and we are all narrators of our own lives, and we all benefit from scrutinizing our own stories within the context of our past, present, and future. Space is limited for this intimate retreat, so inquire soon. We are very happy to answer questions to help you decide if this is the right retreat at the right time for you. Just send us an email.
I would very much love to write with you!
Love,
Jeannine
