Writing Your Way Home

This weekend I’m doing something purely for myself. I’m attending Writing Your Way Home: A Poetry Weekend Intensive in Mendham, NJ.

There will be roughly 20 poets attending—most of whom I don’t know—staying at a retreat house on 93 acres of wooded land. I’m going with a few members of the Salem Writers’ Group.

Run by Laura Boss and Maria Mazziotti Gillan, the goal is to give writers the space and time to focus totally on our work in a serene setting away from the distractions of daily life. Something tells me a weekend is not enough! But by the end, I should leave the retreat with a few good drafts.

From the retreat description:

“We see this retreat as a spiritual and creative break from our usual lives; it will allow us to take some time to look at life in a new light, to listen for our own voices, and to create in stillness, in quiet, and in community. These are times of contemplation and welcoming the muse. We want this experience to be unique and totally different from any other experience in the participants’ lives. … The workshops will concentrate on writing our way home and the way writing can save us, save our stories and our lives.”

I need this like plasma. Full report to come.

Have a nice weekend!