Category Archives: Workshops and Retreats

Do Writers Need to Run Away? Do You Really Need a Writer’s Retreat?

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2017 Schedule for National and (New) International Writing Workshops coming soon!

WHY DO WRITERS RUN AWAY TO WRITE?

Or: How Good Are You at Traveling ALONE?

You may be wondering how the two questions are related. But, how good are you at traveling alone?  As in: solo. By yourself. No one else.  Because, getting away to write is one thing. Actually accomplishing the act of writing, while traveling with someone else, is another.

Many writers believe they’ll carve out time while their spouse/lover/friend/teenage child goes off on their own. But, if you’ve tried this (and I would love to hear your comments) you may have found that something (ahem) always got in the way of sitting down and Facing the Page.

I believe that we writers don’t just need to escape the everyday demands of life,  we need to let our brains, our spirits, ourselves, breathe in strange places and new faces; without having someone else interpret it for us.  When we travel alone, we live life at a heightened level. Our senses are awakened. We’re naturally more open when we travel solo. We can use this openness to access a deeper part of who we are. (And, yes, we’re much more likely to find the time to sit down and write for a few hours between meeting all those new faces and seeing those interesting places.)

What about writing retreats? They’re wonderful. As long as we have unstructured, alone time every day. Because when there’s no one around to worry about what we’re up to (smile) we give ourselves the freedom to be who we want to be. And to write what we want to write.

If traveling alone seems daunting, I urge you to go to my Author page: https://www.facebook.com/MaryAnnHenryAuthor/ and “Like It” because then you’ll stay with me. I have taken it as my mission in life to inspire other women to travel by themselves. Scroll down through the “Adventuress” posts and you’ll find information about traveling solo. And, I promise, if you hang in there with me, over the next few months, I will empower you to take that first solo journey.

Was I ever afraid of solo and adventure travel? You bet. But, over the years, I re-trained myself. In the last year I solo-traveled for a month in Ireland. Spent 60 days on a freezing mountain top alone. NYC: solo! And hiked the Olympic Mountains… alone.  Stay with me as I share tips like ”How To Pack for 30 Days in a Tiny Backpack and Still Look Stylish”.  Here’s that link again: See you on the Trail!    https://www.facebook.com/MaryAnnHenryAuthor/

If the Act of Writing Scares You

Announcing: FINDING YOUR VOICE WRITING WORKSHOP    DEC 4-6, 2015

If your own writing scares you, you are not alone. I should know. I’m a scared writer magnet. I attract beginning, and sometimes seasoned, writers from all over the United States, Canada and Europe who have stared at the monstrous entity of their writing talent and fallen to the ground in fear. When the monster shows no mercy – in fact, begins to chase them – they run. They throw themselves off metaphorical cliffs, into raging seas of self-doubt until, finally, they grab onto the first bit of floating debris. If, in the act of saving themselves, they latch onto the website for the Lowcountry Writers Retreat, they may just wash ashore in Folly Beach Carolina

When I first started teaching “beginning” adult writers, I thought such behavior might signify a lack of talent. Now, I know better. In fact, I think in many cases, fear of not being good enough may signify a true writing talent.

I met one of my scared writers this morning. She had agonized for months about coming to work on her manuscript, only sending the first pages the night before her arrival. I read them before going to meet with her and was awed by the powerful voice I found in her work.

Sometimes, when I meet these Scared Writers for the first time, I want to yell, ‘How can you ignore this gift? Don’t you know you’re a writer and writers have to write?’ But, of course, I don’t because I might scare them back toward the ocean, swimming away from their talent, from themselves.

It’s a delicate process, that of bringing forth the writer. But, even after all those years of denial, it usually only takes about thirty minutes. The light goes on and they Get It. Then, the icing: they get real feedback on flow, syntax, tense changes. Real writers lap this up, recognizing the compliment that honest criticism bestows.

When they go home, the hard work will begin. Like the rest of us, they’ll have to sit in a chair and stare at the screen – as the old saying goes – until their forehead bleeds. But they leave, happy to start the process. And well they should: another drowning victim saved by their own determination.

Mentoring these Scared Writers is an honor and a responsibility. I have tried a few times in my life to stop teaching, thinking it may interfere with my own writing. But, each time I’ve tried, the raging sea coughs up another person who needs a safe place to land, maybe even a full blown resuscitation. I’m fine with it: someone has to be waiting at the shore. It’s not so much a choice as an assignment. And I’m constantly humbled by the talent of these emerging scribes. So, whatever beacon my little literary lighthouse is sending out into the world, I hope to shine on.

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