WILDACRES RETREAT CENTER
August 27 - 29
Little Switzerland, NC www.wildacres.org
Click Here for more info.

Fee includes everything: the writing sessions, lodging in modern rooms with private baths, and delicious meals, Friday dinner - Sunday breakfast.
$192. Reserve your spot by sending me your deposit check, as explained here

FLORENCE ART SCHOOL
September 25 - 26
Glendale Springs, NC, on the Blue Ridge Parkway in Ashe County
Click Here for more info.

Total for the retreat, excluding housing, $190. Price includes lunch.
Modern onsite accommodations available, $45/night double occupancy, $60 single.
www.florenceartschool.org
Register by contacting Meghan Minton at Florence School.

OCEANFRONT AT HOLDEN BEACH
November 5 - 7
Holden Beach, NC
Click Here for more info.

My annual and much beloved beach retreat. We stay in a modern house and gather in a circle to freewrite to prompts geared to get your imagination all fired up - while the ocean waits for us to take a break and stroll along its edge. Rest in a rocking chair on the porch and view sunrise and sunset. $263.
Fifty percent or more of the attendees at a retreat are usually returnees. This is the best comment I can make to convince you - you will absolutely love the writing retreat! Give it a try. If you're not satisfied, I'll refund your money. Reserve your spot by sending me your deposit check, as explained here

GENERAL INFO ABOUT THE RETREATS:
(See further below for details on a particular retreat)

Prerequisite for joining me for a retreat: You like to write! We will write and write. I give suggested starting points - aimed at stimulating your creative fire. You will go in directions with your writing that you wouldn't have otherwise, and come up with unexpected and refreshing directions with on-going projects. Even novelists, with my writing exercises, will find new twists that enliven their work. (I guarantee it).

If you're working on any project - poetry, nonfiction or fiction - bend the suggest starting point to it. By doing so, you challenge your imagination. The result will delight you. I've taught classes at Central Piedmont Community College in poetry, nonfiction and fiction - even journalism and storytelling, so have your questions ready. I am glad to be of assistance at the retreats.

We will take breaks, and eat well, and enjoy conversing, but mainly we will write. We will freewrite, using the process outlined in a little book I've recommended hundreds of times. Writing Down the Bones, by Natalie Goldberg.

To Register for Wild Acres or Ocean Front Retreats:
Send a $45 nonrefundable deposit check made out to me for $45. Pay the balance at the retreat. Space is limited - so get your registration check to me as soon as you can. Make check to me and mail to:
6211 Jim Kidd Rd., Huntersville, NC 28078.

To register for Florence Retreat:
Contact the school at www.florenceartschool.org

WILDACRES RETREAT CENTER
August 27 - 29
Little Switzerland, NC www.wildacres.org

WRITE WILD AT WILDACRES!

Get your words on the page effortlessly. Write to prompts and exercises guaranteed to unleash and energize your imagination. Why, it's just pure fun! And productive! Got writer's block? No time to write? Need help with crafting writing? Then head on up to the mountaintop! Everyone can write to this method - no sweat. Come prepared to write write write, with notebook or laptop. Exult in the Wildacres experience, gain a bit of knowledge about the art of writing, and go away plumb proud of your accomplishments.

Wildacres is the kind of place where you wish you could stay. It's peaceful and lovely, dedicated in 1946 by I.D. and Madolyn Blumenthal to "the betterment of human relations and interfaith dialogue." It's a well-known truth for those of us who've been privileged to spend time there: Wildacres is a blessed place.

There are other groups there when we are, so we interact with them - and that's fun. See the Wildacres schedule online to see who else will be in residence.

We are housed in the South Lodge, a modern three-story building with rooms with private baths. All accommodations are double occupancy unless you request for health reasons a private room. (It will cost you a bit extra.) If you need a ground floor room, let me know. Most rooms will be on upper floors and there are no elevators.

Meals are served family style in the contemporary and lovely dining hall.

Wildacres is located up the mountain from Marion, NC, which is located alongside I-40 about halfway between Hickory and Asheville. Nearest town is Spruce Pine, nearest crossroads town is Little Switzerland where there's a restaurant and bookstore.

Wildacres is a collection of a few lovely buildings clustered on top of Pompey's Knob surrounded by many wooded acres. It's a gorgeous place. I consider it a holy place.

There are hiking trails, and from the rocking chairs on the patio and deck a gorgeous view looking toward Mt. Mitchell, and an amphitheatre where we will do a reading. (Bring a poem to share - one by a poet you like, and one of your own.)

To Register for Wild Acres:
Send a $45 nonrefundable deposit check made out to me for $45. Pay the balance at the retreat. Space is limited - so get your registration check to me as soon as you can. Make check to me and mail to:
6211 Jim Kidd Rd., Huntersville, NC 28078.

FLORENCE ART SCHOOL
September 25 - 26
Glendale Springs, NC, on the Blue Ridge Parkway in Ashe County

GET IT DONE! (OR, WRITE TO A GOAL)

First, we choose (via in-class exercise) memoir, fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, or other. We set a realistic personal goal, "a dream with a deadline." In-class exercises and editing tips ensure success. Together, we embark on an adventure! Expect to achieve writing that delights you.

Florence Art School opened in 2009, the gift of Florence Thomas, a beloved Ashe County artist who died in 2007. The school holds primarily visual arts classes. I am glad to be leading a writing class there.

Ashe County is one of my favorite places. There's a poem in my book (117 Poems, available online at amazon and mainstreetrag and through your bookstore), that focuses on Big Horse Creek, a beautiful creek that feeds into the New River. The county's biggest town is West Jefferson. I will be going there for dinner and will be pleased to have you join me. (The school does not serve dinner.)

At the 2009 retreat we also took time to ride the Blue Ridge Parkway late in the day. Was a lovely experience to see the shadows change over the mountains as the day grew late, yet we were only "a few minutes from home."

Florence School sits directly behind the Northwest Trading Post, one of the few "tourist stores" on the parkway. I took my morning walk on the parkway.

To register for Florence Retreat:
Contact the school. www.florenceartschool.org