Have you ever said, "If I just set aside one weekend for nothing else, I could ...
~ start that short story
~ make an outline
~ write some scenes
~ edit what I've written
~ draft an essay ..."
Well, here's your chance.
Rolling Ridge and facilitators Mary Watters and Keith Lyndaker Schlabach are inviting you to a weekend to write and do little else.
The weekend begins at 7 p.m. Friday with dinner at the retreat house. Go ahead, leave work early and come out to set up your space. We'll talk during dinner, then gather briefly for introductions to each other and the land. Then silence until Saturday breakfast. Meals are healthy and delicious, as much of the food is grown in the organic community garden at Rolling Ridge. We'll talk during meals. The rest is silence.
The weekend officially ends after Sunday breakfast and a gathering time to allow participants to talk about the process and their experience. Sunday lunch is included. Writers depart around 3 p.m. Those wanting to have a longer stay can discuss the possibility when signing up.
Each writer will have a personal workspace with an electrical outlet for a laptop but no internet connections. All genres and types of writing are fine. As this is not a workshop, it's up to you to determine what you want to work on - poetry, fiction, plays, screenplays, memoirs, essays, non-fiction, family history - it's up to you.
In fact, with most Rolling Ridge retreats, we offer "content." But in this retreat, you are the content. Your work, your vision, your goals are enough to awaken what you want to bring forth. We're just giving you the chance to do it.
But we will be in the lovely West Virginia hills at a peak autumn leaf time, so walks on the many trails are certainly possibilities. So is walking the labyrinth or taking time for personal reflection in the Meditation Shelter. If you want to have a private conversation with someone, just be mindful not to disturb others.
Facilitators will be available as sounding boards if you run into snags or want to talk through a writing concern.
If you have questions about the weekend, feel free to contact Mary at 301-277-2189 or Keith at 304-725-4301
The cost of the retreat, including lodging and five meals, is $65 per person (scholarships available). Please register by sending a $20 deposit toward the retreat fee (or the entire amount) to the address given below. Please make checks payable to Rolling Ridge (Meditative Arts Retreat October 2004). Let us know if you have special dietary needs.
The poet's eye, in a fine frenzy rolling,
Doth glance from heaven to earth, from earth to heaven:
And as imagination bodies forth
The forms of things unknown, the poet's pen
Turns them to shapes, and gives to airy nothing
A local habitation and a name.
From A Midsummer Night's Dream