The power of imagination makes us infinite.
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The last INTERP WRITING INTENSIVE
of 2012
is
THIS SUMMER in Taos, NM | | Extra-early bird registration is open! | |
Click here for more info and to register today!
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Love the work. It's what you own, it's what you control, and the joy you find in it is what no one can take away from you.
All the rest is fairy dust.
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Finding Space
I'm having a tough time staying in my chair today. A tough time keeping pen to paper, fingers to keyboard.
Disruption and distraction are everywhere. A garbage truck lumbers in the street, bangs bins and wheezes them aloft, clank-clunks the contents into the truck bay, grinds its way to the next bin. A helicopter--third one this morning and a reminder of the powerline poles that will soon spike one of my favorite hiking areas (I should email the county commissioners again, not that it  will help, but still...)--whump-whumps overhead, temporarily drowning out a neighbor's lawn mower, traffic, birdsong, and the ambitious flicker trying to chisel his way through my roof. The microwave dings, reminding me to retrieve my tea. My chair squeaks when I fidget.
Visual noise distracts me, too. Stacks of paper, calendars open to the week and the month reminding me of all the things I have to do and haven't started, the deadlines about to collide, projects with problems and challenges and interesting things to discover and really cool pictures and a list of things I'm supposed to be doing right this minute so that something else can happen a couple of months down the road.
Email beckons. My to-do list, now in convenient software form, expands to fill the size of an infinitely long piece of paper. In the thirty minutes before my next meeting, the phone will ring at  least twice, and at least once, someone will wander into my office and ask a question, make a random comment, or rummage through the cabinet for a missing cable or fresh ream of paper.
Inside my head is noisy, too. All that chatter about errands and groceries and did I remembers and when do I need to pick up whom, the daily background of ordinary, modern life.
Days like this, I feel like I'm being pecked to death. Each interruption is a poke, each plea to pay attention (to me--no, to me!-no, me, me!!)--a jab. My skin prickles with irritation and frustration. It's impossible to settle long enough to think, let alone figure out how to string sentences together. I need some space.
Ahhhh...Space.
Uncluttered space on my desk and in my office. Quiet space in the air around me. Space devoid of calendars and to-do lists and well-meaning but oblivious friends/family/colleagues. Space big enough to stretch my arms without hitting anyone else's priorities.
Of such things are writers' retreats made. On retreat, I vanish into a space of my own design. This coming week, I have the great good fortune to stay at a friend's mountain home while she travels. It'll be quiet, though not entirely meetingless (unless the  wind knocks out the network, which has been known to happen). Somehow, I've managed to clear the calendar, find alternatives to my household and family duties, and either wrap-up or postpone anything unrelated to the Big Writing Project that's been on hold for too long.
This sort of respite doesn't come along often, and I am grateful for every second. I am also mindful of how important it is to find space every day during which I can write. Sometimes that space is at my desk (it's not always this messy); days like today, it's often at the library or a local coffee shop.
I call it "sacred writing space"-not because I'm religious, but because naming the space "sacred" reinforces its importance and value.
It's easy to fall prey to the belief that you can write any time (so delay writing until later), that it's easy (so not as important as "harder" things, which includes everything except writing), that it'll take hardly any time at all (so the writing can wait). The rest of the world crowds in, proclaiming its importance and demanding your attention, and your writing...waits.
Writing, whether it's our own creative work or the stories we create and craft for sites and agencies, matters. It is important. It  deserves our attention.
And so we must make space for it. We must hold that space open, and enter it, and put our pens to the paper, and write.
Judy
Comments? Questions?
Tell us!
970/416-6353
888/886-9289
email Judy
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Upcoming in 2012
Interpretive Writing Intensive
August 5-August 10, 2012
Taos, New Mexico
Registration is open now--
Extra-early bird registration extended until April 28, 2012.
(more details below and on our web site)
Advanced Interpretive Writing
October 7-October 12, 2012
Wallace Falls Lodge, Washington
Registration opening soon.
(open only to those who have completed the Interp Writing Intensive or Inside Interpretive Writing workshops, or by invitation/instructor permission)
This fall (or thereabouts): watch for our new book on interpretive writing! |
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Improve your writing this summer with the
Interpretive Writing Intensive
August 5-10, 2012 San Geronimo Lodge, Taos, NM
Freeman Tilden said interpretive writing should be
"concise, focused, inspirational, and engaging."
Lofty goals for any writer!
- What makes interpretive writing interpretive;
- How to create writing that connects with the reader;
- Techniques for strengthening language, including pacing, language use, and word choice;
- Strategies for organizing;
- How to write for any length or space;
- How to write for different media, different audiences, and different uses;
- How to write for maximum impact;
- How to write even if you think you can't;
- How to take your writing "off-site";
- Humble punctuation;
- Accessing--and improving--creativity (or, the Muse will visit if chocolate is involved);
- Dealing with writer's block (or, how to get the Muse to visit if you're out of chocolate);
- and MORE.
Improve your writing this summer at the Interpretive Writing Intensive, August 5-10, 2012 at San Geronimo Lodge, Taos, New Mexico.
Register today to take advantage of the Extra-Early Bird discount--$200.00 off the regular registration! Register three or more people at the same time and save another $50 per person! Extra-Early Bird Registration prices effective through midnight, April 28, 2012 or until workshop is full, whichever happens first. To ensure a quality experience with plenty of individual attention, workshop size is limited to 15 people. Registration is first-come, first-served.
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Join us at historic
August 5-10, 2012
Taos, New Mexico
Built in 1925, the San Geronimo lodge was one of the first hotels in Taos, and the first "resort" hotel. This enchanting inn offers historic charm with all the comfort and convenience of modern day lodging. back to top |
we help you tell the story
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