If you neglect to recharge a battery, it dies. And if you run full speed ahead without stopping for water, you lose momentum to finish the race.––Oprah Winfrey
Dearest Writers,
Though I won't be offering summer classes, you can come for one day (or more) during either of my retreats and thus keep your hand in your art, craft, process and community. July 8-10 is a short weekend retreat (Friday 6-9pm, Saturday 9-6pm, Sunday 9-3pm) which you can read more about here.
But remember, you can come for Saturday only and get a lot done for only $110. Just click here. That same link works for the August 1-5 Summer Camp and/or the August 5-7 weekend retreat. So please don't hesitate to drop in, either in person or on Zoom! We are a growing and expanding community, sort of like an accordion. Or a telescope.
Finally, I am thinking ahead to Fall, and I have a short survey to fill out. Essentially, I'll be offering all the same groups that were offered this spring, with the move of Tuesday Songwriters to Wednesday evenings, and the Wednesday Evening Group to Thursdays. (BACK to Thursdays, John Popsun would add).
In addition, I want to add a group on Submitting and Publishing, probably on Mondays from 12:30-2:30. This group would be different from the others in that we'd spend the first 1/2 hour or so talking about a particular aspect around the work of getting our writing into the world. (Editing work into publishable form. Query letters, submission letters to literary journals and other publications, applying for grants, fellowships, residencies. Social media. Researching agents. Tracking submissions. Managing our limited resources to figure out which journals to support, where exactly to submit.) Each week, I'll discuss a different topic for about 20 minutes. We'd then spend an hour working quietly on these submissions. The last half hour would be spent checking in about what we did, how we are feeling. We all need support around this issue. We will remind each other how good our work is and how worthy an endeavor to continue to put it out in the face of (the inevitable) rejections. We'll remind each other it's a numbers game, not a meritocracy. Survey is here.
Thank you, friends! Have a wonderful summer and I hope to see you in July or August~
Love, Nerissa