Change is Good - Look at What We're Doing at Word Lovers

FALL 2012 WORD LOVERS WEEKEND

IDLEWYLD BED & BREAKFAST AT LAKESIDE

Thursday, November 1, through Sunday, November 4, 2012 

“Writing will fill your heart if you let it.  It will fill your pages and help to fill your life.”

–Julia Cameron

RETREAT LEADERSHIP TEAM

Claudia Taller, Retreat Leader and Guide

Betsy Muller, Energy and Marketing Guru

Deanna Adams, Writing Coach

Mary Bodnar, Hostess

BE A PART OF ANY OR ALL OF THESE OPPORTUNITIES

THE GATHERING ROOM IS A SILENT ROOM

FROM 12-6PM ON THURSDAY AND FRIDAY

OPTIONAL THURSDAY

12PM              Arrive at Lakeside early ($50 extra)

8PM                Evening Circle Up in the Sacred Circle

FRIDAY

8:30AM           Breakfast Served

12PM              Arrive at Lakeside for the weekend
6PM                Welcoming Dinner prepared by Claudia
                        Writing Warm-Up Exercises
                       An Inspirational Talk from Betsy
8PM                Evening Circle Up in the Sacred Circle                 

SATURDAY

8:30AM           Breakfast Served

9:30 AM          Poetic Medicine workshop

11:00AM         The Art of Storytelling workshop

12:30PM         Lunch served

  2:00PM         Marketing Yourself and Your Work workshop

3:30PM         Building Great Sentences workshop

  5:00PM         Afternoon Circle Up in the Sacred Circle
  6:30PM         Optional Pizza Party with Wine Tasting ($20 extra)

SUNDAY

  8:30AM         Breakfast Served

  9:30AM         Critique Session led by Claudia
                        One-on-One Coaching Sessions with Deanna
 11:30AM        Weekend Circle Up Celebration

All set for Word Lovers! Hang Out in Lakeside

Jump start your memoir with some writing prompts and storytelling ideas on Friday evening during the Word Lovers Retreat at Lakeside the weekend of November 4-6.  After breakfast on Saturday, we'll turn to the task at hand--writing well. The ability to take high quality, well-composed photos is becoming increasingly important for every writer—find out how from National Geographic’s Dewitt Jones, and then try out his techniques taking pictures of Lakeside’s gardens, Victorian homes, and statues. We will learn how to build a career centered on food, wine, and travel with guidance from Writer’s Digest. The last event on Saturday will be John Ettorre's presentation called "12 Principles for Building a Powerful & Sustainable Writing Practice" (no matter where you’re at in your writing journey). After dinner, relax and watch Anne Lamott talk on film about her writing life. On Sunday, participate in a workshop about establishing immediacy through description. With all that writing practice, both alone and in the group, you’ll be ready to show off your weekend writing on Sunday morning. In celebration of the publication of Ohio’s Lake Erie Wineries, by Claudia Taller, optional wine tastings and tours, led by Claudia and Paul Taller will complete your weekend away at Lakeside. For full itinerary and how to sign up, send an e-mail to claudia.taller@yahoo.com. 

This Fall, and Next Spring

The idea behind the retreat this Fall is to bring people together and relax in the place I consider my second home, a place where I can share some time with other writers, get some writing done, and work through some programming.  So far, I don't have a writer-in-residence, and I thought I would wait and see on that, and now I've contacted someone who I really hope will be there.  Some are asking about the Spring. While the Fall event is about writing in general and non-fiction, the Spring will be a fiction workshop event all day on Saturday, with several different presenters talking about and working through manuscripts that people bring with them.   

Join Us For A Day of Writing!

Skyline Writers is happy to announce its 28th Annual Writer's Conference at Hines Hill Conference Center in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. Join us on August 27 from 9AM until 4:30PM for a day of inspiration and writing immersion. A continental breakfast and famous Skyline potluck lunch will be provided. Also, Gray & Company and other local author books will be available for sale and perusing.

Maria Purnhagen's topic "But When I Was in High School, We Didn't Have Cell Phones (or How to write for Teens if You're Not One)," a YA topic that will focus on writing style and voice and being someone you aren't. In Kelly Boyer Sagert's talk "Taming the Tiger: Turning Creativity into Ca$h," writers will learn how to make money from their writing, which Kelly obviously does. With all the social networking and internet publishing going on, we all need to know how to use it to promote our writing, and Lisa Roecker will do just that in her session entitled "Social Networking 101: How to Network, Market and Succeed in Publishing Online." Finally, a little TLC: Joy E. Held will become our therapist with "Your Brain on Yoga: How Exercise and Nutrition Make You a Better Writer."

If you still want some time with fellow writers, join us for a little down time at the Winking Lizard in Peninsula afterwards. To register and for more information on the costs and agenda for the day, go to www.skylinewriters.com, or e-mail skylineconf@aol.com. If you are spending money on only ONE conference this year, this is the one.

Spring Retreat Musings

There's something about being in the company of other writers that's almost holy. I have a friend who's a writer and a minister and he told me that what we have in our writing group is God connected.  It's much like the writing process, how when you write and especially when you really get into it, you feel that it's not just you doing the typing. 

Someone asked me this weekend why I started doing the Word Lovers retreats. Giving to others is what looms as the biggest reason--I think we all have a story to tell and we should give it voice. Since writing is a solitary experience, we need to be with others for encouragement. In a way, the Word Lovers retreats are my ministry. I do feel called to do them.

It was an excellent weekend in every way except that the weather should have been warmer for April.  We wrote, talked, walked, ate, drank, and learned.  We escaped for the weekend, but someone at the retreat said the writing life IS her reality and the day-to-day job is not.  I like that thought.

Eat Pray Love, and Connect with Your Authentic Self

Eat Pray Love, a Connecting with the Authentic Self Retreat, will be held on February 19 from noon until 4 at North Olmsted United Methodist Church. Are you seeking beauty, spiritual connection, and love? All these come through God, if you connect with Him and all He has to offer you. So, where's God in your everyday life? Join the journey with Claudia Taller for Eat, Pray, Love, a Connecting with the Authentic Self Retreat. We will explore our experience of God through His expression of beauty, spiritual connection, and love in this scripture-based quest. The event begins with eating lunch and being thankful, proceeds to creation of beauty through our gifts, moves to the spirit and being close to God, and ends with finding where love resides in our lives. The cost is $35 with proceeds being donated to NOUMC. Please RSVP to Claudia at ctallerwrites@wowway.com.

Word Lovers Retreat - April 1-3

Creating Fiction and Publishing Your Work, a Word Lovers Retreat, takes place April 1-3 at the Idlewyld Bed and Breakfast in historic Lakeside, Ohio. Novelist Les Roberts will join us for a weekend of creating good stories, critique work, and trouble-shooting. We'll share our writing with each other, using writing prompts, and write throughout the weekend. We'll laugh and sign songs and traipse all over the Lakeside community as we talk about our lives.  Ample time is built into the weekend's itinerary for writing, which follows: 

FRIDAY
12 - 6 Arrive Any Time After Noon for Writing and Wandering Time
6 - 7 Opening and Italian Dinner with Wine
7 - 8:30 Writing Together about Life
8:30 - 9:30 Movie Time or a Traipse Around Lakeside (Movies and Popcorn provided)
SATURDAY
8:00 Rise and Shine Yoga and Meditation on the Deck
8:30 Breakfast Served 
9:30 Fiction Workshop with Les Roberts
11:30 Break/Writing Time (Writing Prompts for Fiction, Memoir, Poetry, and Non-Fiction Provided)
2:00 Editing and Writing for Publication
4:00 Roundtable/Critique/Writing Time (Troubleshoot Issues, Get Critiqued, Write Some More)

6:30 Dinner at Mon Ami Winery or Crow's Nest Pub

8:30 Film and Discussion

SUNDAY

8:00 Rise and Shine Yoga and Meditation on the Deck

8:30 Breakfast Served

9:30 Roundtable/Critique/Writing Time

11:00 Show-Off Time (3-minute readings)
12:00 Encouraging Words and Closing

We will form several informal and optional critique sessions throughout the weekend for those who would like their work reviewed by others.  Les Roberts will participate in the critique sessions.  The work will be distributed prior to the weekend and must be sent to Igniting Possibilities, 26408 Chapel Hill Drive, North Olmsted, Ohio 44070, by March 15.  Registration for the weekend is made by sending a $50 deposit to the same address.  The cost of the weekend is $110 plus the cost of a room at the Idlewyld.  Those who would like to come on Saturday-only pay $70.

Sharing Our Gifts

Sharing Our Gifts (Artist’s Way) Retreat, co-hosted with Joan Barris, co-owner of the Idlewyld Bed and Breakfast in historic Lakeside, Ohio, is a women’s weekend of sharing creativity, relaxing, and experiencing exuberant joy.  This year’s retreat takes place October 14-16 at the Idlewyld.  Plans for this year include our traditional Friday night sharing session, creativity kiosks, book discussion, and the annual leave-taking teatime.  Walk, talk, and share with other women at this Artist’s Way-inspired retreat.  Please contact Joan at barrisjr@aol.com or Claudia at ctallerwrites@wowway.com for more information.

Mandala

I recently attended a therapeutic and informative Mandala workshop at Unity Spiritual Center. We watched a film about the history and significance of Mandalas. The film showed Tibetan Buddhist monks making a beautiful Mandala with colored sand in a meditative state and the sand was later released into water to spread good feelings through the world. Because of the way mandalas quiet the mind, I try to make them available for people to explore during Igniting Possibilities events.

Word Lovers in Lakeside - It Was Lovely

We met Les Roberts and heard him talk about writing well. We hung out with other writers. We learned about word choice and how important the first page is and what poetry is. We wrote about where seagulls go when they die, early memories of our parents, and life's mistakes. We drank strong coffee, ate too many carbs in the form of peanut butter cookies and nut rolls, and shared stories over wine. We saw sunsets, took long walks, and rocked on the Idlewyld's porch walkers. We made new friends.

I can't wait until September 17-19. Our guest writer-in-residence is Deanna Adams, who runs retreats for women each winter and organizes the Midwest Writers Conferences. Come with us while we show how to inject life and energy into your non-fiction projects. Memoir, historical books, magazine writing, and personal essays are better when your passion for the subject shines through and you write what you have to say as only you can do it.

So, You Wanna Write?

I'm conducting a retreat session at A Soulful Retreat for Women, Originally Inspired by Julia Cameron's "The Artist's Way" in Pipestem, West Virginia during the weekend of May 21-23, 2010. The workshop will encourage participants to find their own voice, and their own way, through writing, whether it’s a paying gig or for personal pleasure. Go to http://retreatwv2010.wordpress.com/"Create-A-Way" Women's ARTbundance™ Retreat for further information.

Ancient Meditative Yoga

At Igniting Possibilities retreats, I do a series of simple standing poses, emphasizing the breath, balance, and focus, because the participants are usually new to yoga. During my morning yoga practice at home, I do a number of sun salutations, adding variations for half an hour or so, then I move into a balancing pose like tree or dancer before settling into savasana for final relaxation. Yoga should be physically challenging, encourage balance and focus, and be a continuous meditation that calms the mind by being focused on the poses and the breath. Yoga has given me physical strength, harmony, mind-body connection, and serenity. Its ancient wonders have no equal. I like to share my yoga experience with others.

Igniting Possibilities

On February 6, from Noon until 5, I facilitated CARING FOR THE AUTHENTIC SELF, A Retreat of Renewal and Awakening, at North Olmsted United Methodist Church,. Nurturing the spirit is increasingly important in a world of distractions. When we open ourselves to our creativity, we open ourselves to the creator’s creativity within us and our lives. Creativity is God’s gift to us. Using our creativity is our gift back to God, and requires authenticity. We began by exploring gratitude through meditation and prayer. Next, we flowed into standing-pose yoga before we ate a healthy lunch. Creativity exercises and reflective journaling opened our hearts and allowed us to envision life's possibilities. We listened to the dreams and life goals of others and shared our own—when the words are spoken, they take on significance.

Word Lovers

Travel Writing and Personal Essays were the focus of November's Word Lover's Retreat at the Idlewyld Bed and Breakfast in Lakeside Ohio. Travel Writer Doris Larson and Writer Claudia Taller hosted a relaxing writing retreat near Lake Erie's shores. Doris Larson taught us how to make the places we have experienced come alive in writing and provided insight into the publishing world. We all gave our writing the attention it deserves and pursued better ways of working our words during the weekend of November 6-8, 2009. The retreats are a unique combination of learning, writing, and connecting with others. For more details, write to Claudia at ctallerwrites@wowway.com. A flyer with full details of the next retreat will be sent to you.

Igniting Possibilities

We had a wonderful time Sharing Our Gifts at the Idlewyld this fall. The next Sharing Our Gifts will take place, as it always does, during the third weekend in October 2010. We already have some fun things planned, but it's difficult to top making art journals from old books and watching a belly dancing performance after participants shared their gifts of quilted bags, poetry, and artwork to open the weekend. Our notebooks continue to inspire all year long as we are amazed by how creative our friends can be when they step back from routine life.

The writers who came to Word Lovers in November started new projects or became excited about old ones as we explored how to write meaningful travel stories and personal essays. Writer-in-residence Doris Larson gave us plenty of takeaways. Over the next couple of weeks we will try to outdo each other as we share what we have been writing. We're all working on good beginnings and metaphors that speak to the soul. Word Lovers will meet again April 30-May 1, 2010, and September 17-19, 2010.

Look for announcements for Caring for the Authentic Self in January and Connecting With Nature in May, and a possible weekday retreat at the Idlewyld to ignite possibilities in your life. In the meantime, next into the holiday season with family and friends and get those home fires roasting with warmth.

Caring for the Authentic Self Re-cap

22 of us gathered at North Olmsted United Methodist Church at the end of January to care for ourselves through creative exercises, discussion, journaling, memoir writing, and yoga. We looked to The Artist’s Way for our spiritual path to creativity. Julia Cameron stresses that creativity is a gift of God and we are the instrument to express what is inside us and our connection to God. Our lives become our work of art. For me, The Artist’s Way showed me I could let go of fear and be open to the possibilities for my life. “No matter what your age or your life path, whether making art is your career or your hobby or your dream, it is not too late or too egotistical or too selfish or too silly to work on your creativity.”

Memoir is an extension of one of Cameron’s basic tenets, the Morning Pages, and it’s important for understanding of self and one’s value to the universe. It helps the writer find his or her place in the world and what needs to be accomplished. Everyone has a story to tell and every story is worth telling.

The word “yoga” means union of body, mind, and spirit with the universal spirit. Yoga de-stresses and opens, allows the body and mind to be more flexible and youthful. Read from Yoga book introduction. What’s inside us is the little bit of God that’s in all of us, our spiritual selves. Yoga is deep breathing, asanas or postures, relaxation, and meditation, for the mind, body and spirit. Yoga requires that we eat pure natural food in the religious tradition that body is a temple to be taken care of.

For me, expression of self through creative arts or writing and yoga practice are meditations or prayers. Live becomes a prayer because it’s God-connected. We spent a day in prayer as we cared for the authentic self.