Retreating

A decade ago, I fell in love with the idea of retreating from the world in the company of other seekers of the creative muse and a life free from outside tethers. Maybe that’s called running away to some, but for me, it feels like I’m walking towards who I was meant to be. In those moments in time, my spirit lifts, and if I start putting words on paper, I am connecting with a creative force, with God. The words flow, and it’s almost as good as being in love.

Words

Words. They guide us through our days, a constant barrage of reminders and self talk and hopefully positive stuff and they worry us through sleepless nights. They are the beginning of love affairs, one-liners and life confessions that connect us with other people. They tell the stories of Dickens and the plays of Shakespeare. They make us laugh and cry as we read a novel by a master like John Irving, whose love of words brings us big books even in today’s world of pared-down rhetoric. They connect us with others through letters and e-mails and social media, and they convince us to buy things we wouldn’t otherwise buy. They are in our prayers.

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.

Fall Retreat Schedule

The Fall Word Lovers Retreat, scheduled for November 4-6, is fully planned.  We're looking forward to some memoir, photography, writing about food and wine, and learning about how to put together a non-fiction book.  There will be lots of time for writing AND we'll be cooking together.  Optional wineries excurions, including dinner at Mon Ami will make this Word Lovers Retreat a special event for you this year.  The complete weekend schedule and reservations to hold your e-mail can be had by sending me an e-mail at claudia.taller@yahoo.com. 

Word Lovers Food and Wine Weekend

Join Igniting Possibilities for a weekend of tasting wine and making food together.  We'll start with time to write, and in the afternoon, we'll migrate to Hermes Winery for a tasting prior to making pizzas in the Idlewyld's kitchen. On Saturday, learn how to write about food and wine and hear Claudia Taller's tales of writing a book about Ohio's Lake Erie wineries. We'll take a tour, taste some wine, and feast at the seafood buffet at Mon Ami Winery. Write all weekend long, and share your work on Sunday morning. Weekend rates include Hermes tasting, two breakfasts, Friday dinner, and Saturday Mon Ami Experience. Prices range from $200/weekend for a shared room to $330/weekend for a private room. Contact Claudia Taller to reserve your space.

Writing Left

How does one do it, "write left"?  We write about what we care about and stand up for what we believe in, whether it's prison reform, the right to union representation, free speech, or equal rights.  My life has been immersed in liberal, or should I say "progressive," thought since I was a child when my father went off to march on Washington to protest the Vietnam War and the Civil Rights Movement.

Mansfield Frazier (a man for his times) is as much a believer in writing left as I am to just plain writing because you want to, and we've started a salon for writers and thinkers.  Our first gathering will be at Visible Voice books on Saturday, April 30, from 2-5.  Mansfield, who wrote a book of essays on doing time in a Federal prison called From Behind the Wall: Commentary on Crime, Punishment, Race, will talk about not being afraid of saying what you mean, and I will talk about the best way to say it and get it out there for people to read. If we get some readers and thinkers who want to keep the pens moving and the conversation steady, we'll keep it going.

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.