| Dear Writers, As we plan our Solstice Retreat in June, we start with essential questions: What can we offer writers (that they may not get elsewhere)? What actual tools and insights will they come away with? And how do we nurture the intangible? The “it’s not in the curriculum or the evening program or on the menu” inspiration – even transformation – that emerges as much from the individual writer and the community as from anything we might say or do? Speaking of community, today I am excited to be able to celebrate the publication date of Sangamithra Iyer’s beautiful memoir Governing Bodies, not only for her incredible hard work and its artistry, but because Elena and I first met Sangu at a retreat we offered back in 2017 called Pele’s Fire. Yes, sometimes it takes that long to weave a tapestry that includes elephants and chimpanzees, India and Africa, science and spirituality, soil and water, familial inheritance and the solo journey of finding one’s passion and purpose in the world. And yes, I am sharing her book because I love it, and because I will be in conversation with her on November 13th at the Astoria Bookshop if you want to join us to talk about writing, but mostly I am sharing it because she is part of our community: a community we cherish and will always support. But back to our opening questions: What did we offer Sangu at that retreat back in 2017, or later when she joined our two-day online workshop with Sherri and Bhanu? Creative play. Which sometimes manifests as a scavenger hunt for a poem in the forest, or an ecstatic dance, or constructing a doll, or writing in invisible ink. Also the Tarot, and I know that mattered to Sangu because when we were setting up the bookstore event, she sent me a picture of a group Tarot spread we did, with notes in colored markers, and wrote, “I wanted to let you know I had this on my wall for years as a reminder & I look at it now & it was so prescient & timeless.” We do not guarantee prescient and timeless, but at the Solstice Retreat in June, I do guarantee the Tarot – both a group pull and, if you want one, an individual reading. It is a way for you to tell yourself what you already know. It is one of the ways we use to take the landscape of everything your creativity has seeded and make a map through the wilderness, to discover what is connected, and what things mean. And we do guarantee community. Some of you who will be coming to the retreat already know each other, or have a shared experience of working with us during a retreat, as a mentor, or in the Goddard MFA program (we know this because a lot of writers have already been accepted and registered!). Others will be meeting a new writing family. Talking to other writers, walking with them, eating with them, can have a profound influence on your work. I wrote a little about this in a post on Literary Friendships that launched Aimee Liu’s reboot of The Writer in the World blog we created for the Goddard College MFA program, which she is curating and sharing freely on her Substack and which, in its own way, is like being in a roomful of great writers. Take a look and see what I mean. When I sat down to write this note, I thought I was going to give you a taste of what we are offering by showcasing how the Tarot can work for writers, and perhaps even pulling a card. I will do that at another time. Instead, my mind bends toward us: toward Sangu, Aimee, toward Elena and Sherri, toward the Writers in the World, and then to you, because if you are reading this, I know you, or I know that there are very few degrees of separation between us. I hope you are writing, reading, engaging with your loved ones, your communities, and your imaginations, and finding joy in weaving whatever tapestry pleases you in the story of your life. Until soon, Reiko |
Fairy Tale Survival Kit
Dear Writer, What is so precious to you that you would wrap it in velvet? This is one of the questions we ask in my first Story Forest Path, Little Red Writing Hood. Little Red earned her nickname...
