Category: Writing Retreats

Posted in adventure, journal writing, Life-narrative, paying attention, Writing Classes, Writing Retreats, Writing Workshops

REACHING FOR AWE DURING THE APRIL 8 ECLIPSE

Posted on by Rhonda Wiley-Jones

Would you like to enrich your experience of the total Solar Eclipse coming April 8? Can you envision the setting where you will wait for the eclipse? With whom will you share this once-in-a-lifetime (for most of us) phenomenon? How do we prepare to have a deeper, richer experience of the total eclipse? Have you set an intention for those four-plus minutes of total darkness, so you can allow the wonder and enchantment to wash over you?

That’s what we will explore this Saturday, March 16, from 2:00 to 4:00 at the Butt-Holdsworth Memorial Library here in Kerrville. Bring pen and paper or your journal to write with.

Awe occurs in a realm separate from the mundane world of material money, acquisition, and status symbols — a realm beyond the profane that many call the sacred. (Dacher Keltner in his 2023 book, Awe: The New Science of Everyday Wonder and How It Can Transform your Life)

I will be your facilitator. I propose a variety of writing prompts for you to discover the answer to some of these questions above. In addition, I offer hands-on guidance in what I call “stream-of-consciousness” journal writing. This will allow you to access those answers quickly and successfully. We will share our answers, gather ideas from each other, and leave with an intentional and mindful plan of action.

…there exists a magic crackle, a sacred thrum, found at the threshold between two states. Liminal space has its own tantalizing quality to it. … I believe there is more–untapped, unseen. I believe relentless reality breaks us, and magical wonder can make us whole. (Monica C. Parker in her 2023 book, The Power of Wonder: The Extraordinary Emotion That Will Change the Way You Live, Learn, and Lead)

You can let the eclipse be a “been-there-done-that” experience or you can enhance this grand encounter with nature by thoughtfully considering how to prepare yourself to experience it. Let’s do it together. There will be handouts. Bring pen and paper to write with you.

Posted in Craft of writing, Memoir writing, Travel Writing, Writing Retreats, Writing Workshops

Travel Writing as Memoir with Rolf Potts

Posted on by Rhonda Wiley-Jones

I wondered what Potts meant by the title, Travel Writing as Memoir? As a student in his Santa Fe Workshop, held in San Miguel de Allende October 13-18, I learn that he meant the writer could impose herself in the writing, rather than standing at a distance and reporting–the reader wants to hear the voice of the writer. He meant we were free to use literary devices, such as writing with imagery, metaphor, foreshadowing, symbolism, and/or humor, among others.

He introduced us to psychogeography and assigned us the task of following a color of our choice through the city to encounter it in a unique way, randomly yet meaningfully. The concept of drifting or wandering the streets of the city aimlessly with the intent to observe with all our senses what the paths of the village had to offer us was the assignment–paradoxical in nature, but highly productive and insightful.

The workshop took my writing to a new level. I better understand how to find an appealing first sentence. I can see more ways to place myself reflectively in an essay about what I experience. And I know how to mine my travel experiences more thoroughly and insightfully through color tracking as a means of psychogeography.

What classes, workshops, or retreats have helped take your writing to a new level? Please share below, so others will find venues to develop their writing.