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| We'll have double-occupancy accommodations (two twin beds in each room). Dinner on Friday evening, 3 meals on Saturday (including continental breakfast), continental breakfast on Sunday, and drinks/snacks during breaks are included. A map of the Festival Hill campus is here: FestivalMap.pdf (PDF format). |
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Registration fees for this weekend retreat are $375 for SCN members, $395 for non-members. The fee includes two nights in a double-occupancy room and five meals. For a single-occupancy room, the rate is $25/night higher ($425 for members; $445 for non-members). To register, please use our online form.
* Participants have the option of an on-your-own Sunday night stayover. Double-occupancy rate for this extra night is $55; single-occupancy rate is $80. |
For those flying to the conference: we will not provide transportation to/from the airport; however, we will serve as a go-between among those needing transportation. |
| Because we wanted an intimate retreat, where we can really talk & listen & hold each other's stories as sacred, we are able to accept a limited number of participants. We expect these places to fill very quickly, so please register as soon as you can. |
"A Created Version of the Past":
A Weekend Memoir Workshop
"Memoir must be written because each of us must possess a created version of the past...If we learn not only to tell our stories but to listen to what our stories tell us—to write the first draft and then return for the second draft—we are doing the work of memory."
—Patricia Hampl, I Could Tell You Stories: Sojourns in the Land of Memory
This weekend writing workshop is designed for women who want to make stories out of the remembered lives they've lived—that is, to make a "created version of the past." You are asked to read Refuge: An Unnatural History of Family and Place by Terry Tempest Williams and to bring a brief written narrative of an event from your own life which you will expand and rework during our sessions, using the fictional techniques that bring story to life. We will practice developing characters, creating a scene and constructing a plot, using point of view, crafting dialogue, managing time (flash-backs, flash-forwards), and creating settings. Our time together will be organized around group discussion, individual writings, and small-group sharing. You will take home several pieces of writing, as well as handouts and exercises that will allow you to continue your work.
Program (tentative):
- Friday:
- 1pm: Check-in begins
- 6pm: Dinner
- 7:30-9pm: Evening session
- Saturday:
- 8am: Breakfast
- 9-11:45am: Morning session (coffee/tea break @ 10:30)
- 11:45-1pm: Lunch (lunch @ noon)
- 1-5pm: Afternoon session (coffee/tea/cookie break @ 3:30)
- 5-7pm: Dinner & free time (dinner @ 6)
- 7-8pm: Evening session: An hour in the herb garden (optional): Susan will talk about the way herbs can lift our spirits and teach us about our place in the world.
- Sunday:
- 8am: Breakfast
- 9-11:30am: Morning session (coffee/tea break @ 10:30)
- 11:30am: Check-out
(coming soon: suggestions of places to eat in the area)