2007 AROHO Retreat

Workshop and Class Listings

Workshops

Annie Finch: Rhythms of the Spirit

Rhythmic language is an ancient and powerful path for uniting body and spirit, idea and intuition, humans and nature, the two hemispheres of the brain. This writing workshop will take participants deep within the experience of patterned language, opening channels to greater self-exploration and self-expression. Drumming, movement, memory work, and reading women's poetry will help to reawaken the profound fun of rhythmic language, and help participants discover their own rhythmic voices. We will spend much of the workshop outside, working with chants and repeating patterns, opening ourselves to the rhythms of our natural surroundings. Participants will participate in group rhythmical improvisation and will also write and revise at least one individual poem, chant, or other rhythmic piece, for performance, recitation or ritual. Suggested preparation: bring at least one poem, song, children's verse, or other rhythmic text that has "stuck with you"-that you find impossible to forget.

Lesley Hazleton: The Creative Nonfiction Playground

I see creative non-fiction as an extraordinary playground in which the writer is set free to shape experience in new ways, released from the artificial boundaries of genre. Whether we're talking first-, second- or third-person writing, I see the "I-eye" as key -- the intelligent, imaginative, associative mind of the writer, re-creating the moment and thinking out loud either on the page or between the lines.

We'll be reading quite a bit of Joan Didion (AROHO will send photocopies to participants before the retreat begins), with the intent simply of delighting in what happens when a writer claims her voice -- when she trusts her own way of seeing things, her own senses, and above all, her own intelligence.

After your acceptance, you'll send up to ten pages of what you're working on right now so that I can see where you're at, but be prepared to play with other possibilities too, since I'll encourage you to take risks with overnight assignments designed to get the juices flowing and perhaps lead current work into deeper and wider waters (kayaking entirely optional).

Ellen McLaughlin: The Myth at the Heart of the Matter

This workshop will examine the way writers can use myths, folktales and other ancient narratives to provide structure to their work. This is a time-honored practice, going back to the Greeks, and can be fruitful, particularly for writers experiencing blocks or problems shaping their work.

Participants should come with myths they wish to work with and which they can share with the class. Myths can be drawn from any tradition. Writers should chose myths they find intriguing but which they have not previously had the chance to work on. We will spend the class time investigating ways to engage with these stories and how they might determine structure. Writers in all genres are welcome; playwrights are particularly encouraged.

Kim Ponders: Transforming Reality into Fiction

The best fiction takes hold of life and doesn't let go-but we don't write fiction simply to "make it real." We go far beyond that, attempting to transform the ordinary into the extraordinary. In this workshop, we'll focus on Willa Cather's novel, Death Comes for the Archbishop, paying particular attention to how she uses a simple, honed-down style to create her haunting novel about the mix of Catholic and native culture in nineteenth century New Mexico. Her novel is based on the life of Archbishop Jean Baptiste Lamy, the first Catholic bishop to visit the New Mexico territory. We'll explore how Cather uses the mirage-like quality of the landscape in her breathtaking imagery, and we'll take a fieldtrip to Santa Fe to visit some of the sites central to Lamy's life and Cather's novel. And, of course, through workshop, we'll discuss the transformative nature of real life in our own fiction. The fieldtrip will involve additional fees of approximately $35; details will be sent upon acceptance.

Elisa Sparks: Using Woolf and O'Keeffe to Spark Creativity: "A Match Burning in a Crocus"

This workshop will study similarities in the work of Virginia Woolf and Georgia O'Keeffe to inspire writing of all genres. We will begin by analyzing Woolf's "Kew Gardens," then create visual analogues for the text. We will reverse the process on an O'Keeffe work, starting with the visual and going to the verbal. We will then explore applications to participants' own writing, linking visual and verbal creativity. Workshop will include tours of Ghost Ranch, O'Keeffe's studio and workshops, and a trip to the O'Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe, at an additional cost of approximately $70; details will be sent upon acceptance.

Guest Writer

A Special Offering for "Free Agents": A Morning with Leslie Marmon Silko
On Thursday, June 21, Leslie Marmon Silko, award-winning novelist, poet, essayist, screenwriter, and short-story writer, will spend three hours with "free agents" who pre-register for this special opportunity. Leslie will tailor her offering to the needs of the group, drawing on her vast experience to talk about topics which could include the role of the dream state or subconscious in the writing process, self-censorship, writer's block, long writing projects, conflicts between partners, children, and pets related to the practice of writing, and other topics of interest to the group. More details about this wonderful opportunity to spend quality time with this accomplished writer will follow.

A Sampling of Classes and Panel Discussions, More to Follow

Mira Bartók, Darlene Chandler Bassett, Meredith Hall, Mary Johnson: The Audacious Act: Women Writers Find Funding for a Room of Their Own
Women tell their stories: one finds her own room for the first time in middle-age, another recovers her room after a life crisis, and two women inspired by Virginia Woolf work to expand the economically viable community of women writers. Specially designed for women writers, you will be emboldened to apply for awards, grants, residencies and scholarships with step-by-step information covering research techniques, budgeting, tips for success and myth-busters.

Mary Rose Betten: Reading Your Writing Aloud
Well crafted writing is a thing of beauty, meant to be heard. Read with sensitivity to the words, the piece will come alive. This class offers the reader proven techniques to realize the power inherent in the work.Anyone who intends to come to any of the practice reading sessions must attend this prerequisite class. The prerequisite class is also open to anyone interested in learning these techniques.

Mary Rose Betten: Coaching to Read Your Work Aloud
In this session you will practice reading your work in a supportive environment, and will receive professional advice. Observing other readers will also help you discover ways to internalize and deepen your own strengths. Please bring two copies (one for you to read from and one copy for the instructor) of a single, double-spaced page from the beginning of one of your own works.
Prerequisite: Tuesday's class "Reading Your Work Aloud."

Breena Clarke: Object of Desire/Object of Derision: Portraying African-American Women's Sexual Lives in Fiction
A spirited critical discussion of the gross, stereotypical depictions of the sexual lives of African American women in the "oh so popular" urban fiction genre. Are the pictures as "real" and realistic as they purport to be? Are the raw, exploitative depictions dangerous, harmful or just hackneyed? Can we ignore them and hope they'll go away or are they changing the market for contemporary fiction by African American writers? Is all fair in book publishing if the author is getting a payday? Are we afraid to critique this genre because we don't want to seem "not Black/too White/not street enough?" While intending to be constructive, I will pose some tough questions and draw some (very possibly) impolite conclusions.

Annie Finch: Beyond the Literary Journal: New Audiences for Poetry
Now, more than ever, the world seems to need poetry-and yet most poetry is available only in places known to other poets. This class will offer a wealth of fresh ideas for sharing your poems with new audiences, from stage to sanctuary, airwave to internet, concert hall to cafZ wall. Topics covered will include "occasional" poetry, interdisciplinary collaboration, self-publishing, and performance. There will be plenty of discussion time, so bring your ideas and questions. Suggested reading:The Gift by Lewis Hyde, Poetry for the People by June Jordan.

Kate Gale: A Room of Her Own: Writing in Solitude
Writing requires silence. Find a way to be alone enough of the time that you can get your work done. Find a room of your own. A place of your own. Commit to that place. While you're there listen to yourself and to the muse. We'll talk about how to get into that deep place where good writing occurs. And then how to get yourself to write instead of staring at the page. Enter imagination.

Kate Gale: Editing that Piece: From Fragment to Finished Piece
Editing. How can you tell when it's good enough? When it's done? You feel good about the piece. Should you send it to another writer? Editing is a process. We'll discuss how to sharpen and hone until your writing glistens and gives off its own light. There is a process of editing alone, and then with a partner, and then with a mentor, all necessary steps toward developing a voice that has an audience.

Kate Gale: Building a Literary Community
Community. You will need one. If raising a child requires a village, getting published requires a community. You need to build relationships within the literary world in which you swim, become a literary citizen, learn how literary citizens behave, how they pay their taxes to belong. You need to form the connections that will allow you to have readings, blurbs, forewords, agents and publishers. You need doors opened so you must build bridges.

Kate Gale: Paper to the Printed Page
Paper to Print. Agents and editors have staffs of interns who do nothing but reject unsolicited work. Short of sending chocolate, (not a bad idea) you need to know what to do to get your work wafted onto the editorial desk rather than the trash can. You've done the hard work to write well. You need to get the work read. We'll talk about the magic steps to getting your work into an editor or agent's hands.

Meredith Hall: The Camera: Writing Scenes in Narrative Prose, Part I: Setting and Mood
Using the film director's eye as our model, and inspired by several examples of rich, evocative scenes, we will develop strong language to evoke place-in-time, character and tension, the foundations of a powerful scene. We'll learn to control the setting and mood so that every word moves us toward a deeper understanding of character and motive. For both fiction and narrative nonfiction writers.

Meredith Hall: The Camera: Writing Scenes in Narrative Prose, Part II: The Camera Runs
How do we move from plodding narration to dynamic and revealing scenes that carry tension and purpose? What does a good film director's eye follow? In this class, we will put our people in action and reaction, studying dialogue and the body's movements as they work to illuminate our narrative themes. For both fiction and narrative nonfiction writers. You need not have attended Part I to participate in Part II.

Meredith Hall: The Voice in the Other Room
We each carry in memory the haunting, sometimes nostalgic and sometimes uncomfortable voices of the women who raised us. In this class, we will work on a short and exciting exercise which calls up for the reader those familiar, cell-deep voices. We will share the result: a tight, evocative and compelling piece which conveys the essence of character, and which will reinvigorate our attention to voice.

Meredith Hall: Which Stories Will I Tell? The Memoirist's Choices
Charles Simic, the great American poet, wrote, "I am in dialogue with certain elements in my lifeÉ Meaning is the matter of my existence. My effort to understand is a perpetual circling around a few obsessive images." Those "obsessive images" are our stories. How do we identify them? How do we organize them? In this class, we will explore the deep reservoir we each carry of obsessive images, and will begin the process of discovering where and how-and if-they fit in your memoir.

Lesley Hazleton: Re-creating Women
Imagining the past is what most writers do -- we re-create the past and shape it to reveal new meaning -- but what happens when all we seem to have are two-dimensional stereotypes, as in Mary the virgin or Jezebel the harlot? How do we bring legendary women back to multi-dimensional life? Think of a figure who intrigues you as we discuss the meeting of research and imagination, of the personal with the factual. Includes a brief in-class writing session.

Ellen McLaughlin: The Monologue
Participants will discuss the functions and attributes of a well-written dramatic monologue, and will then write a monologue, aided by Ellen's prompts.

Kim Ponders: The Difference between Touching and Feeling, or How to Write About Sex
Amy Hempel's short fiction is all about fingering the abstract through the particular. Her riveting images inevitably stand for something vaster-some looming obsession or psychosis laced inside her spare prose. We'll discuss "Offertory," from Hempel's fourth collection, The Dog of the Marriage, looking at how Hempel turns her precision upon sex, desire, and self and how, once again, she manages to do more with less. Pick up a copy of "Offertory" at Ghost House, and read it before class.

Elisa Sparks: Virginia O'Keeffe has an exhibit of drawings at 291: Creating Modernist Gender with Virginia Woolf and Georgia O'Keeffe
This copiously illustrated slide presentation will explore various similarities between these two modernist women artists, including not only the many visual correspondences in their imagery and use of color but also the intellectual link between their attempts to define a particular feminine form of modernism, the personal links between their mutual friends, and the ways they have been presented publicly in photographs and biographies.

Robin Vidimos: Book Reviewing Basics
A good writer is an avid reader-combine both your loves and become a book reviewer! Readers are always looking for a good book, but do they really care if a reviewer likes a book? Of course not! Readers want to know if they will like the book. Book Reviewing Basics covers a few select fundamentals of the book-reviewing trade, including the nature and purpose of a review, structuring a helpful review, creating context, and choosing a point of view. We will also talk about how to be fair to a book, whether or not the review is ultimately negative or positive.

Robin Vidimos: Book Reviewing, Part II
A sequel to follow Book Reviewing Basics. In this class, we will address more difficult questions: How does a reviewer stay objective? Who comprises the reviewer's audience (and why is knowing your audience important)? What are the tricks of the trade? For example, how do you get your hands on those galleys? How do you break into the field and become a book reviewer? And finally, if you are an author who is trying to get your book reviewed, how might you approach reviewers?