Chuckanut Writers Conference

If you’ve always wanted to attend the Chuckanut Writers Conference but just couldn’t swing it geographically, here comes your opportunity! CWC 2020 will be held online, Monday, June 22, 2020, through Thursday, June 25, with a faculty reading on the 26th and master classes on the 27th. See the complete schedule, faculty profiles, and registration information at CWC 2020.

on poetry

 
 
“I’ve always said that you know you’re a poet when you type an em dash and you hit the delete button, and you type a colon and you hit the delete button, and you type an em dash and you hit the delete button, and you type a colon and you hit the delete button. If you can do that for about three hours straight, trying to figure out which one is the best one, if you can do that for three hours and call that a good time, then you’re probably a poet.”
Jericho Brown
(b. April 14, 1976)

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On Writing What You Want

This is a guest post by Rena Priest.

“So long as you write what you wish to write, that is all that matters; and whether it matters for ages or only for hours, nobody can say. But to sacrifice a hair of the head of your vision, a shade of its colour, in deference to some Headmaster with a silver pot in his hand or to some professor with a measuring-rod up his sleeve, is the most abject treachery, and the sacrifice of wealth and chastity which used to be said to be the greatest of human disasters, a mere flea-bite in comparison.” Virginia Woolf

I first read this quote from “A Room of One’s Own” while lounging in a bathtub in Spokane. I was 19, and it was cold, and a hot bath was the best, cheapest way to stay warm. I was very poor, and this idea that writing what you wanted was more precious than silver, well, it was exhilarating.

For many years I stayed true. I said as much of what I wanted to say as my abilities would allow. But recently, I’ve felt daunted by having so little to show for the years and effort I’ve devoted to writing. What I “want” to write has changed. I no longer want to write the truth in my soul. My soul has too much grief, too many expletives, and not enough flowers, birds, or sunsets to appeal to mainstream poetry audiences.

These days, I want to write the kind of poem that I can screen print on a pillow and sell on Instagram by the truckload. I want to write a sing-song children’s book that will fly off the shelves like hot-cakes so that I can cast off the shackles of my student loans.

Last year, for the first time, I made sacrifices from the hair of the head of my vision and went for the silver pot. At the urging of a colleague, I applied for and was awarded a grant from the National Geographic Society to write about a captive killer whale. I did the work. I researched, and I wrote and rewrote and rewrote again and again until I had a draft of something that someone else would perhaps pay money to read.

In the beginning, it wasn’t writing that I wanted to do so much as writing that must be done. I was doing it for the cause, and the byline. Eventually, the story drew me in. It raised questions in me. I became deeply invested in the whale’s fate. The more I learned about her, the more imperative it became to share her story. Nothing has ever felt so important to get right as the story of this whale, and I have never been so engrossed or challenged in my writing.

In the end, my vision aligned with the work, bringing me to this conclusion: If you don’t want to write something, you’ll half-ass it for a while until you chuck it and start over, or you won’t do it. But if you give yourself to the writing — authentically give yourself to it — you’ll be true to your vision. It can’t be otherwise. Not “a shade of its colour” will be sacrificed.

Publishing, however, is a whole other story. 😉

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Read “A captive orca and a chance for our redemption” by Rena Priest, just published in High Country News.

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Rena Priest is a poet and a member of the Lhaq’temish (Lummi) Nation. Her literary debut, Patriarchy Blues, was honored with a 2018 American Book Award. Her most recent collection, Sublime Subliminal, was published by Floating Bridge Press. Priest’s work can be found in literary journals and anthologies including: For Love of Orcas, Pontoon, and Poetry Northwest. She has attended residencies at Hawthornden Castle, Hedgebrook, and Mineral School. She is a National Geographic Explorer and a Jack Straw Writer (2019). She holds an MFA from Sarah Lawrence College.

on poetry

“The real writer is one who really writes. Talent is an invention like phlogiston after the fact of fire. Work is its own cure. You have to like it better than being loved.”
Marge Piercy
(b. March 31, 1936)

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Rhythm on the Rails

Attention, Portland-area writers: Rhythm on the Rails is back for another immersive round trip. On Saturday, February 22, 2020, Johnnie Mazzocco will guide a group of writers from Portland to Seattle and back to Portland, by rail, writing all the way. In addition to six hours of writing (three up, three back), the journey also includes lunch at Matt’s in the Market, a visit to the Seattle Art Museum (with prompts), as well as free time to explore Pike Place Market or other Seattle sights of your choice. It’s a rolling writing retreat and it sounds pretty swell.

on poetry

“Literature is what you write when you think you should be saying something. Writing begins when you’d rather be doing anything else: and you’ve just done it.”
Kenneth Patchen
(December 13, 1911 – January 8, 1972)

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quote from The Journal of Albion Moonlight

time to get away?

Sometimes, as another short gray day dawns, even twinkling holiday decorations aren’t enough to cut through the gloom. When that happens, it’s time to start thinking about getting outta town. A writing retreat may be solution, and looking forward to an upcoming retreat may be just enough to lift you from the doldrums.

This list is not comprehensive. The residencies, retreats, workshops, and other getaways vary widely in locale, cost, activities, competitive entry, expectations, and other variables. Some programs do not yet have dates posted but you can usually get on a mailing list for updates. Dates are 2020, except as noted.

• January – March (various dates) – Manzanillo, Mexico – Vancouver & Victoria Schools of Writing Winter Retreats in Mexico
• January 9-19 – Tepoztlán, México – Under the Volcano
• February 1 – Kingston, Washington – Intensive Poetry Manuscript Workshop & Two Sylvias Press Tour
• 28 February – 1 March – Kāpiti Coast, New Zealand – Kāpiti Writers’ Retreat
• February 28 – March 1 — Astoria, Oregon — the FisherPoets Gathering
• Spring – Orcas Island, Washington – Artsmith residency
• April – November – Austerlitz, New York – The Millay Colony for the Arts
• April 5-11; July 19-25; October 4-10; November 15-21 – Kauai, Hawaii – The Kauaʻi Writing Studio Residency
• April 29 – May 3 – Dolores River valley, Colorado – Writing Round the Trees transformational writing retreat
• May – September – Mineral, Washington – Mineral School residencies
• May 8-15 – Brittany, France – Verse Kraken Writing Retreats
• May 15-16 – Portland, Oregon – PDX Writers Spring Retreat at the Lyle Hotel with Jennifer Springsteen
• May 25 – June 1 – Corfu, Greece – TLC writing retreat with Tammy L. Coia (one of many retreats on her site)
• May 29 – June 7 – Patmos, Greece – Freeing the Written Self: Poetry & Writing Salon on the Isle Of Revelation
• June – October – Blue Mountain Lake, New York – Blue Mountain Center month-long residencies
• June 7-13 – Greensburg, Pennsylvania – Cave Canem’s annual week-long retreat at the University of Pittsburgh
• June 18-21 – Tucson, Arizona – CantoMundo retreat at The University of Arizona Poetry Center
• July 6-12 – Wallowa Lake, Oregon – 33rd Summer Fishtrap Gathering of Writers
• August – Greenough, Montana – Beargrass Writing Retreat
• August 23-29 – Victoria, BC, Canada – Victoria Summer Writing Retreat
• September 25-27 – Tieton, Washington – LiTFUSE
• October/November – Port Orchard, WA – Northwest Writers’ Weekend
• October 29 – November 1 – Seabeck, Washington – Seabeck Haiku Getaway, sponsored by Haiku Northwest
• November 6-9 – Tahoe City, California – Writing By Writers Manuscript Boot Camp
• December 26-30 – McCormick, South Carolina – The Watering Hole
• Year-round – Saratoga Springs, New York – Yaddo
• Year-round – Lower Piney Creek, Wyoming – The Jentel Artist Residency Program
• Year-round – Lake Forest, Illinois – Ragdale 18- and 25-day residencies

Future opportunities (2020 application deadlines are past):

• February through October – Whidbey Island, Washington – Hedgebrook residencies for writers
• Djerassi Resident Artists Program in Woodside, California
• Writing Between the Vines offers retreats in California, Oregon, and Canada
• Writing By Writers has future retreats in Oregon, Minnesota, Idaho, and Colorado

Even visiting these websites will make you feel better…

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