Sunrise On Lake Michigan, Bob walking 10,000 steps on the beach, Sheboygan County, Wisconsin, October 2010, photo © 2010 by QuoinMonkey. All rights reserved.
Sitting, walking, writing with the Midwest Writing Group on the Wisconsin side of Lake Michigan. This is the 7th time we’ve met. The first was October 2007 at McCreedy’s in Sheboygan County, Wisconsin. Somewhere in the middle, there was Kansas City, Missouri. The last retreat was on Lake Pepin in Lake City, Minnesota.
We arrived on Thursday; the Moon was new. The mornings and afternoons are silent. Here’s our daily schedule:
- Wake up in Silence.
- 9am to Noon — Sit, walk, write.
- Noon to 1pm — Lunch in Silence.
- 1pm to 4pm — Free Time. Read, write, walk, sleep, stare out the window.
- 4pm to 6pm — Sit, walk, write.
- 6pm — Dinner. Free to talk and break bread.
Writing Home, Lake Michigan, Sheboygan County, Wisconsin, October 2010, photo © 2010 by QuoinMonkey. All rights reserved.
If you’d like to join us, here are the first 14 Writing Topics. During Day 1 of Sit, Walk, Write (Natalie Goldberg style) we wrote 14 practices at 10 minutes each:
- Reading under a blanket
- Fortunate life
- Friend of the family
- Piano lessons
- I’m waiting for
- Bits of garbage
- Should I stay or should I go
- I guess I’m doing alright
- Walls
- A path through the weeds
- Cries for help
- Don’t tell me it will be alright
- Distractions
- Luckiest person in the world
Sit, Walk, Write, Lake Michigan, Sheboygan County, Wisconsin, October 2010, photo © 2010 by QuoinMonkey. All rights reserved.
Observations:
- Took all of Day 1 to debrief & unwind from busyness
- Travel days take a lot out of you
- Resistance high on Day 2
- Breathing deeper on Day 3
- Staring at the lake calms me, blood pressure drops
- Walking the beach spurs fresh creative ideas. I’m part of something bigger than me.
- After 3 years, I feel comfortable & safe with these writers. We’ve worked out the logistics of living, eating, sleeping in close quarters.
- Everyone holds the space
- Grateful to the timekeeper who holds the structure
- Writing about family, place, home, writing projects
- Free time is essential. Sleep & rest without guilt is essential. Silence is essential.
Back next week. Get out your fast writing pens and spiral notebooks. We follow the Writing Practice rules. And try to Make Positive Effort For The Good. Sit, walk, write.
-posted on red Ravine, Sunday, October 10th, 2010
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Lovely. Brava!
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ah, sit…walk…write…lovely
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Gorgeous pictures. I’ll pretend I’m there with you.
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Welcome back, QM. What a beautiful sunrise. The hue reminds me of the color of red clay.
Thanks for sharing your writing topics and your observations. It strikes me that with three years of doing retreats together, you would fall into a natural rhythm with respect to living in close quarters. For some reason, that strikes me as an especially valuable outcome from this collective. Like maybe we live so much of our lives in isolation (and I don’t just mean as individuals, but with our immediate families) that it’s a lost skill, the ability to live closely with others.
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ybonesy, not home yet. I posted from the road. I won’t be back in Minneapolis until early evening. I got up early this morning to welcome another sunrise. It’s beautiful here. Pretty warm and sunny all week. We are staying at a place that one writer is renting for a year to dedicate time to work on her book. A great place. Today we will be setting our writing goals for the next six months. I also include my photo and art goals. We then check in every couple of weeks online, no feedback, to see how we’re doing. Keeps us honest. (BTW, I wrote more about the process we use in the first post at the Midwest Writing Group link in this post (LINK) for anyone who wants to do these retreats for themselves. They have been a gift. And anyone can plan them for their writing.)
The part about living in close quarters easily is important to me, I know. I’m a pretty private person. So to be able to trust 3 other people for this length of time, in silence where all of our stuff comes up, in day to day living, and work out the logistics of money and travel is a huge gift to me. I noticed this time how easily it is to be with these writers now. I can let go of the worry of living close with people not in my day to day life, and focus on the practice, the silence, writing.
Will be home to Minneapolis soon. Hope things are going well in New Mexico!
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Thanks for stopping by compostingalife. It really is lovely here. What was amazing to me was noticing how tired we all were at the end of the day. I always forget how tiring it is to Sit, Walk, Write. And how Natalie always says that writing is hard work. It’s physical work. Takes a lot out of you.
Barbara & Franny, we thought of everyone we sat with during the year-long Intensive this week. We discovered that we could go around the Zendo from that year and still tell you where everyone sat. So, in a way, you were here with us.
Franny, I also thought of you independently this week and wondered how your writing was going. Your practices from that retreat still stick out to me. It’s amazing how the Zendo in a year-long retreat like that becomes a microcosm of all the types of people you bump into in the world every day. And of our families. All kinds of stuff comes up.
I am ever grateful to Natalie for teaching us Sit, Walk, Write. And how to set up a structure for a writing life that won’t let us get tossed away. May not be for everyone. But, for me, it changed my life.
Home later today. Going to go write down my goals for the next six months. Started a few essays I want to complete and get out. Still pondering my photo practice goals for next year.
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Safe travels home, QM. All well here. Am getting ready for a trip to Vietnam, last one of the year. Was dreading getting ready for it last night but today, after having made good progress on my preparation, my mood has shifted. See you on email, my dear.
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I love the shot of Bob…you have to look for him there in the corner.
When we added up how many times we’d met since the Intensive, I was shocked. I never would have guessed that three-and-a-half years later we’d be sitting, writing, and setting goals.
A gift, plain and simple.
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Teri, thank you. When I took this BlackBerry shot, I wasn’t quite sure he was there. He was walking at a good clip and it was quite dark in the morning. But when I saw the shot, there he was. I have another that’s a little closer up. But I liked how subtle this one is. I really loved the sunrises this trip. I was shocked, too, when we added up the times we’d all met over the years. I even missed one October, can’t quite remember why now. It’s been a long time. And the rewards are great. To meet and write and set new goals each six months or so.
It hasn’t been an easy re-entry this time. I was balanced and rock solid when I left Lake Michigan. Sure of my goals and how I was going to meet them. I always forget how vulnerable I feel when I first come home from a long time in silence. Sit, walk, write opens your heart. And then, back to the reality of day to day living. I’m looking forward to the weekend and a few moments to myself to assess the writing retreat. I still feel good about my goals and my ability to make them work. But these last few days have knocked my socks off! How’s it going on your end?
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Thinking about you in Vietnam, ybonesy. Sounds like you are ready. One thing I know about these trips for you — Vietnam is your Muse. Hope you get a few moments of stillness on your travels.
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Quoin,
Yes, the re-entry is an issue. I feel completely grounded when I’m with the group, certain I won’t feel tossed away when I get home. But I’m back, and as usual, I feel like a ping-pong ball bouncing around my house.
I try to notice that I *am* making small efforts toward my Lake Michigan goals, despite the fact that I feel a little nuts.
One of my goals is to read a poem out loud everyday. So far, so good. Josephine Dickinson. 🙂
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Oh, cool. Josephine. I think I just saw that she’s in the States right now. California maybe? Wonder if she’s touring. I loved seeing her with Galway Kinnell at the Fitz. Can you believe how much time has gone by?
I plan to visit our goals this weekend and get them out. It’s inspiring to read them. I know I’m making progress, too, if only in small steps. It’s one small step every day. One day at a time. Suddenly, a lifetime has gone by. Can’t wait to see what all of our goals were along the way. Hope Jude can find them.
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Quoin,
Having seen Josephine (and seeing how generous of spirit she is) makes reading her book 100 times better. This morning’s poem was called “Apple Pie.”
I remember Natalie Goldberg telling us how important is it to read the entire book of poetry–to read it as a whole not fragmented pieces. So I’ll try that with Silence Fell…see what Josephine has to say in total.
This period in-between setting our goals and getting them emailed to us always feels like a little grace period.
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Seems like weeks ago although it has only been less than a week. How easily I am sucked back into my “regular” life…no complaint, an observation.
Keeping up with my goals as my monthly report indicated.
I think of the group as a piece of a whole. I like the image of a hologram shattered and each piece carrying an image of the whole within it if you shined a laser through it. Each time a group of us from that intensive gets together, we recreate the whole group. Comforting somehow.
Hope your re-entry is going well. You too, Teri & Jude.
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I can’t believe you all left here just a week ago. There’s seems to be a lingering writerly energy in this house we shared. I’ve been writing daily since you left. Sometimes a little and sometimes a lot. Re-entry was a bit harried but I have 4 days in a row (I’m on day 2) now with no need to drive into the city.
The lake remembers you and longs for your return (or maybe that’s me remembering and longing)
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Bob, I like your hologram theory. Recreating the whole from the fragmented pieces. Not something that takes great effort. It simply come from the sitting.
Jude, so glad to hear you’ve been writing since we left. It’s an image I like to hold, that the lake remembers us. You, too.
Teri, how goes it with Josephine and Silence Fell?
I’ve been pretty tired this week. Spent a lot of time outside last weekend, then my brother received his liver transplant and really set me reeling. It’s a huge life changing event. For Louis and the whole family. It’s hard to get the mind around. I want to write about it but need a little space to sit with it. Maybe this weekend.
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