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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