Wayward Writer Retreat

I am bone tired and weary. I have biceps I haven’t had since my kids were toddlers. I am happy to say we have only 20 more boxes to open at the library–and hopefully none will come tomorrow. We are few people and we need to catch up. The generosity is overwhelming.  Thank you. Thank you cards have begun and imagine they will take the better part of the fall semester to complete. I hope a thank you here is also enough as some boxes came in damaged in parts and addresses were not always readable. Please be patient. I’ve had a few emails from people thinking perhaps that we have 200 people and a sophisticated technology set up to respond. Alas we have a couple dozen people who donate time when they can. And we have one very exhausted me who has some reinforcements coming this week thank goodness.

I also have something wonderful to look forward to. The 5th Annual Wayward Writers Retreat begins on July 29th to July 31st. Writers I know and their children hang out and share food and writing prompts and talk writing for three days. There’s no cost except to get here and share what you can. One just has to be part of the community (pitch in with food, camp stuff, booze–etc). All of us at one point or another took online classes at at Ariel Gore’s Literary Kitchen.

Ours is a different sort of retreat….so many workshops and retreats for writers are really based on the premise that writers remain childless with disposable income. There are very few conferences with options for childcare  ( I can’t think of any actually). We bring our kids. And they hang out –these children of writers (honestly, my daughter has quipped before that it’s pretty much a support group for children of writers).

This was taken at the 4th Annual Wayward Writers Retreat.

This year the lovely and wonderful Michelle Gonzales will be doing a reading and book signing at Musicland in downtown Greenville on Friday, July 30th at 6 pm. Her book The Spitboy Rule came out this Spring on PM PRESS. Musicland is located in downtown Greenville on Main Street.

Then on Saturday, July 30th, Lasara Firefox Allen will be doing a book signing and reading at Epilog Books in Quincy, CA.

Fresh off the presses! Lasara Firefox Allen’s Jailbreaking the Goddess.

Then on Saturday night at 7 p.m. all the writers from the retreat get together for a public reading at the Main Street Lounge in downtown Quincy. It’s open to the public and free and always a treat! And afterwards a swanky mid-century loving band called The Glides all the way from Phoenix is playing in the Sports bar downstairs. Doesn’t this just look divine?

 

And of course when we aren’t reading and writing we’ll be immersed in all things beautiful Plumas County. I’m hoping for a trip to Indian Falls and one to the hot springs in Twain if it isn’t too hot. And of course there’s promise of a ride on a private carousel.

We may be a tiny town in the mountains without many amenities–but we do know how to put on a decent little retreat for some amazing writers who really need more people reading them. If you’re in town, come to the reading on July 30th. It will be quite a treat.