Summer ’22 Writing Workshops

This summer, I had the privilege to attend both Kij Johnson’s inaugural Short Story Writing Workshop in Lawrence, Kansas and the inaugural Hear to Slay retreat hosted by Roxane Gay and Tressie McMillan Cottom in Boone, North Carolina. The format and takeaways of each experience were quite different, but both were enriching in their own ways. I hadn’t engaged in real-life creative community building prior to these events and learning from career writers (mostly from the former) was transformative in terms of thinking about craft. General commentary and recap below:

Jami Attenberg’s #1000WordsofSummer (June 4-17, 2022): Participated in this short writing challenge again! Really great warmup for preparing for the short story workshop.

Short Story Writing Workshop (June 11-18, 2022): I ideated and wrote a seven scene short story over the course of the 6 day workshop with 3 other students. Kij taught general short story structure and provided feedback and direction on our stories, punctuated by multiple writing pomodoros (20-30 minutes of writing followed by 5-10 minute breaks) that really had time flying by. We met for 3 hours in the afternoon and had the rest of the day to write or explore the charming college town of Lawrence (I made it my goal to meet/pet every store cat, a delightfully common fixture of the place). In the evenings, we spent time socializing with Kij and gleaned valuable insights around writing careers, MFA programs, and politics in academia. I felt incredibly inspired to learn from such a storied writer and peek into a world previously unknown to me.

Hear to Slay Retreat (July 22-24, 2022) : This weekend retreat in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains was less focused on writing and more so a gathering of creatives across the nation (of the ~300 attendees, I would estimate it was over 95% women and median age of 40+). Most of the sessions were moderated by Roxane, Tressie, Debbie, or a combination of the three, with ample Q&A time for individual participants to ask questions. This format sometimes led to particularly insightful and compelling questions, but also gave unnecessary space for overly personal/inappropriate inquiries as well. I was surprised at the boldness of some individuals to openly criticize the organizers and complain in excess, even though I too felt that the general communication around the event organization as well as the accessibility of the retreat could have been improved. Overall, I was grateful for the chance to meet and be motivated by such a diversity of journalists, academics, librarians, publishers - folks I’m unlikely to run into on a daily basis amidst my corporate career bubble.

I’m starting business school next week and it remains to be seen if there will be time to take on NaNoWriMo this year (and generally may be pausing on the creative front for some time), but am greatly looking forward to more creative outlets and experiences similar to these in the future.

Lawrence, KS

(L to R): Dave, orange tabby at Wonder Fair stationery store (we have a shirt with his likeness now); Jurat, Kij’s kitty; Dashiell, acclaimed writer at Raven Book Store; unnamed gray cat at Jungle House plant store; Dinah, black cat at Dusty Bookshelf.

Boone, NC

Views from the Art of Living Retreat Center