Room for Two: A Writing Retreat for Women in Oregon - 2 spaces left!

So it's official, we can include two more women writers at the Sylvia Beach Hotel Poets on the Coast Writing Retreat for women.



This place is magical.  It is where I completed my book -- Letters From the Emily Dickinson Room there in the "Emily Dickinson Room," so the hotel and space has a lot of meaning for me.



Each room is designed for a specific writer or poet.  And the energy there is incredible.  Clean, clear, good energy as you stay on an incredible cliff overlooking the Oregon coast, yes, just steps from the beach.



The price is currently $349 for Friday-Sunday, September 9th-11th.  Here's a sample of what that will include:



~ a session on editing like a literary editor

~ a session on developing a writing project

~ a session on fostering creativity

~ a session on publication and submitting

~ a session on generating new work

~ morning yoga sessions (optional)



and



~ individual one-on-one time with Susan & me to look more closely at your work



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Susan and I have committed ourselves to being available to the poets the entire weekend.  Even when we're not teaching a class, our goal is to be there for each participant in helping them achieve their writing goals at the retreat and further into the future.



You are welcome to stay at the Sylvia Beach Hotel during the retreat (most of the participants are doing this) or commute in-- whatever's best for you.



Here's a link to the registration form and the Frequently Asked Questions (which will answer any questions you may have).



Anyway, if you've been putting this off and think you'd like to go, the price goes up on August 2nd, plus, we only have 2 spaces left and then the doors shut.

Susan and I aren't sure if this will happen again and when, so this may be a one-time thing for us.  I'm not sure, but I do believe the people who need to be there, will be there and I cannot wait to see what we write...



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Here's a poem that's the title poem from Letters From the Emily Dickinson Room (White Pine Press) that was written while I was staying at the hotel that might give you a sense of what it was like for me--








I wonder what Emily would think of the view—

the ocean stretches for miles             without houses or street signs, the lighthouse signals to me:

                        Follow through this.  Follow this through.

I wonder what Emily would think             if she knew what I really want                         is to bathe uninterrupted

with the door open,             a candle burning near the window. 

What I really want is ginger,             bubbles, the static of sea             whispering: Yes. Yes, yes. 

It seems sacred            —a woman alone in a beach town, drying off and finding her camisole then slipping into it, slipping off into bed. 

Or maybe it's not. 

Maybe it's what every woman would do            if there were time or a place of her own                         where flickering didn't mean there was a fire to tend, a lightbulb to replace.

When I undress again, toss my camisole             to the floor, I think of her, Emily,             and how she managed alone. 

How we wonder about her, Emily             the recluse, the loner,                         when we should smile believing how thankful she was

to be with pen and paper             listening to the wind through the oak trees,             undressing without the help of another

and blessed to be body between the clean sheets,             the woman who dimmed the light.



~Kelli Russell Agodonfrom Letters From the Emily Dickinson Room (White Pine Press, 2010)


Kelli Russell Agodon
www.agodon.com