Writing Alone, Writing Together: Lessons from Self-Styled Retreats

By Samuel Autman

A year into my first adjunct teaching position, I was in my early 40s and had completed an MFA in nonfiction from Columbia University. I hadn’t published much since defecting from daily journalism seven years prior, but hoped my newspaper background and new advanced degree might make me a strong candidate for tenure track positions in journalism, creative writing, or hybrid jobs. Job applications were yielding nothing, however. I needed publications and fast.

A poet fri...